Question soil, mixture, gritty mix composition for crassula
hills456
8 years ago
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hills456
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agohere are some photos before springtime
they are healthy as long as i can say and doing fine in normal cheap potting compost.
but i want to try out something new and maybe i can improve things.
the little red color spots on the leafs of the old mother crassula are gone :/ i hope they will come back.
hills456
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Another question regarding watering with gritty mix and 511 mix.
Comments (0)Hi all, Last year, I made some 511 mix using the gritty mix components. I had the gritty mix ingredients readily available but I didn't think I could water every day, so, I used the 511 ratio with the fir bark, granite, and turface thinking that the 5 parts of bark would retain more water. I may not have accomplished my goal, or I may not have the correct watering/fertilizing schedule. I may have may some other mistake, as well. I would appreciate any comments from those more experienced. Thanks in advance to all who have time from re-potting to answer. I use my modified 511 mix for 2 very young citrus, one Meyer Lemon, and one Mexican Lime. These had nearly died off the first winter due to frost as well as having been in overly large containers (halved wine barrels) in potting soil with very little drainage. They responded well to being in the new mix, I also put them in smaller plastic containers about half the size of the wine barrels but these may have been too big as well as far as watering goes. The mop string was moist at the bottom of the container but the mixture may have been dry where the plant roots actually were. Over the summer, however, the leaves started turning yellow. I had been fertilizing with MG 12-4-8 and occasionally with Epsom salt. At the end of the summer, I added a liquid Bloom product for citrus and the leaves responded but no flowers. This winter they have done better. I kept them from frost and have continued with the same water/fertilizer (once a week) and they are both now producing blooms and fruit. Very mild winter here this year. I'm concerned that with the advent of summer conditions, I may not be watering enough or have the proper fertilizer. The plastic containers the citrus are in have a decorative lip which is breaking off from my moving the containers under cover at night, and I'm starting to lose the soil at the top. I'm wondering if it is too late to re-pot now or would it be better to wait until later in the spring? Also, If I could re-pot now, would it be a good idea to use a smaller size container so as to avoid having the top of the pot dry out and the bottom still be moist? My other container plants are blueberry bushes which seem to be doing well in this mix except for one which went into the mix without removing the original soil. (I don't know what I was thinking!) Again, I wonder if I can re pot this one bush and remove the old soil or is it too late for that? With the mild weather conditions, these have been in bloom almost all of Feb. The blueberries were in smaller containers so I think the amount of water they got over the summer was the correct amount. I also used vinegar with the fert. After reading again the idea to use the wood skewers, I think that may be more helpful than the mop string at the bottom. Thanks for any advice. Ande...See MoreGritty Mix Questions
Comments (12)Well put, Waryap... I agree. I don't think it's gardening that attracts those few exceptions, either... I think it's more a message board thing. You'll find that every message board has its typical, recognizable players. But that aside, the majority of folks are simply wonderful. Most are not only plant lovers, but pet lovers, too, the ratio being interestingly high. I await each of Al's articles with bated breath, knowing there will be a wealth of information contained therein. And I don't have to worry that it will be too technical or scientifically complicated for me to grasp. I know that each writing will have meritorious information that I can use... and whether I grow bonsai or not, a good portion of it will translate nicely to the plants I do grow and the trees and shrubs in my yard. Some of the ideas are so common sense that I'm surprised they didn't occur to me long ago, proving how filled with misinformation and wive's tales the world of gardening really is! I don't know... maybe I just thought some of it was a lot more complicated than it is. Take fertilizer, as example... the store shelves are loaded with different formulas. But when it comes right down to it, most plants require basically the same things, so why would we need so many different mixtures? We don't! Al has become my mentor, and the work he's done and shared has opened up the world of growing for me exponentially. My previous failures have become today's successes, and learning what I have has made gardening all that much more enjoyable! Anyway... we're glad to have you join us. To tell you the truth, I've been thinking about trying bonsai, myself... Al makes it look and sound a lot less complicated than I had originally thought... plus, I have a gorgeous little Japanese Maple that I'm not sure what to do with... a candidate for bonsai, perhaps? Hmmm!...See MoreQuestion for Al (tapla) re bark in gritty mix
