Thank you for the head's up David!! I am going to look for it & try it, too. Marea

Hi...
Where did you get your small bags of thsi Scotts...I will run out tommorrow and get some..:-)lol

I saw it on there site. They say its not for containers. Wonder why? filix

Filix:

I wondered around the scotts website and never found this specific consumer product. I did find osmocote/plus in the pro formula but it doesn't have the calcium listed as a nutrient unlike this label. Most of all the rest include the base ferts that make both of them up are on both labels verbatim? I am not real clear on this and will see if I can get with a scott rep and get a clarification on this point. I am as I said using it in ground and in several containers so I will see how it goes first hand in comparison to some 3-4 month 18-6-12 straight osmocote I am using up from last year and will have a few side by side plants to see how they each do. I can be somewhat forgetful about my soluable fert regimes so I like to have a good base fert charge so if I am not consistant with my routine I still know I am providing reasonable nutrients throughout a given time frame. I do much better with the plants in my garden center than I do at home.

I know I have seen this product in a local Home Depot and at an ACE in the area. I haven't been in a wal mart for 6 or 7 months and hope not to for another 6 or 7 if I can avoid it:). The product is in a white plastic jug with a orange lid. It doesn't give any info on containers but I can't for the life of me see any reason that it shouldn't be used this way but I may be wrong and I wouldn't want anyone to do any harm to their plants based on my yet unproven belief that it should be OK. I will check and share anything else I find out and report back to this thread or at least this forum.
Happy Planting David

Thankyou David. I have seen the plus in my griffin greenhouse supply in 50 pound bags. I have been wanting to try it. So when I saw your post, I went right to their site to check it out. I saw it with the orange label and thought it's about time someone does this. But when I read "not for potted plants" I went huh? Bummer! Whats up with the minors? Is it a silver bullet that they don't want to release to the masses? Filix

I got some info on the osmocote plus. Scotts were confused. One person told me you couldn't use it in containers. And another told me 3 tablespoons for 4 square ft. That didn't make any sence. So I talked to the people at Griffins greenhouse supply. They sell it in the 50lb bags. Now unless scotts was wrong when they told me the new small white container with the orange lable is the same osmocote plus griffin sells in the 50 lb bag, The dose is 7 lbs per cubic yard of container soil for a medium rate. 10 lbs for high rate and 3 lbs for light rate for flowers. filix

The label calls for 3 tbsp. per 4 sq. ft. and that is all that is on the label for dosage. So that is correct but again the pro-formula doesn't list calcium broken out as a percentage but the rest of the label is verbatim to the label on the 4.5 lb osmocote plus with a white plastic bottle and orange lid and label. I still can't see any reason in my mind why it is any different than the 50 lb pro formula that gives all the container and cu. ft. and cu. yd. dosages. I am still befuddled by this and I don't get it???
That is still all I know I need to still get with scott rep and see if I can get to the bottom of this dilemma.
Happy Planting David

After getting with a scotts helpline supervisor I am told that the 50lb pro formula and the 4.5 lb orange label osmocote plus have different inert ingredients and is not and for the time being will not have any container dosage suggestions. I am using the 19-6-12 straight osmocote suggestions for my experiments and that is all I can say for now. I will share what I learn throughout the growing season and see how it all goes. I am for now going to back off on suggesting it used in any manner other than the labeled until more info becomes available or you wish to test it at your own risk as I am doing.

Filix:
I don't know if it is a silver bullet or not? It just seems logical to offer a product such as this for consumers but there may be safety and legal issues that need to be addressed before this can come about.

I do know there is an incredible amount of legal requirements to getting anything on a label that might be used for food or be around children or pets and maybe this is where the main issue is but on that I can only make a guess as to why this has not and as of yet is not available by label to use for containers. I just know that is where it is at at this point in time.
Happy Growing All and please accept my apology for getting anyone's hopes up prematurely. David

Thanks David. Im going to give it a try. What the heck. I will go with the light rate. filix

How's the product working so far?

'Peter's Professional' 24-8-16 granular soluble fertilizer has a nearly complete list of micro-nutrients, too. Several are in addition to what MG lists. Those that aren't listed are unlikely to be deficient in bark/peat soils.
Al

Just out of curiosity I went to the local hardware store and discovered that they carried both the Peter's Professional 24-8-16 and the MG 24-8-16 granular fertilizers.

I then compared the list of elements from both boxes. Far as I can tell both the Peters and the MG are identical. Both had the same majors and minors and both had the same percentages of each element. I was under the impression that the Peters *might* have something that the MG doesn't, but from what I read on the boxes there appears to be no obvious difference between the two.

Did I miss something? Are they identical or does one have an advantage over the other?

Thanks.

Did I miss something?

I have seen cases where the product label differs from the label the manufacturer posts online. I don't know, but assume it is due to differing state labeling laws. DynaGro, as one example doesn't list all the minors in Foliage Pro on the package, but does online.

I would think if you looked at the 'derived from' section those might differ between the MG and PP.

That said, I don't know anything about the PP granules so maybe it's not the same as the water soluble powders.

Nope, JaG. I was wrong.

Hi, Dave. I took my info from Peter's label on the container, but when I went to ck again I see you are absolutely right. ;o)

Here's what I did: I gave a container gardening talk to a Master Gardener's group in early May & needed a container of fertilizer as one of the props, so I grabbed my 5 lb tub-o-Peter's. When I read the label to refamiliarize myself with the contents, I was surprised to see all the minors that would possibly be lacking in most container media listed on the label except S (but it's in there in ammonium sulfate and copper sulfate). I was actually remembering the MG 12-4-8 label, which only lists NPK, Fe, Mn, and Z. In my mind, I was thinking that the 24-8-16 was the same product as 12-4-8, but with the 12-4-8 being in a 2:1 anhydrous solution.

It's very possible it is the same product, but with one (the 12-4-8) diluted to the point where the other elements are such a small % of the whole that they are considered to be present at only 'trace' levels and for that reason not included on the label.

In any case, you are correct in the observation that there is no difference between the Peter's and the MG 24-8-16 product based on the way they are labeled. I'm glad you're paying attention - good catch. ;o)

Al

Thanks for the confirmation on this Al. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't misreading the labels. =)

But just to confirm, we still need to add epsom salt to the fertilizer solution and add gypsum to the gritty soil mix when using either the Peter's Pro or the MG 24-8-16, correct?

thanks!

Dave

I picked up that white jug of Osmacote at Lowe's last week for use in containers.

I was perplexed when the regular Osmacote had container dosages but not the Plus. Went ahead and scratched it into "soil" of already planted containers from last year.

Will add it into batches of container mixes at rate on container.