I post this frequently (Remember please, it's a copy/paste from a thread I replied to a while ago): Peat - Renewable or Not? - Does it Matter? Chicken Little would be aghast at your inference!! In my estimation, it doesn't matter much if it's renewable or not, and I refuse to be made to feel guilty about using any form of peat. Here is a reply I often leave when the non-renewable thing comes up: "Sorry, but I'm not buying the non-renewable lament. In Canada alone, there are more than 270 million acres of harvestable peat bogs. If we make the conservative guess that the harvestable portions of these bogs are 10 feet deep, that means there are probably more than 900 billion cu. ft. available for harvest, just in Canada! That doesn't even take into consideration what's available in Europe, Asia, or places like New Zealand where they also mine peat. Canada currently has mining/harvesting operations underway on approximately 40 thousand acres or about .014% (that reads 14 one thousandths of 1 percent)." Check the math - it's accurate and conservative. It's more likely that the next ice age will be upon us and glaciers will have covered what's available before we even use a noticeable percentage. Renewable/non-renewable = moot. Al

Al, Thanks for your support! I couldn't reply to yours (and others) posts because of the nature of my work I sometimes don't have the inet access. I need to think a little and digest the coco info I have found on this forum and elsewhere. It seems a better quality coco fiber coir might slightly outperform peat but is more expensive. The salt content of the mentioned above Botanicare Cocogro is quite low so it doesn't require the extensive rinsing. Similar to TheMasterGardener1, I also saw plants sold in a coco mix that look great (but I think most of the plants for sale look great though). I will plant 2 citrus trees in September (after the summer heat is gone) in large pots, maybe 24", still need to buy them. I want to use 5-1-1 mix and for an experiment will try peat in one and coco in another one as 1 part in 5-1-1. I am not sure how much lime to use, maybe 1/2 of the amount for the mix with peat...

For the 5-1-1 mix you can either sift out the fines, or leave them in. The choice really depends on a couple of things. First, what plants are you growing and how much moisture retention do you, and your plants, need in the soil? Second, how much fine material is in the particular bag of pine bark you are using? For my own use I screen pine bark with a 1/2" hardware cloth. Nearly all of the bagged bark I've bought this season goes through the 1/2" screen, at least 90% or more I'd say. Normally I use whatever passes through the 1/2" screen for my 5-1-1 mix, unless the bark contains a large percentage of fine (1/8" and smaller) material. If that's the case then I might screen at least some of the bark a second time with a 1/8" screen. Usually I try to keep the fine material no more than 1/4 of the total mix by volume. I have not added any peat to my 5-1-1 this year, mainly because the bark I used this season had a significant amount of fine material. Since both pine bark fines and peat are very acidic, and both materials retain water, I think you could use either one interchangeably in your mixes. Just try not to use too much fine material to your finished mix, unless you need the extra water retention. The more fine material you use, the more water you retain and the less oxygen you have in the root zone. Thanks. TYG

Gudang, a lot of people here on this forum started with a heavy dense soil mix, often with compost and other soil components - because that is what is commonly available. Then they noticed that their plants are start to suffer at one point and came here for advise. Al (Tapla) has relentlessly taught the concept for better soil mix, fertilizing, pruning, repotting and many other topics. Most made an effort to follow in his foot steps and found his teachings to be invaluable and succeeded in keeping their plants flourishing. In short, he has a lot of credibility here. Not only that they have subsequently helped others because they understood the concept that no book can offer. Whereas you have yet to offer sound advice with evidence of success. First you have to build and establish your credibility - show your work and explain not only what but also how and why. For example, terms like less porous and more porous does not make any sense - more or less compared to what?