Oh or does anyone have an even better option that they trust?

That looks pretty good. My only concern would be how large the pieces are. Were they sifted? They don't provide that info on the site.

I've heard just that repotme isn't sifted very well. If so, it'll hold more water than expected.

A cheep sieve from the dollar store would work. Cost for me (with very expensive bark) was about triple bags of C&S soil, to make my own.

But if you sift the bark, then you've altered the ratio of the ingredients.

Josh

Where do you live? I am going to mix up a batch here soon and wouldn't mind sharing is you can just cover cost.

Baltimore. How much would you charge? I'm considering the $20 bag since I only have a few plants right now and want to make sure this actually works out for me.

Thanks Bernard! I don't have a way of sifting but I'll do my best.

I would have to do the math but it's sound like they're mix might not be so bad. I know Bernard has some nice plants and gives great advice.

Okay, I'll try it and see how it goes for me. Thanks for offering!

No problem. If it doesn't work out let me know. I bought a HUGE bag of turface a week or so ago and will be making a large batch of mix soon

Thanks Deva - I try, I really do. I feel like the 1-1-1 gritty mix is a good general potting mix for most common succulents and cacti, but after losing a few rare plants, I'm inclined to say certain fussier plants (ie rarer echeverias, variegated species) that are more prone to root rot do better with drier substrates. The idea of organic materials in a mix is great, but they always have the potential to harbor pathogens for fungus and bacteria that explodes when the conditions are right -- especially during the summer. Dampness/Humidity + Heat = fungus paradise. The sad part about fungus infections on plants are that there are virtually no cure but to isolate the infected parts or cut open your plants. If you are remaking a new batch of GM, do consider eliminating the bark portion and replace it another non-organic substrate. It will save you a world of pain from infested fungus to unwelcomed guests ie Spring Tails, that are attracted to the contents in your bark mix.

En2 - Sifting is pretty straightforward. Go to a hardware store buy about 1/2 yard of 1) Insect Mesh (Use this to screen the finer particles off your soil) 2) Hardware Mesh (These are usually 1/8", anything bigger are considered too big)

Best of luck

Even ordinary kitchen sieve from a dollar store would work in a pinch...it will sift out the fines that insect screen would.

Bernard. What do you use then? Just grit and turface? I have some plants in a 50/50 mix, but I'm just unsure if that's wise. I like it. I like that it is completely not organic and reusable. But. I figured that Al has it in there for a reason too advanced for me to understand. So I'm just unsure what to do.

Also. I just found a 50lb bag of 1/16 size grit for $7!!!! I was about to buy the regular small, $5 bags then looked around just a bit and found this big bag. And it was cheaper!

Deva, how are your plants performing in the 50turface/50grit mix?

Right now, I'm experimenting adding chucky perlite larger >1/16" into turface and grit. So now it's a 1-1-1 turface, grit, perlite. If I want it even drier, I'll add an additional part of volcanic rocks/growstones whichever I have available. If I remember correctly, Rina soil mix consists of 3 parts- turface, grit and pumice, a completely inorganic mix.

My reasoning is the size of my turface and grit are too similar in size, so they might compact the air space between the roots, so with the additional coarse perlite can hopefully give room and airways to the roots to breathe and prevent tight constriction.

Eliminating the organic component also reduces the chances of harboring conditions for pests. As previously mentioned, most pest are attracted to the conditions created by the organic typed materials in the soil, then infesting the next organic material which are your plant's roots/foliage.

Hidden pathogens/fungi spores are more prone in organic soil/material (in this case barks) that are unseen to the naked eye, but explodes when the conditions are ideal, ie during summer and once plants are infected by such disease, its either rot or death with no cure but surgery.

Bark components can also become hydrophobic when dried/heated for too long, I experienced this with some of my plants before. It's not a serious problem, but it can get annoying and you'll need to know how to re-hydrate your mix by soaking.

