As long as I own my adenium plants and all of my other plants, I don't use anything else but Osmocote. Many people use many different kinds of fertilizer, and if they like it, they continue to use it. For me, I like Osmocote. Marie

I use the soft brush attachment.

Yeah - I looked and couldn't find the c-channel I have bought in the past listed at any of the big box stores. Bummer! If you had a tanble saw, it would be no trouble to rip the long leg off + the little hem on the short side so you end up with equal legs. I like the channel because air can get under the it and dry up the water in the saucer, where things like mayo lids & stuff trap water under them or in them for extended periods, which can be not so good. Al

Jeff, I should think you'd be able to find countless success stories w/ GM in the gardening forum - houseplants, C&S, container gardening, to start! The hardest (or most daunting) part is that first step of bringing together the components, so I'm not surprised that videos focus on this. Afterwards, it's pretty smooth sailing, if you've read up about it enough to have a general understanding of what follows. I love gritty mix, and not just as soil. I love it as a learning experience. It was just fascinating to try at first, but it ended up really teaching me about gardening and plants in general (in addition to Al's posts themselves, and his feedback, of course). I tried both 5-1-1 and GM, and while both are undoubtedly useful for their own purposes, I gravitated toward changing virtually everything into GM except edibles like tomatoes, lettuce, etc. Peppers were good, actually, but the upkeep required was significant. I think tomatoes in GM would be fascinating, but I shudder at the amount of mix I'd need to create to fill 15 gallon pots. Yikes. No. Of the house plants I have now, almost all have been grown in "real" GM or my variation of it. (Oh, except the Ficus lyrata, which never had the opportunity because I was out of GM when I got the plant.) I don't think I have a single succulent outside that hasn't lived for years in GM. And the best part is - when the gardening bug hits me and I'm fawning over everything in the spring, should I choose to water every single day -- it's fine. Everything from Clivia, Adenium, Hoya, Draceana, lemon and kumquat trees, etc. -- have performed amazingly in GM. While I am not a "GM or bust" person, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that when used properly, it's a far superior potting medium. Like I said, it makes you a better gardener overall. While I have switched much of my plants to potting mix in recent weeks, that's only because of the ridiculously low humidity here and the fact that I am not home enough, watering enough, or diligent enough these days to provide the care that they need, and potting mix buys me a little more time than GM the way I made it. (With Turface, the moisture should definitely last longer.) The only dings I can think of when it comes to GM is that (1) it is heavy...oh, so heavy....especially w/ my pea gravel; and (2) YOU need to provide all it needs in terms of nutrition--there is no "set it and forget it" mentality. I think many of us prefer the latter as I tend to fuss over my plants, but with my larger plants, how heavy GM can be is a deal-killer. Oh, and another deterrent for me here in LV is that my house has a pool outside, and sifting out perlite dust (a spectacle in and of itself) means I'll invariably get some in the pool. My back also feels broken enough to not want to lug around lava rocks and pea gravel. If someone would make it the way I want and off my property, and then water when I asked them to, I'd use it for virtually everything, still. :)