Add a small amount of dolomitic lime and do look for coarse perlite. Home Depot has it in the Thermorock brand - if the store doesn't carry it normally they should be able to order you a bag. Make sure it is the COARSE grade and not the medium grade. I think the bag is yellow. No need to unpot your plants right this moment, you can "side dress" with lime and a small amount of bone meal. I'm switching to a peat-pumice blend because I hate perlite and the way it tends to float up and out of the mix. For long term plantings a 70/30 blend (peat to pumice) is probably best. I get my pumice from the feed store where it is sold as Dry Stall - not Stall Dry but DRY STALL. It is crushed pumice. It does need to be rinsed thoroughly, and a compost screen with the correct mesh size makes that a ton easier. I forget the particle size off the top of my head. But if you like what you've got, with the proviso that you switch over to coarse perlite if you're not already using it, there's no real need to change. Keep in mind that the peat will break down over time. It has a maximum life span of about 5 years under ideal conditions but it starts to degrade significantly before that. I'd give it no more than 3 years before you have to replace it. Since perlite is so light you can recondition your mix by putting it in a bucket, filling with water, and scooping the perlite out as it floats to the top, then reuse to make new mix with fresh peat moss. However perlite is pretty fragile and it will gradually break down, mechanically over time. I'm guessing you should get up to 8 to 10 years of use out of it before you have to toss it because the particles have become too small. Screening will help to retain large enough particles and you can discard the dross. Pumice will last virtually forever and won't break down unless you take a hammer to it. However availability is limited. Growstones is basically man-made pumice but it can be quite expensive. However given that it lasts for-virtually-ever, if you amortize the expense over your lifetime, its not that bad. And it comes in larger particle sizes than the Dry Stall, which may be advantageous for some plants (but disadvantageous for others). I hope to be able to test a mix using the smallest available Growstones eventually, but for now I'm working with the natural crushed pumice. It's cheap and the particle size seems to be about right for anything I'd be growing. It's also much lighter weight than Turface, which is a popular substance used by some in some soil mixes. Read and post on the container forum for more detailed information about the pros and cons of various mixes for specific plants. I think your jasmine will do fine in the blend you have, but I'm not familiar with the other plants. There is a strong bias there for one particular blend - well, two. What is called 5-1-1, which is a pine fines based potting mix very similar to most commercial potting soils (but with some advantages) and what is called "gritty mix", which is Turface based, coarse, and well-draining, intended for things like potted trees, cactus and other succulents, etc. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with either mix, except that pine fines are difficult to find for many people, and becoming ever harder to find as time passes; and Turface can also be hard to find and it is VERY heavy. If you can find pine fines affordably where you live (its basically small pine bark mulch or may be sold as soil conditioner) then a 5-1-1 mix would probably suit all or most of your plants except the African violet, which is undoubtedly fine where it is. Again, other than the jasmine, I'm not familiar with the rest of those plants, so asking someone else on the container forum would probably get you better information, with the understanding that there is very little real discussion of alternatives to those 2 particular mixes over there. They'll also do fine in most any commercial soil-less potting mix. It's really pretty much up to you. I would avoid anything that includes a coir component however.

Sorry about not being able to answer your questions Tennesseestorm. This is the first time I've been logged into this site in over 6 months! Now to your questions. I saw on another Spanish Moss forum that it is cold hardy to 5 degrees. It has survived here to temps. as low as 8 degrees thats all the colder it's been here in the last 2 years which is the legnth of time I've been growing spanish moss here. When single digits or an ice storm warning are predicted it comes into the garage or an unheated room just long enough for the nastyness to pass then its back outside. Also I have not misted my moss in about a year(except for the drought last summer) and it is still doing great. in regards to your moss that died the moss needs to have as close to the original light conditions as possible or it could be burned up if it was originally in the shade and is moved to a sunny exposure. I had the same thing happen to me and it was all taken from part shade and moved to afternoon sun. Due to this error I lost half of my new moss chunks. I need a clarification. Did you say it was dead even before you took it out of the box? If so how long was it in there? If I missed any questions or you have anymore feel free to ask. Started a new area of plant emphasis, hardy cacti and succulents. I am also growin a Balsam fir, American larch, and Dawn Redwood. So far as I know I am the only person in this part of TN (middle TN) grow the first 2 trees listed. Also have other plant stuff to talk about if interested.

In my experience moss will not grow well indoors. It can grow in a greenhouse, but not in a house or apartment. Moss requires moisture, but it also requires a great deal of moving air and good ventilation at the same time, otherwise all that moisture it likes will turn into an environment in which fungus, algae, and bacteria can thrive and kill the moss. This is only my opinion, and my experience, but I think if you grow moss indoors, you might have a good long while with it to watch it grow before it starts to die off, but eventually it will succumb to the conditions of the indoors. Pehaps there are other folks on GW who have had a different experience growing moss indoors.

Most commercially available terrestrial mosses are not suitable for indoor cultivation. The main reason is that they really do best with humidity and a cool temperature range from the mid 60sF down into the low 40sF. However, there are some tropical mosses available but then you still have the issue of humidity and providing a cool down at night for them (down into the upper 50sF). But there is a group of aquatic to semi-aquatic mosses that can serve your purpose and will do quite well in a planter that this partially filled with distilled, rain, or r/o water. The most common one is called Java Moss. Will growing in water the moss will grow out onto any nearby surfaces, such as a piece of wood. Mosses do not flower but there is another aquatic plant that may be found on the net at a water plant retailer caller Bladderwort. Since the plant is a carnivorous plant it may also be found under Carnivorous plant retailers. There are several species. To get it to flower you really need to provide adequate light. Check the link below for a couple of images. These flowers are very tiny! Here is a link that might be useful: Common bladderwort