I use 511 regularly, where I work we provide machinery that focuses on cleaning grains, plastic extrusions, reclaimed sheet rock, reclaimed glass etc. we separate unwanted fines, or unwanted particle sizes from many various products via screening, air aspiration as well as other methods. This brings me to my question about gritty mix, I just happened upon some poly beads about 3/16 diameter, could this be used as the grit fraction in gritty mix? What I mean by grit is the the granite, or the inert fraction of the mix, the beads seem to be nearly inert, I process all my pine bark through a machine called a reel eliminator, it has various sizes of screens so I can dictate what particle size I want by varying the screen size, I always look for the bags of pine bark mulch that looks some what composted, and separate that into the fines I want, typical what ever will go through a 3/8 screen. I processed 4ea. 2.5 cubic bags in 10 minutes last week, sure makes it easy compared to my screens at home. I am wanting to make up some gritty mix primarily for some citrus trees in my greenhouse, these polystyrene beads have become plentiful and don't weigh very much. You guys are the experts and would love to hear your opinions, Thanks

oh and the NAPA floor dry also contains

Being a complete loon about old things that remind me of people or times past, my house is filled with what appear to be random things but which are precious to me. One of them is a loose leaf cookbook that my brother and I gave to my mother when we were just children. It is very meaningful to me, partly for the recipes she saved there - the cherry pie she always made instead of cake for my Daddy's birthday, the carrot cake she was "required" to bring to every family celebration, her "official" recipes for brown sugar fudge, strawberry pie, bourbon balls, Gramma's egg custard pie and many others, all of them keepers. There is our family jello salad recipe (ours is orange) and the recipe for a family oddity called "Mom's Gom" - you wouldn't believe the ingredients if I told you and you would never believe how good it tastes! Mama's book also contains various recipes for something called "porcupines" and more than one recipe for German potato salad. That would be strange except that I well remember her quest for those two dishes. She kept more than one recipe so I don't know if all were acceptable or if none hit the mark. What's important to me is the reminder than she tried so hard to make the things she cooked the BEST for her family. There are also old letters she received with recipes from my grandma and aunts - one on military stationery from WWII and all so aged that they are fragile and falling apart at the creases. There are even a few from me that show how Mama carefully treasured the signs that I was beginning to have my own successes in the kitchen. Last year I copied out many of the recipes from Mama's book along with others I've collected from friends through the years and put them in a recipe book for my daughter. I know Mama's recipes won't mean as much to her because she didn't have the opportunity to know my mother but I like to think that this little bit of family history has a chance to live on.

No Clue, This link may help you... Remamber to moisten the mix before you add to the pot. I take my mix that is nmake and add water and mix it all around to make sure the bark and the turface has some moisture in the mix, I dont soak , but i will mist the roots before i pot up. When i screen my turface, i do use a kitchen strainer and it does a great job sifting out the smaller fines fron the Turface, I save these little fines for seeds.. The 1/4 in screen can be found at any hardware dealer;;box stores etc. TYou dont have to buy a huge roll either. They seell smaller bags of screen for repaalcement screens and such. MY DH made screen like AL's. He made them a little larger than AL's, lol nut he did a great job. You dont even have to go through that process if you dont want to. you could lay the screen over a container, like a wheelbarrow and sift over that to collect the fines or fir bark that fall thr the 1/4 screen. This would be for the gritty Mix. I would suggest that you go back and reread the above link that AL wrote ..it took me several times to finally get it and it also has pics of his screen too! I hope this helps.. I dont fertilize until a couple of weeks in the new mix. then i reduce it by half and then the following week, i start at the normal amount of Foliage Pro. Always take your newly planted trees and keep them from direct light..you want then to acclimate them to the new surroundsing and not cause any stree, Then after several weeks, put them back into the sun. Goofd Luck..learn how to watch the mix as it drys.. you want to use the wet /dry cycle on all of your Plumeria. in any mix that you choose. O awwoden skewer is a great tool to use.. put it in..if it is wet dont water..it is is dry..,water..if ur not sure..then water lightly... Take care, Laura Here is a link that might be useful: Taking A Bare Rooted Tree And Planting into The Gritty Mix