Nice guide, AJ. Thanks for summarizing so well!! Great job!! Where are your adenium pics?? Waiting to see them!!

Thanks AJ! Quick question: how do you grind pine bark? The smallest I could find is a repti bark, but it is too large of a particles to use with NAPA or chicken grit. Does anyone actually grind a bark? I mean without large or expensive machinery?

Have you tried seiving/screening it? Even just shaking the bag or tipping its contents into a bowl then vigorously shaking the container will bring large pieces to the surface, skim these unwanted chunks off and then use the smaller pieces that find their way to the base of the bag or bowl.....simples! Hope this helps.

Gill UK

You absolutely do not have to grind reptibark, if you are using it for adeniums. I use it straight out of the bag, including big pieces. Don't use mulch.

Pagan

Thank you ladies! I just received two large adeniums and tried gritty mix for the first time... Oh boy, you should've see me running around with those screens trying to get particles between 1/4 and 1/8". Well that didn't happen, lol. Chicken grit and NAPA were too small comparing to repti bark, I ended up using lava rock and #3 perlite. I hope it's ok. Pagan, what are you mixing with repti bark?

For adult adeniums and only for adult adeniums, I use the 5:1:1 mix----5 parts reptibark, one part pumice and one part chicken grit if I have it. If I don't, I use pea gravel, no one complains.

These specific plants are in this mix because I do not repot them every year. It makes things simpler in winter when it becomes critical that one "water carefully but do not over-water". I've always thought that was a dumb, uninformative instruction.

Just a note--if you are moving a plant---any plant---from regular soil into any version of the gritty mix, it is critical that you increase watering frequency for at least a couple of months, to minimize shock. Remember this is a soil-less mix and it will not hold as much water. A plant that has adapted to staying moist for a long time will be shocked to find itself in a medium that actually lets it breathe in between watering. It will not be pleased. It will need time to adjust.

For example: an adult adenium that has been in a pot of soil with monthly watering will initially need weekly watering when moved to 5:1:1. If the leaves are drying, even more frequent watering is needed until it starts growing, especially if it is hot.

My adults have settled on getting water every week or so. Maybe. Plus rain in between, maybe. They're very low maintenance now so I don't really pay much attention.

Hope this helps!

Pagan

Yes, it helps a lot, thank you! :)

Pine bark "fines" can be ridiculously hard to find. Until you are at the transplanting/more adult stage, you really don't need them yet. Call around to places that sell the large pine bark for mulch. Some offer "fines" that is just the large bark chipped finer. Don't even use the word "fines" because most places will have no clue what you are talking about.

As far as I know, you can substitute most inert rocks in the "Part B" above so long as it drains according to your climate/area. Sizing just needs to be somewhat close, not exact.

For people using to-go boxes, salad containers, egg cartons, etc.: Do you poke drainage holes in the bottom of your container before adding potting medium/mix? Surprisingly, very few seed-starting threads and guides address this. Thanks! Carol

I poke holes.

Yes Carol, as ariel7576 said - you need to make holes in the bottom of whatever you use. They must have drainage. :)

Even for the cardboard-type egg cartons, I'll poke a hole just in case.

AJ, thank you great info.

Marie

Work around: when using plastic solo cups, use two cups. Put holes in the bottom of the container which holds the soil [use GM or 5:1:1] and the plant. Place the cup with holes into the second cup [NO HOLES] to catch the excess water. If you have multiple containers, an assembly line approach can be used. I remove the inside cup and pour the reserved water from the outside cup into the next cup. This is one of those 'works for me' things. You could even place a couple small stones or marbles in the outer/bottom cup to give the cups more separation. This works with the tiny white dixie cups too ...