mixing soil amendments in layers

[blooper]

last year my 100gal smart potted plants became root bound so this year i'm stepping it up to 300gal just to be safe. i'd like to keep it all organic and water-only as possible so i'm wondering about filling each pot with the 100gallons from last year, dressing it with a flowering amendment and mixing it up, then doing the same with a 100gallon layer with vegetative amendments and then a top layer of just soil/compost and some sort of mulch.

good idea or should i just mix everything all together? not sure because it seems like the roots go deep as possible first and then spread out and take over the entire pot so they might hit the higher PK soil before they need it. i'll be filling each pot, soaking them in worm casting tea and letting them sit for at least a month before planting so i would hope the pH will be relatively uniform and the soil will most definitely be alive. the plants will be at least a foot or two and coming out of 2-3gallon pots come june.

any input appreciated

 

[plantingplants]

I'm also curious about this, and more generally, how do plants feel about different layers of soil? In natural earth, aren't there many layers, with the top most possibly being most nutrient rich? I'm not amending my old soil and it will be under my pot, so I wonder if they'll mind hitting a less kind soil.

I don't think 300 gal pots are tall enough to be able to take advantage of different nutrients in different layers but I think it's a cool idea worth exploring. Anyone know how long it takes a plant's roots to reach the bottom? Taproots move pretty quick. I think would also have to do a little study on root distribution because it may not be as simple as two layers. Could be width as well as depth? A bowl shape of flower-amended soil at the bottom of a tall pot?

 

[Ratzilla]

While being a indoor peep.
I often employ nutrients in layers or what I call buried treasures.
I opine when everything is mix in globally it does not give the roots any options.
Where if it layer or a TBLSP of something here and there its gives options to the roots.
I am also a big fan of top dressing I mean after all the first 6 inches of your medium is where most life exist.
ERRR I am a organic guy using organic principles.

I also opine that taller pots do better then wider ones.
Spikes of nutrients, fertilizers placed in your pots will also give options .
Look at this like if the roots find something they have a choice to take it up or grow around it.
Ratz

 

[rykus]

when Maximum yield first came out in 98-99 they had a columnist called the fearless gardener who employed a layering method with his soil that tried to mimick the natural earth but better, worked very well, and I often think of using it indoors because it sucks mixing huge amounts of soil, and it would be nice to say have a layer of rockwool in the bottom so dirt doesn't fall out the pots...

but yeah, plants should like it, they just eat what they want anyways in organic mixes I thought...

 

[Ratzilla]

but yeah, plants should like it, they just eat what they want anyways in organic mixes I thought...

If only it was that simple.


While organics uptake is somewhat controlled by what exudates plant roots chooses to feed the micro herd many things retards this symbiotic relationships.
I also use many minerals and have killed a few plants (experimenting) by giving say minerals late into the flowering cycle.
Balance is needed otherwise we growers would never kill a plant, organic or otherwise.
Ratz