Nguyenty - it looks like your Turface has already been screened? The #5 gravel looks very good - about the same size as the granite or cherrystone I use. You're better off with the granite fraction being a bit too small than the Turface fraction, because the granite holds so little water comparatively. I think what I would do is use it as is. I wouldn't fertilize at each watering because I suggest you DO water in sips, with an occasional flush until the roots have colonized the soil mass. At that point, with an established planting, it becomes less likely you could over-water. I would also suggest you insert a wick through the bottom of the pot at the perimeter (if plastic), and after flushing the soil or watering, tilt the container at a 45* angle with the wick down. This changes the shape of the soil that CAN be occupied by perched water to an inverted triangle, better said - a triangle standing on an apex - and reduces the volume of excess water a planting CAN hold; and, the wick increases the effectiveness of the strategy significantly. ..... not lecturing or being snotty. Think of it as a reminder to anyone following along ~ The reasoning behind the gritty mix: it provides a soil with little or no perched water that retains it's structure indefinitely. If anyone is going to build a soil similar to the gritty mix but lacking these two properties, there is little sense in going through all the effort when something like the less expensive and easier to make 5:1:1 mix would serve as well. Really glad to see you made the effort. I hope you let us know if in the end you think the dividends justify the diligence. Al

The title says it best - both circumstances are bad. So given the "lesser of two evils", to me it has to be too dry. There are so many bad things related to gardening in too wet conditions based on when this occurs: How do you prep? How do you seed? How do you do maintenance? How do you harvest? Everything is a hassle, everything is a mess. Not to mention diseases, rampant weed germination, soil compaction, root rot, rotting root vegetables, poor harvests, poor keeping qualities of produce, etc. A too wet situation has no positives whatsoever that I can see, related to home gardening. Gardening in too dry: I take "too dry" to be different from "drought". If the situation is severe, long term drought than what is the point in even worrying about a garden - it will be toast no matter what you do. The problem is that too dry usually goes hand in hand with too hot - the double whammy that stresses and kills. And pests and diseases can easily damage and kill stress-weakened plants as well. But there are positives such as fewer weeds germinating, root veggies come out clean, plus some veggies thrive in the heat (my peppers LOVE it). Mulching, target watering, and strategic use of removable shade can still get a person a very good harvest under too dry conditions. My question is: When will cisterns come back into wide use? Around here every old house had a cistern in the basement to collect rainwater for household use. None are used anymore, and new houses obviously are not built with them. I collect rainwater in cisterns for gardening use because it is better water for plants than well water, I am not stressing the well supply, and I can use it to get over the dry spell "humps". I have around a 6-8 week supply. If I use up all my rainwater then I consider my situation to be in a drought and all bets are off - I may start using well water or I may just decide to pack it in for the season. Usually I will cut back and just focus on the critical stuff being grown mainly for seed stock. My nightmare is: Having to someday rely on home gardening as a primary food source and having either of these two evils occur. Food for thought, so to speak. Have a good day.

It's hard to tell from your pictures, but if you're sure you're not over-watering, it looks as though there might be a high level of solubles in play. Also, no plant likes to be root bound. The unwanted effects of tight roots include shorter internodes & loss of branch extension, smaller leaves, lower vitality, shedding of older foliage so that most growth is concentrated near meristematic regions (near branch tips), and often the inability to water properly. I would do a complete repot, which includes bare-rooting, root-pruning, and a change of soil. Repotting and root pruning has a SIGNIFICANT rejuvenating effect on plants. Plants repotted can be counted on to exhibit greater biomass by the end of the growth cycle than their counterparts that may not have been so fortunate as to be as well cared for. If you're interested in how to take care of trees in containers, I would suggest you read and become familiar with the information in the thread I'll link you too. I've have been growing trees in containers for more than 25 years, and teaching gardeners in my own and surrounding communities, how to improve their skillset relative to container culture. I currently have somewhere between 250-300 old woody plants, covering many dozen species, in containers - all perfectly healthy. Al

I recently got the newest addition of The World Of Hoyas by Dale Kloppenburgh and in it he mentions that the Philippine Hoya species like to be watered frequently and that they should not be allowed to dry out like many other Hoya species. Having said this it is very important to have a fast draining potting mix to allow air to reach the roots. I grow my Hoya DS-70 in a short 5" clay pot and I water it pretty much every day. My plant does very well with this treatment because the fast draining potting mix and clay pot allow lots of air in the root zone. I have never grown this Hoya in a plastic or glazed pot but I know many others have so hopefully they can help. Are your plants newly potted or have they been together in the pot for some time? If you have recently potted the cuttings together you might need to water less until the roots colonize the potting media a little more. Mike