I have noticed a slight odor with Espoma products when the container is opened but not much when the product is mixed with potting soil.

Never used it but it looks like there is lots of nutrients in it.

This post was edited by TheMasterGardener1 on Wed, Mar 13, 13 at 14:05

So far, two people at another forum say that the product smells when you sniff the bag but when added to soil it doesn't create an odor. That's good news because I'd like to try the Epsoma products in my containers this year.

I would not recommend the Espoma. Granulated or pelletized organic fertilizers - like the Espoma - are not very efficient in a containerized situation because they are not water soluble. They require the activitiy of soil organisms to convert them into a plant usable form and there tends to be pretty limited populations of soil organisms in most potting soils. Limited microbes means limted nutrient availability.

If you want to use an organic fertilizer you are pretty much restricted to a liquid (or water soluble) form, none of which are slow release. Otherwise, the classic container slow release fertilizer is Osmocote.

Just mixed up my first batch of potting mix, and indeed there's no profound odor having added Epsoma Plant-tone. If anyone's interested here's my formula:

4 gallons peat moss
4 gallons perlite
2 Tblsp. hydrated limestone powder
Plant-tone (recommended at 1.5 Tblsp. per quart) 48 Tblsp. = 3 cups

I also add a few handfuls of garden compost (the Omni brand). Because Plant-tone is a 5-3-3 ratio for NPK, I intend to add some Alaska Morebloom 0-10-10 for flowering plants as the season progresses.

Thank you gardengal. That is what I wanted to say....

â¢Posted by Raw_Nature 6 OH (My Page) on
Sat, Mar 16, 13 at 0:47

"People who say it is useless to go organic in a container, I cannot disagree with you more, even if it wasn't for the "nutrients" in the fertilizer... "

RawNature,

It is true that synthetics work better in containers for the very reasons mentioned above. Everything gardengal said was right on, and no, we both did not happen to make this up..... ;)

Also, plants cant tell the difference between synthetics or organics.

" Plants do not differentiate the nutrients they absorb resulting from hydroponic or organic nutrient solutions. For example, nitrogen is typically available as NO3- or NH4+. It does not matter to the plant whether it came from guano or bottled nutrient. "

This post was edited by TheMasterGardener1 on Mon, Mar 18, 13 at 13:05

I've had plenty of success growing even cherry tomato vines using only Alaska Fish fertilizer in containers with no synthetic fertilizers whatsoever. But then I digress from the topic of the thread. In my experience it is indeed possible to grow plants without chemical fertilizers like Miracle Gro in containers. You just won't get the same growth rate, and arguably the accelerated growth rate doesn't create a healthier plant anyway. Like I said, I'm trying something new this year in an effort to stop using Miracle Gro products, and I feel confident based on what many people have said so far about how well Epsoma slow release fertilizers work.

I do not believe synthetic fertilizers works better, it kills any life in the soil, has no mutual relationship with any microorganisms like in nature. Eventually you will get a buildup of salts,etc and have to flush your plant thoroughly... How long have we used synthetic fertilizer? How long have we used "organic" methods? You are not a plant, how do you know exactly how it responds to do different fertilizers... Synthetic fertilizer is jus nutrients it has no synergism or anything .. Organics does have the microrganisms to break down the organic mater to nutrients...

Joe

We are talking container soil here - soil-less potting media. There is minimal life in this type of media, if any so, a) there is minimal concern about killing it off and b) this is the primary reason organic fertilizers won't work. No microbes, no digesting the organics into plant-accessible nutrients. (and btw, the microorganisms are in the soil - real soil that is, not in the fertilizer)

FWIW, both organic and synthetic fertilizers must present nutrients in exactly the same fashion - as soluble ions. That is the ONLY way plants can absorb them. The difference is how they get to that point. Nearly all organics require the activities of soil organisms to achieve solubility whereas most synthetics are immediately or very rapidly soluble, via salts. But the endpoint is exactly the same and the plants really do not care how the nutrients were delivered, only that they receive what they need.

But remember we are discussing growing plants in containers That is a very different concept than inground growing and with very different limitations on it. The simple fact of the matter is that organic fertilizers are far less efficient under any kind of container growing situation unless they are fully soluble. And most liqiud/soluble organic ferts leave something to be desired in that they are not as complete as one would wish.

With container gardening, I'd opt for optimum effectiveness and healthy plants rather than some noble but misguided notion that organics are the only way to go.