Jala - Ah, that makes *much* more sense for fertilizer amounts. :) Re vinegar vs. lemon juice, I don't use either of them, but lemon juice tends to be a bit more acidic than white vinegar, so I'd theorize you'd use a bit less... If you're really worried about odors, though, you might check a hydroponics store for what they call "pH Down". Depending on the brand, it's highly concentrated citric or phosphoric acid; you'd need to be a bit careful with it (don't get the concentrated stuff on your skin!) but the non-organic forms are completely odorless and keep indefinitely. It might look expensive at first (I paid around $15 for a quart), but you don't use much at a time (1/8 tsp per gallon drops me to around 5.5) so it'll last you a long time... Longer than an equivalent volume of vinegar or lemon juice, since both of those eventually go bad. You will need to invest in a pH testing kit to measure how much acid you need to add, though. (Which isn't too bad... You can get a small pack of full-range pH testing strips from Hong Kong for $2 or less on eBay, shipping included.) Note, if you don't fertilize at every watering, you should check pH with and without fertilizer -- you may need to add different amounts of acid depending on your fertilizer status. Joe - Thanks for the info! So you can get away with 1:1 for Sans? I'll have to experiment with this next time I see Sans on sale at Home Depot... Put one in "classic" gritty mix, one in 1:1 turface:grit, and one in hydroculture, just to see which one does better in my conditions.

Sorry, BP. I get a lot of mail from GW, and the first thing I usually look at is whether or not you have your home page settings configured so I can reply to you. I didn't notice you'd included your email addy in the body of the message so I deleted the message. I just found it after reading your post. Please forgive? The most important advice I can give you is, the concept behind the soils many of us use is more important than the actual recipe. Distilled, the concept is based on the fact that water held inside of soil particles is not something we would consider as having much potential for limiting root function, and by extension, the well-being of your plants. Water held between particles, is a major contributor to root issues, with the severity of the issues usually linked closely to how much water is held between particles and how long it is held. By increasing particle size and promoting uniformity in particle size, we can eliminate almost all inter-particulate water AND control the volume of intra-particulate water by choosing what material the particles are made of. This concept continues to have a major influence on the ability of growers who understand it and use it as a tool, to consistently bring along healthy plant material. If you have questions or want to understand how it all goes together, there is an ongoing discussion here. Easy (inexpensive and sourced near): - sand, garden soil - granite or small river stones/ quartzite - scoria or red lava rock (i can't find pumice) - coconut husks (shell/ coir) - rice husks/ hulls (some nurseries here grow their coleus in pure husks and i must say theirs look better than mine!) More expensive and harder to acquire: - perlite (though i find it pricey here so i only got one bag and i'm not planning to use it for long term) - "orchid bark", pine bark And... i cannot find turface here. This one stumps me. What can i substitute for it? DE is a no go too. Based on the material above, can you recommend and acceptable mix? When you're building a mix with the idea you want water inside of particles instead of between them, obviously, you'll need some ingredients that can absorb and hold water, and the size of the particles as well as the range in size is also in play. You need particles large enough that the spaces between the particles (macropores) will be largely empty of water. It also does you little good if you carefully screen one or more ingredients, then add sand of topsoil to the screened ingredients. You end up pretty much with a soil that has the drainage and aeration characteristics of a soil comprised of only the fine ingredients, unless the volume of fine ingredients is closely controlled. Let me know if you have questions about what I said so far, please; and tell me about dry/wet seasons and what you think would be an acceptable interval between waterings. Sometimes, practices that offer the best opportunities for plants aren't within what the grower seems reasonable, so compromises need to be made. It's better to work within those parameters from the outset. Al

1. Did you find that you potted down when you moved to gritty mix? I most likely potted up too fast in my ignorance, and am finding I am putting plants into 1-2 inch smaller pots now. Is there some sort of guideline I could implement for gauging pot size needs? I think the first thing potential users of the gritty mix should understand is, if the mix is made with the ingredient's suggested and is screened appropriately, you can't over-pot a plant in the gritty mix. You can plant the tiniest seed in a 55 gallon drum of the mix with no ill effects you could attribute to over-potting. The limitations associated with over-potting are directly related to water held as perched water in the soil that refuses to drain by the force of gravity. Let's compare repotting to potting up. When you pot up, you increase the pot size, add some soil around the edges of the old root mass, and call it good. You haven't significantly contributed to the volume of soil that allows roots room to run, but you do have a bigger and heavier pot to show for your efforts. When you repot, you usually remove at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the root mass, so you can afford (especially the first time you repot) to reduce the volume of the pot significantly. I've reduced a 3 gallon root mass and stuck the plant in a bonsai pot with less than a pint of soil. It's not necessary to reduce the pot size if you're using a high quality medium, but you certainly can. 2. Any tips on Ficus elastica, or Calathea? I know these can be more sensitive plants, and I'm hesitating on just bare rooting them, and going right into the gritty mix. F elastica is one of the easiest plants I know of to keep happy. Lots of bright light, warm temps, a soil that drains well, like gritty mix or 5:1:1, and regular fertilization with Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 or its equal will keep it happy as a Kardasian in front of a camera. There is nothing special about Calathea, other than the fact it likes RH higher than 60%. Other than that, they're just another plant with roughly the same sweet spot as elastica, except they won't tolerate as much light load as the fig. 3. For plants like Calathea that tend to like to be "moister", should I consider adding more Turface or pine bark fines? It should do very well in 5:1:1 - that's probably what I'd put it in, though it would probably do a little better in the gritty mix. If you ever get to where you think the 5:1:1 you've made isn'y holding enough water, try substituting unscreened Turface instead of perlite, or simply add a couple of small handfuls to each gallon of medium if it's already made. Al

Keith They should be ok even if you watered right away: gritty mix will drain up fast and it seems to me that all were rooted. I grow same as you - outside, and inside about 6mo. Do not have any pumice, so I use perlite. Otherwise, mixing my 2 or 3 ingredients seems to me as simple as mixing C&S + pumice. I have about 300 pots of succulents. I also have many tropicals, and grow most in a mix I add to lots of coarse perlite, and some also grit (like olives, figs, laurel/bay for example). I have been using this mix for succulents for about 8 yrs now. Hope you won't have any problems, and pls. pst photos again. I would like to see how they do next mo and after that...It is lots of plants together, makes for a nice display. And all plants look quite mature, and well grown.