I believe Al grow alot of bonsai trees but I'm not sure about him growing succulents, and though the 1-1-1 might be ideal for alot of porous free draining loving plants, but some xerophilic roots still prefer to be on the drier side. I know for a fact that he intentionally created a part organic component in the GM for its natural bacteria break down process, which he explained is beneficial for plant's roots in terms of creating acidity and other goodness to the soil, but you do have to note that he had 20 over years experience in growing. Controlling water/soil/temperature balance is not easy, even with the gritty mix. But where as if you grow xerophyllic plants, you only need to control your moisture level in the soil, and not worry about anything else. I personally have a heavier hand in watering, so I'm trying to alter mix that works better for me and my habits.

These resources might help:

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/GrowingMedium

This thread is my fav so far discussing about GM without bark -- I've wrote a link in there on a post regarding the many types of inorganic soil components you can use.

Bernard

Wow!!! Thanks for the info Bernard! I will have to go through and read those links.

My plants are doing fine in the 50/50 mix. So I may stick with that unless I find a good source and reason for adding something else. Especially given that I have 100lbs of it for a total of $27!!! But I do like the idea of adding lava rock, pumice, or perlite. I'll just have to do some reading up to decide what to do.

Speaking of Al, we messaged each other a few months ago and then..nothing. Anyone know how he's doing?

I think he's OK, I read lots of posts of his on Container and/or Houseplants forums.

oh that's great, thanks Ms. Rina : )

Np Deva, it's a lot of information and I've sorta become a c&s soil geek now.

I learnt alot from xerophytenyc, I just wished I could pm him for more Q&A, it would definitely be very insightful.

Here are some of my top fav threads he had posted. I'm just gonna quote him.

1. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1853340/soil-substrate-comparisons?n=7

"My soil mix dries out pretty quickly on warm sunny days. What I do when plants are actively growing is to water lightly late in the day or evening so that the the sun does not dry the pots out, giving the roots time to soak up the H2O. I will then water again, heavily, the next morning to leach out any residues.

I agree, plants with thick tap roots probably benefit from a more open, coarse mix. Most mesembs with fine, shallow roots probably are better off in a dense mix that can retain moisture for long enough to give the rootlets time to absorb the available moisture."

"I can't make any profound statements here because there are so many interactive factors when mixing these things in a pot that my head would explode if I even tried. Example, perlite is very porous but mixed with something like fine sand or soil, these spaces are then filled so you lose some of this effect. Although if you look at the 50-50 data, it is pretty much a straight average between the 2 separate parts.

Too much perlite, coarse gravel, or lava rock (pumice) reduces the ability of the mix to hold onto moisture so the mix would dry out quickly. Turface, however, is just as porous but simultaneously holds enough water to keep the mix from becoming too dry. Peat has decent properties but they don't last. Soil by itself is terrible, but mixed with perlite, lava rock or gravel would seem to provide similar results to using turface alone. Turface + soil may retain too much water.

A mix that contains somewhat equal amounts of A) turface, B) perlite, gravel or lava rock and C) loam or equivalent would seem to have good overall porosity, aeration, and some water holding capacity."

I'm looking into include natural sandy loam as an organic component into my mix instead of bark. And I want more porosity, so I'm thinking something around 30% turface 30% perlite 30%grit/gravel 10% loam.

2. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1799211/als-gritty-mix-as-an-ice-cream-topping?n=30

A couple good post about using garden loam, and growing mesembs in dense soil than GM.

3. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1770432/paranoid-about-rotting-my-plants?n=26

This post is perhaps the most insightful for me, and will differ greatly between an amateur grower to a seasoned grower in the knowledge of container gardening (which is what we do, growing plants in pots). At the end of the day, it's boils down to one very simple fact - when you get happy roots, you get happy plants. That's why we go through great lengths in discussing soil mixes, watering habits and container types.

"One of things that happens in a pot where roots are confined is that an extended dry period ends up killing fine roots and root tips, whose function is to absorb water. Then, when the plant looks thirsty, you try to water but in reality the plant cannot absorb the water and instead there are dead roots sitting in moist soil. The weakened plant then succumbs to fungal rot.

On a warm, sunny and/ or windy day the soil mix in a pot dries out much faster than the same soil in the ground. Drainage in a pot is also generally not as good as in the ground. Soil temperatures are unfavorably higher in a pot than in the ground. Everything is working against what's best for the plant.

