Mike: Fantsastic looking plants! I am so glad you decided to go with the 5.1.1 mix:-). You have come a long way with your plants..Just wonderful. Let us know when would love to use a mix that last's a lot longer than that, and we will get hooked on the gritty mix..:-)Nice lights too. Jodik and Al: I appreciate your vote of confidence in me..That means alot expecially coming from the very ones that helped me every step of the way and especially the one that introduced this concept and mix to me in the first place, Al:0) By the way, Sissy say's "right back at you".. Thank you! Josh: Thank you for your input while I was sick. Your right, and I figure if anyone is really interested in what coir has done for my plants, let alone see pictures, all they would have to do is plug my name into the search field and they can see my journet from begining till recent. Coir stinks, and that's that.;-) Plant48: Thanks for the congrats..It is not the first time my good friends and teacher have commented on my plants. Just do search of my threads. Eggplant and Christine: Thank you much.Your can look like this if you just hang around this forum for a while..Thank you Christine. Posting pictures is easy..If you have photbucket, just upload and we will tell you from there if you do so. Hi mrlike2u, how are you? Sorry I missed you this weekend..Maybe next time.;-) Xuan: Just BEAUTIFUL as always! I love every picture you show us just as much as I love everyone"s!! You pictures always make me feel warm and cozy..lol. Thank you! You are so lucky not to have to face this dreaded cold winter.. I use to like it when I snow boarded..Not anymore.. Have a happy one everybody..I would love to see more pics by the way.. Mike..:-)))

I water most plants in the gritty mix on a 3 day rotation. It sounds like you're growing in the 5:1:1 m ix or similar, which should allow you longer intervals between waterings. I'd suggest you monitor your plants' water needs with wooden skewers until you get a feel for when they're about to go dry. This is something I posted on the bonsai forum a while back: Many years ago, in a bonsai workshop led by a famous Japanese master (Ben Oki), one of the participants asked a question: "How often should I water my juniper, Mr. Oki?" His (Mr. Oki's) expression never changed at all as he answered in his heavily Japanese accented English, "Wait until plant become completely dry - then water day before." To this day, I'm not sure if he was serious or it was his brand of humor, but the advice is sound for most plant material. Water your plants on an 'as needed' basis. Best way: When the soil is nearly dry, water slowly & evenly until a tiny bit of water runs from the drain holes, allow them to rest for a few minutes, then water again, applying less water than the first time - just enough to flush accumulating salts from the soil. This will be about 10-20% of the total volume of water applied in both applications. At first, use a chopstick (skewer) stuck into the soil to tell you how damp the soil is. If the stick is dark or wet, don't water. If it's damp or dry - water. Heft your pots often if your plants are small. Soon, you'll be able to tell by their weight what plants need water. Over-watering carries different but just as serious consequences as under-watering, so try your best to avoid both. Given a choice, it's better to under-water by a little than over-water. If you think your soil is too water-retentive to allow you to flush the soil every time you water, your soil is inappropriate. Using a wick, and tilting your pots at a 45* angle after watering are BOTH very helpful ways to drain excess water from too-heavy soils. Let me know if you need/want this explained. Al

My impression when I started growing succulents is that everybody who's been doing it for awhile has a different "recipe." After looking at about a dozen of said recipes, I came to the conclusion that everybody seems to use a volcanic glass for drainage, some organic matter to retain water, and sand or fine gravel for the delicate roots, even if the exact ingredients and ratios differ. I thus used a mixture very similar to yours (with copra instead of bark). I used a ratio of 1:1 copra/perlite on the bottom two thirds, and 1:1:1 copra/perlite/sand on the top third. I'd probably use less sand in the future, but my little cactilings seem to be doing very well so far.

The cultural wants of F elastica and F lyrata are virtually the same, so what works for one will work as well for the other. If you are having trouble with one or the other in either grow medium, it is not the medium, there is something else in play. Let me know if you want help trying to put a care regimen together that almost all the plants you're likely to grow will appreciate, no matter which of the two media you choose to grow in. While the primary difference between the two mixes is, the 5:1:1 mix holds more water, some of it as perched water, both are far superior to most off-the-shelf products based on almost all fine material, usually peat or some combination of peat, compost, composted forest products, or coir. Al