The same thing happened to me too this year. I have used Miracle-Gro for years. This year,like an idiot, I decided to try Sta-Green.I used it once years ago and did not like it then. The squirrels love it! I may have to repot my potted plants. Right now I am putting huge quantities of cayenne pepper in the pots. At least that works.

Cynj, Farfard actually does have a cactus and succelnt mix. Look online, they do sell it, just in case you are interested. For my citrus, I use Miracle Grow Citrus and Cactus mix. It's growing just fine. I use Farfard Professional Potting mix for all my other plants, my plummies go in Cactus mix. If your local nursery doesn't have it, (most regular nurseries do have it), you can ask them to order some for you. I tried Al's mix one year, it was fine, but I had to water almost every day. I'm not watering every single day, all my plants. I'm not saying it isn't good, everyone has a different tolerence for things. I also use Foilage Pro, by Dyna Grow, I dilute it 1 teasp. per gallon of water, and every time I water, they get a little Foliage Pro too. Foilage Pro is awesome! A little bit goes a long way too, so even tho it is a little pricey, you don't use that much. I use it on all my plants, even orchids love it! Hope I helped a little bit.

I am thoroughly disgusted with peat. It breaks down, compresses, rapidly decomposes into a solid rock like substance unless large amounts of vermiculite and perlite are added, and that makes it extremely difficult to maintain moisture in the pots. I am watering everyday and sometimes need to water twice a day. Wick watering is not an option because of how I display my plants and also because of rapid evaporation. I need a heavier soil that does not retain moisture like peat does. Peat also is devoid of any nutrients, does not retain nutrients so fertilizing is more the art of hydroponics rather than soil based science. I don't have garden loam this being Arizona rock and sand desert soil. Any suggestions? I can get well rotted manure, blood meal, bone meal. Anything else necessary?

I have studied growing in containers quite a bit...and there is a lot of info available under the "container" section, and elsewhere. Some of the contributions from certain gardeners is very good. One of the primary downfalls of many container mixes is: they do not drain well because of the size of medium used in the mix (over-simplification). Have you ever noticed the bottom 2 inches of your pots loads up with "muck"? There are a couple of reasons for that. I actually "custom" mix to eliminate/reduce this common problem (in addition to using a wick). As stated above...you can really empty your bank account buying supplies if you are not careful. Oftentimes, I buy inexpensive (larger quantity) bags of cactus mix to supplement my other ingredients. I am not sure what your ideas/purposes are...but it is a good thing to pay attention to what you are using for a soil mix. It can make or break your whole planting experience. Some folks plant in crap...and then they spend a small fortune on seeds, plants, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, etc....and still fail. I do not mean to rant...but rather help some folks avoid trouble and disappointment. With good intentions...I see people put rocks in the bottom of their containers, use "moisture control" mixes, add native soil to the mix, and do all kinds of stuff that shoot themselves in the foot. Kind of sad. goodluck, and keep asking... PS If you are just temporarily re-potting to a larger pot prior to garden plantout...just save yourself some money/time and use "regular" MG potting mix or like product. Not sure what your plan is. haha