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media reuse container media?

I want to recharge last year's pots for this season. Here's the mix I used.
30% coco coir
25% rice hulls
25% pine fines
20% leaf compost
with the following amendments to each container
1 cup azomite
1 cup humate
1 cup kelp meal
1 cup alfalfa pellets
The results were not impressive but I had some peppers. Any advice on super charging it this year?
 
Those measured amendments were for my 7-gallon bags. I also had three 20-gallon fabric bags I used for tomatoes that grew to 8 feet then slowly from bottom to top turned yellow and died mid-August. I believe that was caused by a nutrient deficiency. I don't recall where my notes are on amending those pots. I was very careful hand watering and I used a layer of dried tree leaves for mulch but there's still a possibility. Peppers didn't have problems but weren't super plentiful either. I only got three chocolate habaneros!? Other plants gave me a few handfuls of peppers such as lemon drops, orange habs, and others.
 
Actually, I'm not sure about the nutrient deficiency with those tomatoes. I should have spent more time diagnosing, but frankly, that happens to me every year with tomatoes. I'm just resigned to killing them in August. That was the longest run I had with them, however.
 
Coco coir can be salty, and what you have seen may be plants protesting against the salinity.
Ideally, I think I'd stick to the base recipe without the amendments and then, as need be, add a tomato spike or something very moderate in nutrients. But make sure to wash the salt out of the Coco coir before using it.

Last years medium may also be a bit heavy on nutrients, it looks. Can be washed away, too, but this is a bit cumbersome.
 
Did you do any supplemental feeding through the season? That mix contains a few items that could lock up nutrients depending on the conditions, but even without that I'd be expecting to supplement during the season because much of your base isn't providing nutrients.

Without knowing more, I'd lean toward mixing in a good 33% by volume of quality mature compost (1:3 finished ratio), preferably mixed with some small portion of live worm castings if available. Combined with what remains from last season that should provide a good base. Then I'd keep an eye on things during the season and be ready to supplement when needed, perhaps with liquid fish.
 
I didn't add any other supplemental. Perhaps, It's time I should think about applying tea. I'm curious what could lock up nutrients? The pine fines are "aged". I was under the impression that containers shouldn't contain more than 10 to 15% compost. Here in Ohio, we usually have a moderate dry summer but usually get a week or two of heavy rains in mid to late July. I also usually add about 1 cup of worm castings to each container. I also have some Down-To-Earth dry fertilizer I mix in about 1/2 cup per container. There seem to be products that are sold specifically to recharge your media I found out earlier.
 
Sure. So unbuffered Coir will lock up CA and Mg and if either the pine fines or the leaf compost are not fully mature those could create issues too. Composts and fines (even the "aged" ones) I find available locally vary in maturity and it seems when demand is higher, the maturity gets lower. Sometimes so low as to be problematic. Given this is year 2 for your mix, I would expect coir cation exchange to have occurred at least to some degree and the composts would have had additional time to mature (though also to break down) - as would your fertilizer augments. So, when I consider your carry-over mix, it seems like a good base; I'd just look to add more nutrient rich organic matter and maybe a balanced fertilizer like your D-T-E. I'm not sure how much of your previous fertilizers are still around, so I'm not sure how much more you'd want to add. As Chewbacca alludes, too much dry fertilizer is a bigger problem than too little, as with too little you can simply augment with a liquid.

The proper percentage of compost in your mix can depend on multiple factors, including climate and the composition of the compost. Summers - at least July and August - can be quite dry here. When I grew in Florida it was the opposite. I like a healthy amount of compost in the mix because I'm not using chemical fertilizers thorough the season and the compost give the plants a steadily available and broad supply of nutrients. Even with a good base I'll still be adding fish fertilizer periodically, especially by the late season. Most of your mix will break down very slowly, but the compost leaf component can easily disappear over the course of a year, so this becomes a focus for replacement.

The way I use earthworm castings and compost tea is before I plant. I keep worms so I have very fresh castings with lots of bacteria life. Castings from the store may be old and dried and loose this benefit. I'll mix them in with the compost in modest amounts to accelerate the process of breaking down the compost for availability. Also, I might brew some ACT and use it to wet the mix initially, then let it sit and age for a couple weeks to a month before I transplant - also, as a kickstart. The tea's not going to do much to help with nutrient deficiencies during the season though, not that it wouldn't provide some other benefits, that's why I'll use fish fertilizer when it appears needed.

I hope this is somewhat helpful. Everyone has their own style to how they grow and mine seems to fit well my location and desire to keep things fairly simple and dependable.
 
Thanks for your thorough reply, CaneDog. Last year I researched how to buffer the coco coir and came up with adding calcium to the mix but I'm not finding my notes on how much. The pepper plants didn't seem to have any deficiencies. My problem seems always with tomatoes. I've often thought of using fish fertilizer. I'm afraid with all the critters that come through that it could attract some damage. We have a lot of stray cats, rabbits, squirrels, and even some deer that have been spotted in our yard. I was thinking of adding more kelp, alfalfa pellets, and worm castings along with humic acid and compost. I'll do a little more research to find out which would be most beneficial. This will be my 4th season as a grower, so still a newbie, and I appreciate everyone's willingness to share knowledge.
 
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