Comments (39)Hey Al, just wanted to make sure that 2 years later all this advice is current. Some of my gritty mix is now just about 2 years old also. It seems to be holding up but I got to thinking, like some of those in this thread, that it sure would be nice to have a permanent mixture for the long term plantings, by withholding the organic ingredient. Plus it's one less ingredient to have to buy and later screen. I see your main purpose for including it was to lessen the fears of potential gritty mix users that plants couldn't possibly grow in it. It's also used to average the particle size and water retention of the two other ingredients. I use FP to fertilize and look after my plants often enough that this isn't a fear of mine. I utilized a 1:1 ratio of Cherrystone:Turface for two basjoo banana trees planted in the ground here in zone 4. I have heavy clay and when I grew them the last time, they grew slow and their corms later rotted over the winter. I also don't think I properly watered/fertilized. So this year after reading your posts in the link below, I upped the FP by 4x to 1 tsp of FP per gal, rather than 1/4 tsp I used before, and brought the PH down to 5.5 with vinegar rather than the unacidified 7 of my tap water. I know you water with this dosage weekly with outdoor plants but I watered with it almost every day during the hot summer days with no apparent issues. I found that this amount of FP was too much for the indoor plants though... I also experimented with digging about a 4-5 gal hole where I planted the bananas and poured in the 1:1, so at least some of the soil near the corm and roots didn't have to deal with the heavy clay. The plants grew waaay faster this summer and hopefully it'll help the stems/corms survive this winter. I utilized the 1:1 before reading your post in this thread about using a higher ratio of granite/cherrystone to compensate for the small particle size of the turface. Even though the basjoo's did great in the 1:1, I'm guessing in a pot, a proper ratio (2:1 or 3:2 like you mentioned) would be a bit more important. Is this a safe assumption? Here is a link that might be useful: Fertilizing advice...See More1st try w/gritty mix Which plants for large gritty mix? Crushed brick?
Comments (4)Thanks for the replies. I'm assuming you're asking about the 3 holes per inch. I did do quite a bit of searching to find this size. I was only finding expensive whole rolls. Try searching for: US Stock 3# 304 Stainless Steel Filter Coarse Dense Gauze Woven Mesh 13" x 40" Good price but it did come folded. Not such a big deal with the larger mesh, i.e., it unfolded easily. But, the #14 was slightly deformed when unfolded. After reading more about green roofs and finding this site about the gritty mix, I'm leaning toward a mix with more Turface, less pine bark, and substituting half that granite with pumice to help lower the weight and decrease the potential of heat soak. I'm hampered by material availability (only buying small quantities for testing) and I'm trying to keep costs low. These substrate mixes can be highly engineered. From what I've come across a typical mix is 80% inorganic (expanded shale, expanded clay, expanded slate etc...) and 20% organic (pine bark). Hiring a consultant and getting some proprietary mix is not an option. I'm also not planning on doing the whole roof just parts here and there to keep any added load low. This isn't about Leed certification or urban storm runoff. (goals of larger green roof projects) I just want less days where my AC turns on. And to say I've got a blue elves on my roof. It might turn out to be only a place to grow out the sedum while I get rid of all the ivy and give the Triclopyr time to breakdown. I have lot of shade and only the roof and this single slope that gets any real amount of sun. This is all somewhat an experiment. So, suggestions are welcomed. Thanks for any help, Hosta Collector Seeing some growth a few weeks in and after some sever storms. Time will tell. This one had many cuttings taken from it. Nice to see it growing back. These Blue Elf sedums have been hard to come by....See More
rina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
nomen_nudum
8 years agodrdrdrdo
8 years ago
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rooftopbklyn (zone 7a)