Drew51 and sf rhino, thanks for the reminder! your correct we should not add this to a compost pile, I guess I will keep this in mind before I seriously consider using this. Here is a little work I done today, Polystyrene beads dry have a BD of 23.4 lb/ft3, I took 12ea. of these beads and soaked in water for 48 hrs and they weighed 0.7 g 12ea. of the dry beads weigh 0.4 g, do what you want with that I have nothing to compare that with since I don't have any granite or perlite at the moment. Something else I done was screened some calcined Diatomite over a 12 mesh screen, supplier was EP minerals Oil dry product BD of the +12 screenings were 21.4 lb/ft3 the -12 was 22.6 lb/ft3. I found tables on the net that says Crushed Granite is 97 lb/ft3, purposed substitute for granite is the poly beads. Turface MVP is 36 ñ 2 lb./ftó purposed substitute calcined Diatomite. I am posting some pics if I can figure this out, I have not figured out how to apply more then one pic per post so anyway here is the beads.

Hi, Kwie. We had a significant storm here & I've been w/o net service for a couple of days, or I'd have responded sooner. Come to find out, though, the cause was a bad modem & not the storm. Hint - place a higher value on the opinions of those that have actually USED the gritty mix to implement the concept that the more water held inside of soil particles and the less water held between particles, the better are your plants' chances to realize their genetic potential. Many growers simply announce they really don't understand the concept when they say that the gritty mix doesn't hold enough water. ..... and I'm not singling any one person out - only noting that because the gritty mix is so widely adjustable for water retention by varying the ratio of screened Turface:grit, it can be made so it holds a significant amount of water, yet no (or very little) perched water; so if it doesn't hold enough water at a 1:1:1 (or 3:3:3) bark:Turface:grit ratio, simply change to 3:4:2 bark:Turface:grit for more water retention. The bark's water holding ability is somewhere near the average of equal volumes of Turface + grit, so it is a good light weight and inexpensive way to bulk up the soil, provide a little nutrition, and ease the apprehension of those who are uneasy about growing in an entirely inorganic mix. The idea that only soils that are 'rich and black' can provide a healthy home for roots is deeply ingrained, even if completely false. Structure is the most important aspect of soil function, not its ability to feed the plant. Nutrition is monkey easy and on the grower's shoulders - or should be. 1) The gritty mix uses a limited volume of organic matter to ensure the soil cannot collapse. If you used only 2 components, like bark and Turface, you would have either too much water retention (for most apps), or too large of an organic fraction, which could clog the soil over time as the bark breaks down. You CAN use only Turface and grit if you like, but I would suggest you start at a 2:1 ratio of grit:screened Turface. Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 has everything in it that plants need, and super-simplifies the growing experience - makes it really hard to go wrong. 2) Grower size Gran-I-Grit and #2 cherrystone come prescreened, but I still give them a quick screen over insect screen to rid the grit of the dust ..... or I use a kitchen strainer and rinse it off. It's not much extra effort, and prevents any sludge build-up on the pot bottom. I also rinse until the water runs clear out of the drain hole when I first plant in fresh soil, for the same reason. Everything but the dust gets used. Screening is important because particles of roughly the same size don't compact. Think of a jar of marbles and a jar of BBs. Mix the BBs with the marbles and a good part of your air apace disappears. Mix in sand, and almost all of it disappears and the soil starts to hold perched water, which is the limiting factor the gritty mix is aimed at eliminating. 3) The finger test works if your pot diameter is large enough and the planting is established. If you give a little thought to your watering intervals, it's hard to over-water anything in the gritty mix. I water my succulents on the same schedule as all my other plants and never have a problem. I rarely 'test' to see if the soil is moist - after a little while, you'll develop a feel for when plants need watering. You only need 1 skewer or dowel if you use that method until you get a feel for things. Just wipe it dry with a paper towel or rag between tests. The reason many of us use 2 different soils is more a matter of $, effort (the 5:1:1 is easy, the gritty is more effort but a better end product), and how long a plant will go between repots. All my veggies and garden display containers that go on the compost pile in Oct get 5:1:1. All my long term plantings (2 or more growth cycles in the same soil) get the gritty mix. A few fast growers that would normally go in the gritty mix (hibiscus, datura, brugmansia, ....) also go in the 5:1:1 because root growth is so vigorous they need repotting every year if you want the most out of them. Anything else you can think of? Al

You can go to the Container Forum and find some answers to your questions more promptly that you will here. Locate Al and ask him directly, if you like. By the way, 'one part' means whatever measurement you will be consistently using. It could mean one big scoopful, one gallon, one cup, one whatever. Just make sure that the measurement quantity is the same for each component. You can't jump from cups for one ingredient and gallons for the others. Does that make sense?

"Worry about all the excess dirt." Get as much off as you can. There are many experts here. They know TONS more than I do. If you do a couple of searches up in the search box, you will find YEARS of threads on gritty mix and its variations, often with 30 comments per thread -- and HOW to pot. Josh and others have described at length how to bareroot a plant in warm water by dipping and even hosing, how to solidify it in the pot with gritty mix, how to poke out the air pockets as the mix settles, how to isolate it for a few days etc. It is worth doing the research.