natydoll, I can't remember if it was a New Guinea impatien or the hybrid Sunpatien that did ok(not great) in the spa. I may have also had dragon wing begonias in one of those pots that did well. Do not use the moisture retentive potting mix you linked. It uses the polymer crystals that will make it even worse. Again there may be some circumstances where one might use that type of mix and be semi-successful. One is a hanging basket with a coconut coir liner that breathes and evaporates lots of water from the sides of the basket in the summer sun. I have baskets like that in the full sun but my choice was to continue using the 5-1-1 mix and place a plastic liner with slits for drainage. One other thought is that you could amend the media that you have with "soil conditioner" or "pine bark mulch" to add more aeration. In our region soil conditioner is made from pine bark as well. I live in the southeast and both can be found at all the big box stores and nurseries in the atlanta area. Some of the pine bark mulch is not good however. Right now the Timberline brand of mulch is good but the Evergreen brand is bad. Just yesterday I noticed the Evergreen pine bark mulch at Lowes had large bark chunks with lots of sapwood. There is considerable variation in consistency and quality depending on where you live. I have even seen considerable differences in batches at the same store a month later. Both brands can be found at some of the Lowes and the Timberline brand at Home Depot. Soil conditioner($2.60 for 2 cu.ft.) is more composted than mulch so it might be a little better than pine bark mulch. You could mix between 2 to 5 parts of conditioner/mulch to one part of your existing potting mix. It's also recommended to throw in a little dolomitic lime to offset the possibility that the conditioner/mulch has a low ph(maybe a 1/2 tablespoon per gallon). Usually it's the addition of peat moss when making 5-1-1 that requires lime(1 tablespoon per gallon). Soil conditioner/mulch is partially composted and has had time for the ph to adjust upward. You may not even need lime when mixing in with your existing media. Best of success! Tony

Hello, Please let me know if you still have annona seeds? I have chile pequin, saffola seeds, and chile chilpitin for trade if interested. Adriana

Mushrooms grow in damp places and compressed peat, which is what your soil block is, comes from bogs. The mudshrooms grow from finger like threads under the soil. The part you see is the fruiting part that will eventually send out spores to reproduce. They will depleat the nutrients your plants need. You are right to pick off the Mushrooms. You can get rid of them with a fungicide. However if your plants are that big, I'd be tempted to transplant into other soil and ditch the mushroom one

Since you live in an apartment, I would go with either an Emperor Lychee because they stay somewhat small or a named cultivar of Dragonfruit. The Lychee will be much more difficult to fruit but others have succeeded. Lychees tend to be alternate bearers and may fruit only lightly. I'm currently growing Sweetheart Lychees but the tree will get fairly large so I would not recommend it for your situation. I really love Dragonfruit but you should do your research before investing on a cutting. I would not recommend growing dragonfruit from seeds because they will take a long time to fruit and the fruit will be unpredictable. I currently grow the white, red and yellow varieties of dragonfruit. The white variety is the easiest to grow for me and the fruit is extremely large and sweet but is nowhere near as complex and tasty as the red varieties. The Red varieties I have growing are "Halley's Comet, American Beauty, Bien Hoa Red, Valdivia Roja and a few others. The Red varieties are sweet and have a hint of berry flavor. Halley's Comet and American beauty were the highest rated dragonfruit at the UC Irvine Dragon Fruit festival last year. You can purchase these varieties online at pineislandnursery.com but the shipping is super expensive. Dragonfruit will sprawl so you have to be sure to train it properly and prune it back every year once it reaches the ideal size. I like to train it into a dragonfruit tree. Good luck with whichever plant you decide to go with!