I recently purchased a moisture meter, I'm growing outdoor in 65 gallon smart pots guerilla over an hour to walk to my spot so I used 10% vermiculite in my soil mix to help retain water. My plants are currently nice and healthy but I'm worried I will have problems in the cooler wet season. I stuck the moisture meter in the soil after a week of 80-90° weather and the farther down the more moisture until is showed full moisture once the 12" probe was completely in the soil. Has anybody had problems using vermiculite while growing? I'm worried about root rot come the cooler wet season.
see the deal with cat litter as it holds water it also holds nutes leading to nute burn ...in time but you didn't use that much so the answer really lies in the type of soil you have the amount of water that you soil/ nute can hold as these are in big smart pots I suggest you are cool to continue but the fact that you are doing GG grow with smart pots implies a lot of water carting and labor on your part cross fingers good luck
Thanks vostok, my soil mix is 35% organic matter (worm castings and compost) 35% sphagnum peat moss, 20% perlite and 10% vermiculite. I live in a very wet area in the Midwest so haven't had to water too much. Also added half cup of alfalfa, neem seed, kelp, and crab shell meal per cubic ft along with a little rock dusts and oyster shell flour.