It was inevitable that, while shopping for plants, some containers had fertilizer pellets added. I have learned through observation that chemical fertilizers eventually make plants extremely sick. I don’t want any industrially manufactured chemicals in my garden beds, so I developed a simple strategy for making store-bought transplants safer for planting.

I massage off all the fertilizer pellets from the plant’s roots, and as much of that soil as possible, since it may have chemical plant food already soaked into it. This can take a few minutes especially if the plant is pot-bound. To get the last few stragglers I will gently knock on the roots. I put the contaminated soil in a trash bag and when I’m done with all my transplants, I throw the bag out.

Buying from organic nurseries solves this issue. Unfortunately, where I live, I have not yet found any certified organic nurseries within driving distance.

If I see a plant’s soil mix has vermiculite, perlite, etc, I knock that off too. I don’t have any scientific evidence that these amendments are harmful, I just prefer to have the highest composition of things in the soil that support microlife.