>> The rootspread grew laterally anywhere from 11-15" but only grew vertically to a depth of about 8-11".
>> the potting mix in my eBuckets was saturated at the bottom
I've really appreciated this discussion, because I always wondered about flooding and capillary action in fine mixes excluding almost all the air from the whole bottom half of eBuckets. (Roots NEED air!)
I would expect many commercial peat-based mixes to wick up so much water that they would have little or no air, even 2-4 inches above water level. Capillary action is potent in fine mixes.
One way around that is to make the mix much coarser with pink bark chips larger than 1/8", up to 1/2". Or very coarse perlite or grit. But it doesn't take much peat (or anything fine, like sand) to "clog up" a soil mix so that little air gets in.
>> some funky smelling potting mix. I'm sure due to the fact that the overflow straws got plugged up, the mix went anaerobic 'cause of no air circulation.
Anaerobic or hypoxic mix that smells bad has had fermentation going on: alcohols, organic acids, even ketones and aldehydes can accumulate. Root hairs don't like that stuff!
My suggestion would be to flush it a few times before you let the toxins "dry into" the mix. Then fluff it up as much as you can and let it air for a few days. Sun wouldn't hurt, since the microbes that have taken over are what you LEAST want for healthy soil, and most b eneficial things have suffocated.
If you put compost into your eBuckets, nothing else would be as good for poisoned mix as a month or two in a compost heap!
("Hypoxic" is the same as "anaerobic", but "anaerobic" means "no oxygen - zero - none" and that's hard to get unless you bury something feet deep in pure clay. Hypoxia means "not enough oxygen", and that's the more common problem. I also like the fact that "hypoxic" sounds like "toxic" and that is what it is.)
Worrying about fertilizer when the soil is hypoxic is like worrying about your diet while you're drowning!
Corey
