The two questions I have are: why so many components, and is 5-10% of sand or perlite really gonna make a difference in anything? That's a pretty small fraction.

Nutrients do not need to be supplied in the form of compost or manure, though many people do choose to use them. It is possible to just use fertilizers/supplements instead.

HTH.

The usual response I get to coconut husk chips is "huh?"

No one in my area that I've found so far has even heard of them but for one other fellow Citrus Forum member who lives here. He buys them from a supplier in Orlando and was kind enough to get me a bale last time.

I'm using the recipe that Millet gave once and so far it works for me.

Here is what I do. After properly pre-soaking and then pre-treating the CHC's with CaNO3 and MgSo4 during the last rinse I then blend my growing medium mixture usually one cubic foot at a time. I start with the basic mix of 4 parts CHC (1/4 or 1/2 inch chips or a mix of the two sizes) to one part peat moss and to this basic mixture I add the following ingredients per 1-cubic foot:

.57-lbs. (258-gms) 23-4-8 one year slow release fertilizer.
.48-lbs. (218-gms) Dolomite
.08-lbs. ( 36-gms) Regular water soluble fertilizer w/o trace minerals.
.08-lbs. ( 36-gms) STEM (Soluble Trace Element Mix)

Blend entire mixture well. I then begin my regular fertilizer applications one month after transplanting the tree into the above medium.

1 cubic foot = 7.481 liquid gallons or 6.429 dry gallons

I have varied from this slightly by using 1.5 parts peat to 4 parts CHCs, but now that I've had a chance to observe my plants for some weeks now the recommended 4:1 is probably sufficient. I could not find any one year slow release fertilizer so I'm using some four month stuff, but given Florida's warm climate it probably releases faster than that.

.....Alan.

"I then begin my regular fertilizer applications one month after transplanting the tree into the above medium."

What type of fertilizer does he recommend using 1 month after transfering?

"After properly pre-soaking and then pre-treating the CHC's with CaNO3 and MgSo4 during the last rinse..."

Are these salts? Where do you purchase them, and how much should you add per cubic foot to your CHC's?

CaNO3 = calcium nitrate

MgSo4 = magnesium sulfate or Epsom salts

One teaspoon of each per gallon of water used to do the cation exchange in the coconut husk chips. Rinse the chips with normal water until it runs clear then rinse with the calcium/magnesium cation exhange solution.

I filled a laundry tub with chips to be rinsed and did so over a period of several days since it would be a week or so before I had time to do the repotting. This gave me an idea of how much water I needed to do a rinse so when it came time to do the cation exchange I simply dissolved a teaspoon of each per gallon of water until I had enough to fill the rinse tub.

Millet sent me the calcium nitrate as I could not find it locally. It's apparently commonly used in the greenhouse and hydroponics trade so you may find it that way. The Epsom salts can be found in pretty much any grocery or drug store.

Others since then have told me they never did the cation exchange at all and have seen no problems with salt burn so far. They did rinse their chips very thoroughly though. I may try a tree or two with chips that haven't had a cation exchange to see how well it would work.

He has access to a wide range of fertilizers so I'm not sure what he uses for his monthly feedings. I use ordinary Miracle Gro or Peters with a tablespoon of Epsom salts per gallon of water added every other month and so far it works well for me.

.....Alan.

Thanks Alan