Quick update- I have spent all day/night (literally for the past 13 hrs and it is now almost 1am) fretting over the possible death of my guys; reading and reading and becoming more and more confused between the various websites' info. One thing that has not confused me is the confidence everyone on THIS site has in Al's GM [Al, how r u not mass producing this already?! ;-) ] The current status of my guys are that they r not sitting in water but have received 2 very hot and steamy treatments in my bathroom over the course of the night- i am hoping this will mAke due by supplying SOME semblance of water w/o drowning them.... one website I read mentioned letting the roots dry out??? Again- lil Miss Confused over here :-/ All is (hopefully) not lost bc thru my trusty google search and Turface's website, I've located a dealer who is less than 5 miles from me! :-D I'm emailing the unsuspecting manager tomorrow and hopefully will be able to move forward w/ what seems to be one of the hardest of the materials to find. *fingers crossed* I will admit that altho I have pics, I am simply too embarrassed to post them :( and also have further confused myself by reading mentions of the 5:1:1 mix but out of pure exhaustion have not fully read up on-yet. It sounds like Al's GM works for all of my guys including all of the succulents I have managed to NOT kill (yaaaay me!). From the fellow forum members' posts, sounds like I can find the proper bark and granite supplies at my local Home Depot. Al - I know you are out there somewhere and I thank you for sharing this knowledge with the rest of us newbies!!! Will post again RE: the process!

Besides from the usual NPK nutrients, what's something I can add to a potting soil mix that provides the majority of trace nutrients through slow release? Will granite powder do most of the work?

For the sake of having fun with both sides of the issue, I'll play plastic pot advocate:-). Keep in mind I can only speak from my personal experience of growing tropicals in containers here in Oklahoma over the last 30 or so years. What works for you somewhere else in the world may trump anything I might say. All plastic pots is a stretch :-). I use the Rootmaker inc. plastic pot which probably is the best plastic pot in the world. The one gallon pot has 28 holes (actually 56 with 2 side by side) in it and it dries out faster than your clay pots. I've done side by side tests with a decent number of plants to see. The black plastic Rootmaker 1 with the predrilled holes all around the container dry out faster than a red clay pot of similar size in full sun. I grow almost exclusively in plastic. Big plants weigh too much on their own even without the clay pot. I will put some specimen Adenium down the road in very nice very shallow ceramic pots. If I want an adenium to develop a more shallow and wider root span, I'll take a 10 inch hanging basket (I have a bunch of used ones laying around) and drill 1/4 inch holes in it for faster drainage. The 20-30 holes will be on the bottom and on the sides maybe an 1/8 inch above where the bottom of the pot is. With bulb pans I dont bother. I can make a plastic pot drain much better and faster "easier" than I can modify a clay pot. A modified plastic pot can give you a good run for your money. I've got literally hundreds of clay pots I bought at a garage sale about 15 years ago that I don't use. As far as adeniums overpotted, no matter the pot make up, they will rot if grown in marginal soil. Crappy soil is crappy soil. A pot will not make the difference. Personally I think soil is the most important part of what we do with plants outside of care. Containers or container sizes are probably next. 3 years ago I skimped on soil with a bunch of adeniums because money was tight and I paid a huge price. Over half rotted and many were slow to recover. A few with nice blooms I rerooted after I lost most of the root system. I just don't loose adeniums with good soil. Never have and hopefully never will :-). I can put a nice adenium in crappy soil and kill it over the winter unless I'm totally focused on that plant and watch it very close. I can put a another nice adenium in a great soil mix and rarely have to focus as intensely on it as I do the one in crappy soil. Bad soils can hide rot problems sometimes until it's too late. Good soils with good care hide nothing. There's nothing to hide. randy

Hi, Ellamomi, I live in Syracuse, NY and had trouble finding the coarse vermiculite at Home Depot and other big chain stores. I looked up greenhouse and nursery supply places in the phone book and found one here that sold the vermiculite (They also had the peat moss, but you can find that at any local nursery or garden center....). Hope that helps. Good luck with your veggies!