Prepping containers in advance
 

I have 20 self irrigated containers, Earthboxes, city pickers and homemade. I like to prep my boxes in advance of planting. That way I can do a few each day rather than all at once.

How may days (weeks) in advance is the max? My method is to cultivate the potting mixture to loosen it up again then add the lime and cover. I don’t add the fertilizer until I am planting the seedlings.

I am in Phoenix and with our heat I can only do a few boxes a day before it is just too hot to continue.

From my experience, as long as I keep the mix moist I hardly have any problems. You know how hard it is reviving a block of something like promix.

I like prepping my containers too and include organic fertilizer mixed throughout. I don't know if it matters but I like giving the container time for biology to establish. As for lime, it reacts according to the peat so I don't worry is it sits for a month or two.

I think a bit in advance is good, that initial organic fertilizer I mix in will have some time to be broken down. Not too much in advance, maybe one month max, I don't want to degrade the mix unnecessarily (it will compact during a season, quite visibly).

In the spring, I mix in advance and cover the pots so they don't get washed out with rain. I keep them dry until they are planted. That's not bone dry as the mushroom compost is wet and so is the used soil part and the promix hp I use has a wetting agent.