The most important factor for getting good germination with Lithops, in my experience, is making sure it is done the right time of year and that the mix stays moist while maintaining good air circulation. The best time of year by far is late summer/ early fall. Sowing in the spring or early summer results in quick germination but poor growth and easy casualties during heat waves. I would encourage you to wait until September to avoid disappointment. Sowing in the winter or early spring results in seedlings often not being large enough to withstand the summer dormant period (depending on species). The moisture/ air issue is a simple one to address. I keep my pots standing in a small amount of water so the mix stays constantly moist, while at the same time I make sure the top of the pot is not covered and I place a small fan nearby to keep the air moving. Most any soil mix will do, but something like "Al's Mix" has the advantage of keeping the seedlings in it longer if need be, and also a gritty mix makes it easier to pull out seedlings for transplanting. x

lololo..I never meant Dove..It's a good thing you caught that! I meant to say 'Ivory' dishwashing soap...I use about 5 drops in the 32 ounce sprayer...Sheesh! Yes. Exactly! Make sure to hit every leaf..Every once in a while, like let's say once a month I treat all trees anyway just to avoid any type of onset..Sort of a maintenence thing. Yes one part GOAT and one part of everything else..lol Just kidding..Let me know when you find any ingredients and then we can make something just like the 1.1.1 or 5.1.1 of an amended version of either..It will be real easy.. Perlite is a HUGE start. Napa store will usually have floor dry comparable to Turface and Pumice, sort of an inbetween..Make sure it does not fall apart when water touches it. Agway has all the bark fines you need...It's their own blue bag consisting of southern pine bark. The pet store might have big bags of Fir Bark. Grain stores usually carry Turface Mvp and or chicken grit growers size without crushed shells..It's pure crushed granite. Pool supply stores carry washed coarse sand..Very good stuff. The local Nursery might have a heavy mix that contains mostly bark. You can find Fafard at most Hydroponics stores and or look online to see who your local sellers are.. Pumice and or Turface can also be found at local Bonsai shops.. Your current mix is far superior than just a bagged mix and I can tell you had drainage in mind..Good job..But I am afraid if you don't change your trees out of it by next fall, it will go bust, decompose and compact... The 5.1.1 mix will only require a bunch of bark and perlite.. The 1.1.1 is easy to amend if you can't find all the actual ingredients.. Looks like you have plans for this spring, just like me. MIke:-)

I thought about miracle grow soil, I used a citrus and cactus blend almost 10 years ago for my cacti with good success. More recently 5 years or so ago I used their potting soil for some kale and it did well but the bag had millions of fungus gnats. Probably more a problem with the local storage conditions then the company but it did turn me off it till now. Given what I know now, I don't want to use the citrus and cactus mix because it contains sand but I will have to check to see what is in the garden soil. Miracle grow is always on sale, which could go either way in my opinion. I'm pretty happy with my current mix but it is very lightweight which works against me due to my clumsy dog and frequent winds. I also have zero experience with citrus before this so am really open to any suggestions. I've been trying to locate other options locally such as the gritty mix in case I need an emergency remedy I can fix things fast but my area is pretty generic so far. Thank you Silica for your input!

"And how many bags did you throw away before you found the good stuff?" How many bags of what did I throw out, precisely? I don't throw anything away... even if I can't use it in a container environment, I'll find a way to make it into something good for my vegetable garden, or I'll alter it for use in larger tubs or barrels. But to actually answer your question... none. I did some research before buying anything. I asked a lot of questions in the Container Gardening Forum, among others, found out what everyone else was using and where they were locating it, etc. Several people, including Mike, Josh, Al, Laura and a few others from that forum made some recommendations. Then, I began a little online research, looking at various growers, soils, what they had for sale, what size the pieces were, pricing plus shipping... I even checked eBay - just to have a look, and see what people were selling and buying. I found a ton of information using key words like "bonsai soil", "orchid bark", and others that might bring up links to places - like blogs, for example - that would show and/or tell me more regarding the type of medium I was interested in, and how they were using it, and where they were finding their ingredients. In my own situation, I don't need wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of medium. I only need enough to grow my Amaryllid collection, my orchids, and a few assorted other potted plants... some rather large, some small. We're probably talking somewhere around a couple of dozen 8" to 14" pots, give or take, some bigger or smaller by a few inches... plus a few hanging baskets. I mix smaller batches to accommodate whatever I'm growing, and wherever it will grow for the season - indoor or outdoor. I mix according to how much I think I might need for each planting project. This allows me to adjust ratios as needed, and I keep any mixed leftovers in covered containers. I use fir bark pieces, coarse perlite, granite chips, and turface (or equivalent) - and I mainly use a rendition of the Gritty Mix... (though I will make it more like the 511 for other projects.) I was actually surprised at how much information is available on the more porous types of medium on the internet... and I have to say that I found the most help over at the Container Gardening Forum, right here, at GW... or Houzz, as it is now. I was frustrated for a short time, myself... but I knew I would locate what I needed if I just had some patience, and kept asking questions. Gardening of any kind can be frustrating... there isn't just one single way to grow anything, or one single environment in which everyone grows the same way. The only things that are relative constants are what roots require to maintain health (which in turn maintains plant health), and the very basic physics of how water moves through soils in confined environments (pots). I'm 53 - I'm a Grandmother - and I don't mind saying that it took me well over half my life to find the information that really "clicked", logically speaking, and made growing plants as enjoyable and rewarding as I find it now! I limped along with mediocre success for a long time before I discovered Al's writings which really made me think about the whole process in a very straightforward and logical way. Oh, it certainly takes a little adjustment while a grower moves from peat based, bagged, soggy soils to a more porous medium with a larger particulate that we can control ourselves, with regard to moisture, nutrition, etc... but it's all been worth it. Even though it's completely understandable, there's no need for anyone to get ruffled feathers over this issue... the bottom line is, different areas of our country - not to mention different countries - will sell different products, whether it's a brand name issue, a pricing issue, a quality issue, or it's just difficult to find the particle size you need/want. There are so many nice people here, and in other forums - like the Container Gardening Forum - that will bend over backward to try to help you locate what you need, as close to your area as possible... and I believe Josh even has a YouTube video to help beginners by showing them how he prepares his 511 medium... I don't have a ready link, but google should be able to help easily enough. Mike is one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to know. And even though it's sometimes difficult to know what a person means through the written word... because we each have different styles of writing or expressing ourselves, and we can't see facial expression or hear tone... I know there is no way Mike would steer someone in the wrong direction, ever be rude, or take what may be unintentional rudeness from others personally. By the same token, there are some people who write off the cuff, so to speak, and maybe they simply don't realize how off-putting they come off through their typed words. It's all in how we interpret what we read... context and reading comprehension are more important then ever on message boards where we aren't face to face. Sometimes it helps if we take a moment, take a breath, and imagine ourselves in someone else's shoes... we can't know what others are feeling, what they're going through in life, with health, family, financial of other burdens that we might not consider. Sometimes, what we might not understand is that those who are disabled, or ill or immobile in some way, or are perhaps retired or advancing in age, or are recuperating from an illness or injury... whatever the case may be... we gather at forums like these, because we are unable to have those active lives that the few will tell us to get when they think, by their estimation, that we spend a lot of time on our computers, or on various forums and message boards. If only everyone were young and healthy and spry, and had the wherewithal to get an active, happy life... But really... Are we, or are we not all here because we love plants? And isn't the basic idea to share, to learn, to teach, to grow not just plants as optimally as we hope to from our experiences here, but also to try to grow as human beings through our experiences? Happy Gardening! :-)