One needs to understand all these things and formulate a plan that works for a particular species in your growing conditions. Soil mixes can be tinkered and watering adjusted to keep the root zone in good shape. There are too many strategies to discuss but until the grower develops a grasp for these and other concepts, the end result will continue to be disappointment.

It's generally a mistake to let a potted plant get bone dry, no matter how 'sensitive' the plant is. That is a very stressful situation for the plant. Succulents are so well adapted that they can tolerate these abuses for some time. Then, all of a sudden a plant rots, leaving the grower to wonder what happened. And the blame is usually made on an overwatering.

The truth is that 1 or even 2 untimely waterings should not harm a healthy plant. A weak plant can suffer.

I realize this post seems vague but it is impossible to give details for such a broad topic. One piece of advice I can provide is to learn how to incorporate some sort of clay (ultra fine soil particles) component into succulent potting mixes. Clayey soil from the garden could work. As does Turface, a calcined clay product. Clay has excellent water retentive properties. During times of drought, the clay component of soil mixes can hold onto just enough moisture to keep rootlets alive.

Excellent porosity and aeration is also critical. You should comfortably be able to water any succulent in a pot so that excess drains out the bottom, without fear of a wet soil. If your mix is such that you only water a little at a time because you're afraid that the soil will be too wet, then you need to come up with a new formula.

Bonsai enthusiasts are among the most knowledgeable gardeners when it comes to understanding soil physics. There is loads of good information available online and on these forums."

$7 for a 50lb bag of grit can probably last me a good 10 years! Lol - lucky you on finding such a great deal! Stuff aren't that cheap here in NY.

En2 - sorry for hijacking your thread. I was just giving Deva explanation to why some people not use bark, so hopefully some of these info can provide you insights too.

Bernard

Thanks Bernard, that is some great info. I went to the link and the pictures aren't showing up. I will assume the pictures have been lost to time and the switch over. But an interesting post nonetheless. Unfortunately, I haven't the time nor the funds right now to really experiment with potting media, although I am interested. As a grad student my free time is few and far between.

I find it interesting that many recommend that mesembs be potted in a finer material. I have two in gritty mix and they are doing well so far. But maybe I should change it up. I dunno. I like the gritty mix because I dont have to worry about over watering. Its a pain to water everything regularly, but we get a fair amount of rain here and I keep my plants outdoors, uncovered, so I don't have to worry about them getting too much rain. Its more like - awesome, I dont have to water them for a few more days. I will see how this mix goes without any bark, and if any plants seem to suffer. One that I am questioning in my string of bananas. I had a cutting in C&S soil/perlite mix and it was bigger, shiner, and just more plump than the rest of the plant that is in gritty mix. They do have finer roots so maybe they need smaller potting media... I was just thinking I might try to fertalize more..

Yea these are some old posts, so no surprise the picture links don't really work anymore. He even recommended one very good article page about mesembs that is no longer active, I read it once, but didn't get a chance save a copy.

I believe like all plants, certain mesembs are more hardier than others. Yours perhaps does not belong to the latter. So no rush off to repot if they are doing fairly well.

My observation for plants in GM is they promote extreme root growth, but not foliage. But then again, once plants are very established with roots and they decide to focus it energy now to grow some greens and floral, it will all happen really quickly. On the opposite, when given moisture very often in the mix, the plants don't see the need to root more, but just happily sip water whenever it feels like, and store as much water as possible - which is why we believe to see more plumpness in leaves thinking they fair much better.

Then again, this is just my observation and thoughts. In the long run, I rather have a more well established root system plant than a weaker one. Leaves can be replaced easily, but roots die way faster than they can be replaced.

Fertilizing more definitely helps, but do it slowly by increments. I was greedy and overloaded my newer transitioning plants with more fertilizers, and I suffer the results of the possibility of root burn.

No need to apologize Bernard! This is all so helpful and you're all geniuses. So here's a question: I need to switch over to GM before winter, but when would be best? Problem is my plants seem like they're actually starting to do really well and I don't want to disturb them again too soon. When I DO change over, it will be into individual pots and I won't be able to give them the sun they're getting right now hanging on my balcony.