I'll let others comment on the replacement question but.... I'm not in Chicago, but I'm in the same region and the local Home Depot currently carries very acceptable PBF under the Golden Triumph label. As many others have mentioned, check the bags because there tends to be variability - even on the same pallet. HD also has ground cocoa shell mulch - a bit more expensive, but I've used it as a substitute for PBF in the past with great success.

Bone meal breaks down so slowly in containers that you may as well call it ineffectual. I hope you'll consider using dolomitic (garden) lime in its stead, @ 1/3 - 1/2 cup/cu ft. How much blood meal you can/should use depends on a variety of things, chief among them being soil biota population level, which determine how rapidly the nutrients become available, and soil temperatures. Blood meal really encourages fungal growth in containers, but more importantly, it can be extremely difficult to manage in any media that contains a high % of organic materials; it breaks down very quickly & can burn easily; it also loses much of its N through volatilization (gas), and is very high in ammonium (ammonium toxicity becomes a major issue in soils below 55* or above 80*). High soil temperatures inhibit the conversion of ammonium to nitrate, and low temperatures exacerbate ammonium toxicity in organic soils at rates as low as 2 lbs/ cu yd. The cup (1/2 lb) suggested is enough to (by itself) supply maximum nitrification to more than 7 cu ft of soil (>55 gallons), and this doesn't take into account the added N from other sources. This makes the potential for extremely rapid delivery (and burn) very great, with no way to control the rate of delivery. Al

I'm guessing you already tried the big box retailers (home depot, loews, ...)? Hicks Nursery probably has stuff but they're prohibitively expensive unless they're having a sale.

zensojourner It is great for you to share your positive experience with grow stones... Nobody is arguing with you against grow stones. But you do have some of the info about perlite mixed up. If you don't like it - NP, don't use it. Yes, it does float because it is so light. It could be substituted with pumice - but pumice is not as readily available to many (just as turface isn't to some) and many ppl do consider cost of material - you do too. Same with growstones - they are not inexpensive. I could say exactly same about vermiculite ("I hate it with bloody passion...") - I would never use it in a mix - that is what I think of it. But everything has its use (and so does vermiculite). All your posts are mostly rant against perlite...yet nobody is telling you/forcing you to use it. Do you know what total porosity and water holding capacity of any substrate is? Btw, doing thaw-freeze test for turface (or any other substrate) is not to find out how it holds during freeze/winter. It is to find out if it will turn to mush or not. Freezing and thawing it will produce fast results instead of just wetting it and waiting for weeks or months to see how it reacts after subsequent watering. Some bags are of inferior quality (I have not have that experience yet), as are many of oil absorbent (any make). Cat litter is used a lot as substitute for turface - but one has to know which one to use and definitely do freeze/thaw test. So one should get proper info about any substrate and decide which one to use. And, as already pointed out, cost is important to many. There is np with using different materials, important is to know how they perform on their own and in a mix, and using them in proper proportions. Many ppl are using LechuzaPon ready-made mix. They have great results - and yet, someone posted about having problem with a batch they purchased. It is very possible that batch happens to be defective in some way rather than saying all LechuzaPon is no good... I use perlite a lot (can't get pumice easily). Have about 300 pots of succulents, and they are growing very well. Some mix is 50/50 grit/perlite, other perlite+grit in equal amounts + smaller portion of turface. I have potted some in a mix of grit+turface - any of them are doing well. These mixes are fast draining and well aerated. I keep all my plants outdoors from Spring to late Fall, and indoors during winter. They are all exposed to elements outdoors and get rained on (that is how they get watered most of the times! :) - I would protect some succulents if there was excessive rainstorm/many consecutive days of heavy rain. I use lot of chunkier perlite in potting mix for other plants too (easy to find in hydroponic stores), even veggies that I grow in containers. I would actually use gritty mix if it wasn't heavy in big pots :) Perlite will float to surface eventually but not in a day or few, but I don't see it deteriorating as you said. I do not have (yet) 50 years of growing plants behind me so can't say how they will (mixes) perform after many years. Actually, I probably never find out since container grown plants need to be repotted eventually...so nothing is in same mix for many, many years :) Edited to add: didn't see your last post as I was typing mine...have to read it yet but I find buying in bulk (from hydro stores that carries bigger bags) is actually more cost effective than buying smaller bags in any BBS ...and that is in Canada, where we pay more for everything -:(