Whether or not the materials are suitable depends more on their size than anything else. You want all the particles in the soil to be pretty regular in size and concentrated around that 1/8" size, +/- 1/16". I use equal parts of pre-screened orchid (fir) bark in 1/8-1/4" size, screened Turface, and either Gran-I-Grit in grower size or #2 cherrystone. You can't avoid the major work of a full repot, and the first time you do it, if the roots have been neglected, is the most difficult. The bad news is if you don't do it, your plants will steadily decline. The good news is that once the plants are in the gritty mix pictured, subsequent repots and root-pruning are quite easy. I have all my houseplants (including cacti/succulents) and all my woody material in the gritty mix. If you've spent time here on the Container Forum, you can probably tell I've done a LOT of experimenting with soils, and I've yet to find a formulation that tops the one I just shared above. It is a VERY good choice for any of your plants. I'm not sure what to tell you about your 'time' constraints. You can research further to find what the individual components 'jobs' are in the soil, and see if you have anything that closely matches their 'job description'. I CAN say that if you're particular about your soils, looking for and finding the ingredients I listed will be worth the time/energy outlay. Good luck. ;o) Al

If only you guys could see the back of Lumahai Valley in person, you would be astounded and alarmed at just how many there are! These ferns are bad- on par with miconia if not worse because they are spread by spore. The future forests of Kauai and probably all the islands will have no shortage of these ferns. Sadly, they can form near monotypic stands where the massive amounds of leaf litter from fallen fronds smother most understory life and create much debris (and far more than the Hapu'u). Perhaps if they cut most, if not all, the tree ferns down in peoples Kona yards, they could buy a few decades. I have seen them popping up on the Hilo side even in remote areas. Once I noticed one while in the Hapu'u forests. You can kill them by dicing up the growing top. Make sure you chop down until you get in the core. I disagree with feral ungulates carrying spores (The spores are everywhere in the air) but do notice that open dirt, as found in pig diggings, under houses, and in yards raked to the dirt, tend to have more seedlings coming in. They are extremely- and I repeat- extremely shade tolerant. I have them growing under my house among other places. They are easily distinguished from Hapu'u once you get the eye for it.

Yes, they do love humidity. They also drink water from the little hairs on the trunk. I have misters that spray up the trunks, they seem to grow quicker that way. It could well be that they dried a little in the heat.Though they dont have to have a lot of water [if you are short] they need dampness. Do you know which ones they are? Cyathea cooperi maybe? This would help, some like the heat more than others. Your feeding ideas sound perfect, they adore all that mulchy stuff.Sand is no worries with all those goodies added.I have heaps of them, lots of different ones. They are really beautiful arent they, I adore them. cheers L

The trouble with lists of frost hrady and dry hardy plants, is that they vary so much from area to area. Where my parents-in-law live in the wimmera, their sandy soil and lower rainfall means plants like lavender and rosemary will die if they aren't watered, whereas mine are never watered and do extremely well here on my heavier soils, colder climate and higher rainfall. My echiums, which are listed as 'frost sensitive' have been frosted many, many times and are growing like crazy things. I love them. As for trees - the five acre front of my block is planted out to about 1000 decidious trees. I love them at any time of the year. The silver birches look great in any season, as do the ornamental pears, with their shiny red bark. How would you ever enjoy the twisted limbs of the Scotch elm if the leaves didn't drop off once a year? We mulch with straw and manure. The large groves of birch trees were not watered through the drought and did very well. We are slowly manuring and mulching every tree. The ones we have done are growing like crazy and need very little attention. As for water - we don't get town water, so supply our own. I use it however I want to at whatever time of the day I want to. If anyone doesn't like it, come here and tell me face to face. (...and I will squirt you with the hose ;-) You want to save some of the planet's resources? Stop buying pre-prepared food in multiple packaging. Buy 'whole' food only and make your own. My absolute top plant for dry, un-mulched, un-manured sandy, clay soil? Ornamental grapes. They look good in winter too. Finally, I have lived, worked and gardened in every outback, stinking hot, dry and impoverished place in Australia. We moved here because of the climate and rainfall and I intend to plant, water, manure and mulch whatever I damn well please. If that offends anyone, as my nephew would say - talk to the eyeballs. Or try gardening in Paraburdoo without watering, mulching or manuring anything and see how much fun gardening can really be! Robyn