# Osmocote Plus DIY Root Tabs Vs. Regular Root Tabs



## Grobbins48 (Oct 16, 2017)

Just curious, what makes you skeptical of it? I just started using it, so no experience to speak of here, just wanting to learn from others experiences.


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## DarkOne (Aug 26, 2018)

I switched a few months ago. I had some #0 caps instead of the bigger #00 caps so I use a few more tabs per plant. Osmocote Plus is time released so it lasts longer than Flourish Tabs (what I was using prior) but the nutrients are different so that's another reason I use a bit more. It took about a week to be noticeable but it does work fairly well with my amazon swords and vals (italian and corkscrew) after adding a few more tabs during the first couple of weeks. I haven't put more in about 3 months and the swords and vals are still growing nicely. I'm working on a s. repens carpet in my shrimp tank and I put one tab every 1-2". The substrate (BDBS) is about 1.5" deep and I pushed them all the way to the bottom. The roots are very short so it's been slow going but there seems to be some progress. I also put some s. repens clippings in a Fluval Spec III with dirt capped sand (PFS) and it seems to be about equal in growth. 

Overall, I'm very happy with the DIY tabs over Flourish tabs. There was noticeably slow growth if I didn't add a Flourish tab every 3-4 weeks. 

I bought the 8lb bag because it was only a few bucks more but had I known how big the bag actually was, I would've just gotten the 2lb jar.


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## dinokath (May 3, 2009)

So, I used to use those caps. Made them up myself from exactly what you have in your hand. They worked great but what really shocked me was when I recently did a major clean out on the tank, I found LOTS of those little osmocote balls unruptured in the substrate. I mean a really fair amount and they had been in the substrate for a good 2 years. It's worth noting that it takes a while for them to rupture once wet. Take a single tab, count how many balls are in there, put them back in the tab, drop it in a glass of water and see how long it takes to dissolve. You'll need some fertilizer in the water while the tabs take time to dissolve.

Now that may say more about my substrate, Eco-complete, than anything else, but just interesting none the less. They work well on anything with roots in the substrate. Kept plenty of red cherry shrimp in there too. I didn't go back to them because I have quite a bit of dry fertilizer sitting around and wound up using the Osmocote on the veggie garden this year, so I opted to use the dry ferts I had around. I may go back to them.


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