Looks good. Personally, I'd use coarse perlite instead of the sand, but please let us know your results.

I've switched everything but my peace lilys to the 5:1:1 mix and the ones I've repotted or potted up since have shown much more vigorous root growth and the roots are also firmer.

Leaf growth has stayed the same and what I really like it how much faster the mix dries.

Some plants when in the peat mix stayed wet for far too long with sometimes over two weeks between waterings. Those now in the 5:1:1 mix indoors needed water ever 3-4 days. The same plants outside for the summer now need water every other day.

I no longer have to worry that a day of rain will be coming tomorrow and I'd just watered them. They can take all the water they're given and don't stay soggy for prolonged periods.

I am going to have to find this 5.1.1 mix on here and make it. It is so much more comforting to know your plant is dry enough and needs water, than to have soggy soil for days on end. Seems you would have so much more control of the plants progress.

I know many that have to water twice a day. HAHAHA !

Even clay could not stay "soggy" for days on end if you have a drainage hole☺.

@Dave, trolls be trolling

True. He must be hungry as no one gives him much attention.

What is the difference between reptibark and other barks such as pathway bark or orchid bark?

Oh I don't know socks. Its simply something that caught my eye while looking at fish and I got it because I could not find pine bark anywhere else. If you know where its readily available that would be great I was just sharing my own find at petsmart for others. Sometimes its just convience that we pay for. Ya 8.99 is too much for a bag of Fir bark but it was only 2 blocks from my apartment and I don't know where else to find it really.

I was not claiming to have come up with mixing sand and pine bark into the soil, sorry to be misleading I simply meant I found a place to get the pine bark and its a "easy/convient" way of mixing your own.

Repti bark is smaller, seems lighter to me and made out of fir. Great size but it seems to light for me. It didn't seem to soak up the water right away either, keeps floating. So expensive really. Only good thing I find is it's clean and not much debris to worry about. Bad thing about pine bark up here is it's so dusty and maybe a 5% mix of wood chips.

Never heard of pathway, as far as I know the other stuff is made out of pine bark and bigger particle size. The last place that sold mini pine bark nuggets stopped, I can still buy a big bag of bark for $3-5 but you have to sift it and blend some of it to get the particle size you want (I still use them bigger than most people). I use a 1/4 inch wire sieve I made to get the dust/particles out. I like using the dust as layer in my garden, helps keep the heavy sand we have here from drying out.

I try to get the coarse sand, It's not much diff than play sand but it has tiny grains of pebbles/rock in it.

You can also try garden compost. If it's good stuff it has mostly decomposed wood/bark and rich soil. Sadly most places seem to sell what looks like peat as compost.

I'm not and expert on indoor plants BTW, Just my opin!

None of your big box stores sell pine bark in big cubic ft bags?

A standard potting mix is all you really needed.

As we all know, don't listen to Anthony.

Well to get it OFF the personal, a standard potting soil is NOT all that's needed. Pls. read on mixes & high peat contents in soils.

I would avoid garden "compost" for containers & indoor growing. If it's really compost it may be too rich in organics & quite likely has insect & bugs, which while beneficial in composting & living outdoors, would likely be problematic indoors. Forewarned is forearmed.

Lena

Lena,

anthony is a lost cause. He's stubborn and refuses to take in new information.

He comes here to post nonsense.

radical soil mixes...just another fad.

No. They work much better. Hopefully you're just a fad.

ps, it's not a radical soil mix. It's a fast draining mix. Something container plants benefit from.

But there's no point for me to tell you that. You don't listen and you think using garden soil mixed with leaves and pine needles for indoor containers is a good mix for plants.

Anyone that knows anything about plants would tell you that's a terrible idea.

I wish you'd stop being so hardheaded and open your mind. Your plants would benefit.

Youve never posted one decent indoor container grown plant to back yourself up.

You just post nonsense for no reason.

Not all potting soil is the same, and garden compost is not the same and varies quite a bit. High peat can be good for acid loving/wet plants, I don't like it but that's what some can grow in. Not sure how compost is too rich unless the plant doesn't need much. I mean compost is about as gentle as you will get for fertilizer.....It's suppose to have good microbes. You would not use straight compost anyways, you would mix it how you like it with others. So far miracle grow is the main brand with fungus gnats in it that I avoid, even with the new fancy organic label. That's the biggest downside to peat IMO...the gnats.

Also depends on the plant/tree. I am growing a few pond cypress and I put it in a heavy soil since they love standing water. Even in a pot I find red maples grown well in bark compost/sand/some granite, I'm sure there is better but it can be done. I imagine even more so in a hot climate.

To be honest I find slower growth indoors with bonsai soil because it's hard to keep my tropical plants that like damp/wet feet happy. That may also be because of the limited supplies here. I've found a low peat, higher bark/sand/perlite or grit ratio works for me(at least to start out) or just add more bark to the bonsai soil I guess, but I'm not saying that's the only way to plant. I use mostly bonsai soil outdoors even though I think I need to add more moisture retention as it can get windy here.

The pot makes a difference too. are you using terra cotta, plastic, colander or maybe natural containers. In my climate an unglazed pot dries out pretty fast even with dirt in it. If clay pots didn't break in winter up here, weren't so expensive I would use those a lot more

I'm not saying all these are the "best" way, but I will give an example. I read a lot of bonsai blogs of people who seem like they know what they are doing and some don't. One thing that is absolute truth is, what works in Florida doesn't work for me. I just have to tailor my humidity/climate and such. Same as indoor, I doubt my house will have the same humidity/temp/light as any of yours.

I have started Experimenting with pure DE since I can get it easy here, or maybe a DE/Bark mix.

Anyways, just my Limited experience.