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Posted: Jun/01/2007 11:44 AM PST
Hello! Last year I attempted growing some herbs from seeds but a few weeks in they all up and died on me! I said forget it. This year I bought a sweet basil plant and it was around 4" and its about 9" now! I went to Lowes today and bought some more plants (Marjoram, Greek Oregano, Tomatoes (small ones)). I picked up four decent size pots and some soil which appeared to be what I needed. Its 1CF of "Miracle-Gro® Organic Choice™ Garden Soil". It says "Great for herbs and veggies!" on it so I grabbed it naturally being new at this. I get home and I replant my basil in a new pot, and i replant the other 3 plants that I bought today. After planting the last one and I was cleaning up I realized that on the back when i flipped it over - I read. "Not for container use!" For container use get ..blah blah. My wifes gonna kill me if this doesnt turn out right  (Like last year I whined about starting from seeds...and the project up and died).All in all - Did I make a very big boo boo? Should I run out there and tear them out of the soil? hahaa. The 3 new ones that i bought today actually have the biodegradable containers so I just planted that. Thanks a LOT ~Robert Rittenhouse |
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Posted: Jun/01/2007 2:25 PM PST
Miracle Gro..NOT for container use. Well I'll be durned, guess I have made that mistake all too often. LOL! No, Really, I have a LOT of things planted in soil that the bag said 'not for container use', never had a problem. Anybody else? |
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Posted: Jun/01/2007 5:48 PM PST
Well thats certainly a good thing to hear!!. Another question.. Do I/should I get some kind of plant food or can they just feed off of whats in the garden soil? Thanks again  - I should have chose a better topic maybe it would have had more replies but i thank you for yours.~Robert Rittenhouse |
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Posted: Jun/02/2007 6:59 PM PST
Hi, there. First, I am relatively new and have found that sometimes it takes several days to get replies since not everyone checks the forums on a daily basis. So just keep checking back when you have a question. Sooner or later someone will answer. Second, I did exactly what you did with the "Garden Soil" for the same reason you did, except mine was not for organic. Some people told me I should have no problems and others just didn't know. I decided to call the 800 number on the Miracle Gro bag. The lady told me it would definitely kill my plants. Because I have disabilities and dreaded the idea of repotting, I replied, "But they've been in the soil for 2 weeks, and they seem to be doing fine!" She restated EMPHATICALLY, "It WILL kill your plants." She explained that it would make the roots grow haywire and eventually strangle the plants. Well, I left the plants in and got new soil to plant the remaining plants. I used Miracle Gro Moisture Control so that I wouldn't have to worry as much about watering, or lack thereof, if I need to be gone a day or two. It has a built in fertilizer that is supposed to last 3 months with no extra fertilizer needed, to kind of address your other question. There is another Miracle Gro that has the fertilizer without the moisture control benefit, which is somewhat cheaper if watering is not a problem for you. Anyway, for the "rest of the story" on the wrong soil choice..... I noticed after about a month that the plants were not growing much at all, especially compared to the moisture control planted plants. And they were starting to look rather sickly, with the leaf edges turning kind of brownish red as if they were getting burnt. I finally found a high school student who could help me repot so I didso in an attempt to save my plants. I am quite sure they were dying. When I took them out of the pot, sure enough, the roots were in a horrible hard matted ball of a mess, with some roots hanging down as long as a foot long (pots were quite deep)while the plants themselves were only a few inches tall. I pulled and pulled at the balls of roots on the plants, trying to loosen them up and cut away large masses. I gently, but very thoroughly hose-rinsed the roots that I left on to try to get rid of as much of the "wrong soil" as possible. Within just a couple of days, the plants started looking much healthier and started to grow. I think they are going to make it, but I don't know if they will produce the strawberries, cantaloupe, carrots, and green beans that it now looks as if the moisture control plants will. Time will tell. Only one of my "wrong soil" plants has a strawberry on it, while the one strawberry plant that I had planted correctly in the first place has finally burst into about 9 flower blooms it seems overnight! I'm hoping the repotted ones will catch up. So needless to say, I recommend you repot those plants ASAP. If you do it right away, maybe you won't have the root mess I had to deal with nor the possibility of losing your plant because you had to get rid of so much root. Good luck, no matter what you decide to do! :-) |
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