I started using Dynamite 15-5-9 on some house plants last fall after 5 years of being very happy with Osmocote Plus. I've just made about two cubic yards of 5-1-1 with Dynamite for my many container vegetables and flowering annuals. I'll know better at the end of the growing season, but so far I'm impressed. I do use dolomitic lime in my mix for calcium and I also fertigate with FoliagePro, which also has calcium. But I am growing a lot of tomatoes, so I want as much calcium as I can get. I honestly think either formula would work well, but I favor the Dynamite because it lasts longer, has a ratio closer to 3:1:2 and has the calcium. I have been buying it from seedranch.com, where it costs $21.95 for seven pounds with free shipping. That is pretty close to the price of Osmocote plus on Amazon if you can get free shipping. In case you're curious, I've used almost 30 pounds of Dynamite so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dynamite 15-5-9

Nice to see Osmocote Plus being made again. I will have to compare the new formulation against what I already have on hand to see what, if anything, has changed in the new batch.

Ohiofem: so you order your Dynamite online? Is it not available locally in your area or perhaps it's just more expensive there compared to mail order?

TYG

The local Home Depot and some other BBS's sell Mater Magic, another of their products, but I've only seen an occasional 2 pound jar of any of their products around here. The price for the 7 pound package online is much cheaper per pound. I bought most of my Osmocote Plus through Amazon because it was rarely available here in any quantity. I try to buy as much of my gardening stuff as I can from locally owned garden centers, but none of them have ever had either of my preferred fertilizers. I've looked throughout the greater Dayton Ohio area with no luck.

Ohiofem,

Good point. So many of the specialized gardening fertilizers and other products are either much cheaper online or, in some cases, only available online.

I go to Home Depot just about every week and I do not recall ever seeing Dynamite in their garden section.

TYG

It's not being made again. It's missing Calcium.

That was the entire reason to purchase the "Plus."

Josh

Well, as you know Scott owns Miraclegro. Or MG owns scott (same thing)
Now they have an alternative product for Osmocote Plus. It is called "Shake N Feed". It has 12 -4-8analysis (slightly less potent) and has Calcium and Magnesium plus some other micros. Plricewice it is even better. HD sell 4.5 lbs (I think ) jars for $9.95 (plus tax). That is about $2.25 per pound it beat all competitors' products.

Disclaimer: I am not the owner of MG_Scott. hehe

Thanks for all the feedback. The new osmocote plus is missing calcium, but has all the other micros (missing from regular osmocote). I only assume this is because its designed to be used together with Lime, but maybe thats a bad assumption on my part. (Lime does more than just add Calcium). Otherwise, it seems like such a strange thing to leave out.

I used some of each so far this year, (Dynamite All Purpose Select and new Osmocote Plus, due to on-hand supplies and local availability). Not to compare them. I can find the Osmocote Plus locally, not so with the Dynamite.

I think the calcium was left out for business reasons rather than scientific reasons. When the Scotts MiracleGro company sold its professional line of Osmocote products to Everris in 2011, they sold the rights to the specific formula in Osmocote Plus. They still held on to the formulas used in their other two products, Outdoor/Indoor and Flower & Vegetable, which have no trace elements. My guess is that if they leave the calcium out, they are living up to their contract. On top of that, they are fooling a lot of innocent gardeners into buying a product that is not the same as the one that earned such a great reputation.

I just bought Osmocote plus from my local Ace hardware and it does have calcium in it. I suppose it could be from left over stock but i don't care. Does any one have any tips on how much per gallon I use? The bottle only has directions for Garden doses. Thanks.

Lucky you! I was able to stock up on the stuff last summer but ran out at the end of the season. The dose is just what is in Al's original 5-1-1 recipe: 1 tablespoon per gallon of finished mix. Note that that is basically a maintenance dose and assumes that you will be adding soluble fertilizers during growth. If you do not plan to do that, I think you could add 1.5 tablespoons per gallon. Also note that Osmocote Plus is supposed to last 6 months, but it will not last that long at higher temperatures, so you may need to add more fertilizer about four months down the line.

There was a detailed discussion about this some time ago which you could search for if you want to fine tune everything. I made a note that Nil13 said: "For containers, I use 1 pound of nitrogen per cubic yard of potting soil which works out to about 2.2 grams of nitrogen per gallon of potting soil. The numbers 15-8-20 refer to percentage of nitrogen-P2O5-K2O. So a 100 pound bag of that fertilizer will contain 15 pounds of nitrogen." To me, a few grams more or less doesn't make a significant difference.

Same here. I still have a nearly full container of the original Osmocote Plus. Found a few containers of it at a local big box store on clearance for less than $10 early this year. I like using it very much, and so far my trees seem to like it too.

I have been using the standard 1Tbsp/gallon of the Osmocote Plus with my 5-1-1 soil mixes. I think Ohiofem is correct, you should only expect maybe 4 months or so of effective performance from the Osmocote Plus when used outdoors in high heat or very wet/rainy conditions. In a lab test I'm sure it would last for a full 6 months.

TYG