Hi, Here´s an update of my experiment 1 month after repotting. There were ups and downs. The first couple of weeks i was struggling to get my PH right and now i´m using 3 tablespoons/10 L of vinegar everytime i water (that´s about PH 4,8) and now all my pots range from 4,8 - 5,7. I think this is working well, but if the ph keeps lowering more then i expect i´ll problably cut the vinegar to 2.5/2 Tbs/10L. Week #1 After reppoting I´ve feed all the plants with a solution of 10grms/10 L of 12.5-5-15 + Micronutrients (2L each Pot) and all the plants turned to a redish/brown 2 days after (photo in my last post). They looked not good at the end of week one. PH was going up and down as i was watering with regular tap water. Week #2 Started adding vinegar to water and PH of potting mix started lowering. All plants where growth stalled and redish/brown leaves didn´t developed any further. The exception come up with pot #5 which is a different and unknown cultivar that i bought already fruiting. This one´s leaves never turned pale green but some of the lower leaves started turning brown/purple. Fertilized with AS 2 times this week with 1/2 teaspoon /10L vinegar water(a little less than 1/2 tsp/2.5 gal). I gave each pot abou 1,5/2 L of this solution. Week #3 Fertilized once with the same AS dosis i did the week before. Some leaves started to show a scorch in the middle of the leaves and mostly the new ones started to burn a litlle on the leaves edges (maybe the AS solution is very strong or 1,5/2 L per plant is a lot, not sure here - i´m using 5 gal pots). Some pots showed up signs that something was not ok besides their color and the scortches, showing up some curled leaves, mostly the new ones. They were greener but kind of stalled. At this time, half the week was gone, and i stopped the AS fertilization and added 5grams/ of granular Organic fertilizer (half the recomend dosis) NPK 5-8-15 and Rocmagic Ironite as a source of nicronutrients with 1% Ca and 1% Mg. My goal here was to feed the plant with some nutrients that could be missing and to achieve the 3:1:2 ratio of NPK. Using this organic NPK and the AS i could get this ratio and and still use Fruitnuit´s fertilization program of AS (Feed N more times with a weak solution). Week #4 Temperatures turned from 60F(16C) average the first 3 weeks to 77F (25C) this week, and plants showed immediatly some growth and a lot of new vegetative buds and new shoots. Redish/brown seems to be fading away almost tottaly on older leaves by the end of the week, but all new leaves came up with a pale green color and just some of them with that redish/brown color especially on the borders. The older leaves were green almost like before re-potting. I was not really sure what to do here, i am sure the wheather was the most important factor of the plants recovery, not sure about the Organic NPK effect on this week´s growth. As thing were going ok, except for the pale green new leaves, I restarted the AS fertilization at the end of the week. Week #5 Temperatures droped again from 77F (25C) to 57F(14C) by day and 50F (10C) 50F by night, and the weather was very rainy and windy. Immediatly leaves and shoots stopped growing and the leaves turned everyday browner and browner. I still fertilized with AS once again this week, but leaves started to burn on the edges, so i stopped. Pot#5 is now with many leaves Brown/purple again. Pot #5 has more and more leaves colored purple. I think this is a lack of P, so i added 50 grams of Red Guano as a source of P only on this pot. I think weather had a dramatic influence on plant growth and i´m not sure of the contribute of the complete organic fertilizer. I still can´t get rid of the brown/red color on new leaves. I know brown/red leaves are normal in a spring with cold tempertures, and it´s true that when temperature raised to 77F (25C) leaves turned greener (pale green), but is it normal this leaf color with 57F(14C)? Or is there some nutrient missing too? Pale green color in new leaves seems to me like lack of N, but everytime i feed them with AS, there´s always a little burn on the edges and some burned tips too. What do you think of reducing to 1/4tsp AS/10L? 1,5/2L per bush in a 5 gallon pot seems ok? Must i fertilize with AS only when there is full sun? Pot #5, which as fruit, also has purple leaves and not many growth. It didn´t respond to AS (never did) and didn´t respond to the P in red guano yet (just feed them 3 days ago). Hope it recovers.. I´m hopping anyone can give me some advice of what´s going on pots #1 to #4 and specially #5. Thanks

Hi all. Thanks for the response. I already have a cactus and succulent mix which is organic and I have gotten good reviews on Al's Gritty Mix. I was wondering if I could you it alongside what I've already bought. Perhaps 3:1 of the als mixture vs the other one.

@Nil13 made reference to the Whitcomb 311 mix, which is an earlier historical attempt to create a more coarse potting soil for container plants. I think it is extremely helpful to read a document written by Carl Whitcomb that explains how he came on this formula by accident. Essentially what happened is he accidentally left nine test pots under a bench and everyone forgot they were there. They had successfully nearly killed all of their test plants by watering in a normal potting soil mix and the unwatered plants started to do very well. What I have started to realize is that any plant can do well in many different soil mixes, if you are able to carefully control the watering. This explains why so many people on this forum claim gritty mix is not as good for their succulents as their (fill in some random horrible soil with lots of small particles) mix. Inevitably those people are growing their plants indoors. They have enormous experience with their plant type and they know exactly when to water the plant. So that is the case of a very skilled gardener compensating for a very bad soil. What gritty mix does for me is let me grow succulents outside in very abusive weather conditions, without the plant dying. A plant can get a week of rain and it will still drain well. During Summer, gritty mix will tolerate a bit of overwatering, although you still really need to pay attention to not overwatering. Whether you make your 511 mix with perlite/peat, or with two parts Turface, or with lava and pumice, is probably in the big picture not going to be the deciding factor in whether your plants grow well or not. Success can be add with any of those mixes because the size of the particles allows the roots to breathe and prevents capillary action of water from bring the perched water table to the top of the pot and drowning the roots. Fine-tuning how you make 511 is a question of matching the plant type to the moisture retention of the soil and to the watering habit and climate exposure. Any 511 variant is going to do better than almost any commercial potting soil because of the larger particles used in the majority of the mix.

Seems to be exorbitantly expensive!! For that price you could purchase a reasonable quantity of the individual ingredients and make up a huge batch yourself. Others may have a differing opinion but I do not find the gritty mix to be essential for most houseplants - cacti and succulents being an exception. I would prefer something closer to the 5-1-1 mix to increase water retention so I wouldn't have to water as often. I tend to ignore indoor plants a lot compared to my containers and gardens outside and the heat and lack of humidity indoors can dry out things far too rapidly for my preference to attempt use something like a gritty mix on them.