Hi Laura: As Jacqueline, Tessie, and JeriJen often said: "location, location ...." Tapla's recipe of 5 parts fine mulch, 1 part peat moss, 1 part perlite is best for climate like mine: low-sun, flash flood warning and fast drainage is a must. It is recommended by Douglas Green, an owner of a large Ontario nursery of many plants in pots, including roses. If I use Al's 5-1-1, there is no need to put loose gravels or bark nuggets at the bottom for fast drainage. However, I use super-slow draining MiracleGro in green bag, and medium-slow draining Organic MiracleGro. I skipped this important process of putting loose stuff at the bottom, and regret it terribly. Now I have to dump the soil out of each pot, and start all over. I realize this after a heavy-rain simulation with a hose, with the pot flooding over and loses 1" of soil - which happens every time it rains here! Sure, Field Roebuck said it's not important, just put a paper towel at the bottom of the pot, and fill up with soil. His Texas climate doesn't have the low-sun, and 6" of rain flash flood. Each region should have its own recipe of best potting soil. Now I realize that the regular MiracleGro potting soil (green bag) might have been made for indoor pots, where one puts 1 measly cup of water per week. It's not meant for several outdoor heavy thunderstorms with 4 to 6" of rain per bout like my climate.

Hey John my plumeria are just waking up from winter. I aquired about 20 more varieties by cuttings this springs so ill be busy with those also. good to see you tolerate at least a couple other plants. LOL. How many trees are you up to now? I had about 2 dozen fruit set on my largest meyer and about a dozen on a smaller one. Best crop for me so far. Illi good looking tree. Where did you get it. Also I forgot to ask, what type of lime is it. The benefit of using a very well draining soil is that you can go with a bit bigger pot than what would otherwise be considered too big because of the perched water. If that was my tree I would go with at least something in between a 1 and 5 gallon pot. I use all nursery pots because they are cheap so my stock is 1 and 5 gallon pots. I have a few much bigger too. You could probably get by with a 5 gallon if you have a good draining soil and watch your watering. In july/august in oklahoma its very hard to overwater container plants even using straight miracle grow. Its this winter that you have to be careful. mike

I've used many different kinds of potting mixes and will NEVER use anything but Fafard again, though NOT the product on the retail shelves. Their (so called)professional mix is much like the rest of the stuff....barely so-so. But Fafard makes a line of mixes for growers and that's what I use. You may have to have your retailer special order it, but it will be totally worth it for container growing. I used these mediums back when I was a grower of nursery crops and that's how I became introduced to Fafard. My salesman was smart...I had been using ProMix and MetroMix....he left me 5 or 6 bags "to try" and I've never looked back, lol. That was over 20 years ago. I've attached a link so that you can look at the packaging and read the ingredients. I always go for the heavy weight mixes. I buy the Nursery Mix most of the time but keep some of the #3 on hand, too. You'll probably need to visit a locally owned garden center or nursery for a special order. If you're lucky, the nursery, if they do any growing at all, might even have some in stock that they will be willing to sell you. I have a large bail of ProMix in my garage that someone gave me years ago, and I haven't touched it. I'll use it in the gardens one of these days, but never in a container. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here for more information

The problem with this type of potting soil is that it contains granular fertilizer. We advise against it in the planting instructions as well as indicate in the warranty that use of any granular products in the first year will void the warranty. Granular fertilizers, even those mixed with water are too hot for own-root roses. This is why we recommend liquid only, such as Alaska Fish Fertilizer. We want you to be successful with your purchase. We know that you spend your money on a product and want that product to perform at the highest level and to provide beauty in your garden or patio for many years to come. We feel very strongly about how you care for the roses that you purchase from us and that is why we have specified that you should not use any packaged soil mix or potting type soil that has granular fertilizer as a component of that soil mix or potting soil, or to use any granular fertilizer product for your regular maintenance for the first year. Here are our reasons: · All fertilizers whether they are slow release or immediate release react to moisture and temperature. Packaged potting soils/ planting mixes are exposed to many different climatic stresses, such as heat and moisture. A bag of potting mix with granular fertilizer in it that has been exposed to the sun or warm temperatures has most likely already released the “salts” in the fertilizer thus making the planting mix very hot and not suitable for transplanting or using in pots. · We do not know how long the soil mix has been packaged, how long it has been stored or what weather conditions it has been exposed to. So, to be on the safe side we strongly recommend that you do not use potting or soil mixes that have granular fertilizer as a component. The success of your rose depends on it. Our recommendation of using a liquid fertilizer product such as Alaska Fish Fertilizer is intended to give you and your roses the best chance at performing beyond your expectations. Utilizing other products that do not originate in a pure liquid form are not recommended and will reduce or eliminate your chances of having a successful gardening experience and void our warranty. We want you to be successful. Please read the planting instructions, the label of the soil mix you may want to use and the warranty for our roses at http://www.heirloomroses.com/info/about/guarantee/. Thank you for your understanding.