I thought I posted this on the gardenweb forum. Now it's houzz? Had to sign up for a new user name. Anyway soo - you can get the Naked Gardener Compost or Debco Premium Potting Mix from Masters (closing soon). Course Perlite is from The Perlite & Vermiculite Factory Myaree (much cheaper than anywhere else). Sand I got from a bulk landscape place (lawn mix) but you can get 10 or 20kg bags of builders sand at Bunnings. Zeochlor is in the pool section at Bunnings. Rock Dust I got from the manufacturer direct somewhere in Bibralake (called Natural PK) but I think but you can now get a similar product from Waldecks (in Myaree at least). Waldecks also sell bentonite clay. I still want to try the gritty mix but getting my hands on all the materials has proved very difficult when I tried last year. I found a Queensland company that makes course DE (for mopping up oil/chemicals) but they didn't have a distributor in Perth. Nobody I could find has pine bark in the right size - and even if they did I'd have to by a cement mixer and modify it with a fine wire to screen it. Honestly, if an agricultural company were to produce the gritty mix and sell it in bags I think they'd make bank - even considering how long it lasts.

I've used many different kinds of potting mixes and will NEVER use anything but Fafard again, though NOT the product on the retail shelves. Their (so called)professional mix is much like the rest of the stuff....barely so-so. But Fafard makes a line of mixes for growers and that's what I use. You may have to have your retailer special order it, but it will be totally worth it for container growing. I used these mediums back when I was a grower of nursery crops and that's how I became introduced to Fafard. My salesman was smart...I had been using ProMix and MetroMix....he left me 5 or 6 bags "to try" and I've never looked back, lol. That was over 20 years ago. I've attached a link so that you can look at the packaging and read the ingredients. I always go for the heavy weight mixes. I buy the Nursery Mix most of the time but keep some of the #3 on hand, too. You'll probably need to visit a locally owned garden center or nursery for a special order. If you're lucky, the nursery, if they do any growing at all, might even have some in stock that they will be willing to sell you. I have a large bail of ProMix in my garage that someone gave me years ago, and I haven't touched it. I'll use it in the gardens one of these days, but never in a container. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here for more information

I am thoroughly disgusted with peat. It breaks down, compresses, rapidly decomposes into a solid rock like substance unless large amounts of vermiculite and perlite are added, and that makes it extremely difficult to maintain moisture in the pots. I am watering everyday and sometimes need to water twice a day. Wick watering is not an option because of how I display my plants and also because of rapid evaporation. I need a heavier soil that does not retain moisture like peat does. Peat also is devoid of any nutrients, does not retain nutrients so fertilizing is more the art of hydroponics rather than soil based science. I don't have garden loam this being Arizona rock and sand desert soil. Any suggestions? I can get well rotted manure, blood meal, bone meal. Anything else necessary?

2 weeks is fast, maybe shock from potting up, or was it a repot -did you wash the old soil off, or prune roots much.. if so they normally need shade for a period, plus this is a hard time of year for it Hoping a tree pro sees this quick- there could be something more complicated, but in the meantime every day may be too much water- stick a chopstick or something down in the soil and see how much moisture is in there, and check out the moisture at the drain hole- try putting a wick in there which touches the ground and it'll let the excess moisture wick out(!) The composted bark may be broken down more than you want (I have a hard time getting bark fines too! If you don't mind the crazy price, "repti-bark" sold in pet shops is great.)