Well, it's not ideal, but it looks like the soil portion was 1/6 of 1/3 of the final mix or 1/18 of the total. About 5%. It will probably not be a big problem. The peat and perlite are certainly very fluffy materials and might help to counteract it.

I'll let others comment on the efficacy of the other 95% of the mix.

It was about 1/3 or 1/3 of the mix, based on the plant I would say it was a max of 15% loam in any given pot (with worm casting making another 5%).

The homemade nature (hence unsterile) is worrying me as well, although maybe it shouldn't.

That was a great link. That info about the PWT is something I never thought about before. Now the question is, do I look for some pine bark, remix, and re-pot or would it be better to do that upon re-potting in the future. I don't want to stress the plants too much, but I guess that would be better than root rot.

Now that I am definitely cognizant of the issue, we will take care not to over water

Since the potting was so recent, if you can find the proper ingredients quickly, I think you can safely repot now. Otherwise, wait until you need to repot but pay very close attention to your plants as you go. Good luck!!

There's 3 things to consider about plants and all their need. Soil should be good physically, chemically, and biologically, which make less effort to keep plant alive.

Good physically means good in water retention, but also giving plenty of oxygen at same time. Good chemically means all nutrients available and can be absorbed by plant anytime. Good biologically means the soil have living organism that help us make the soil healthy for the plant, so we need less effort to maintain plant vitality in the long run.

Your garden soil mix is beautiful. It's physically good on water retension so Nitrogen and Kalium have time to be absorbed by plant. Too porous soil will make those nutrients washed away while watering since those 2 nutrients instantly become ion and flow with water.

Your compost is great chemically. They giving nutriens for your plants continuously in the long run. Good fungus in root area will extend root ability to reach nutrients they need in every side of the pot.

And your worm make it perfect biologically. They live in wettest part of your soil, and make many holes to the surface so both your worm and your plant root have plenty oxygen.

If you consider only in soil physical properties, your plants life will be so depend on you and your money to buy this and that. You have to take care of them almost every day of your life like a baby. Mother nature won't help.

I think I'm going to have to wait because at this time of year there is no one around me with any bark fines, or even soil conditioner available. The best I could fins is Jolly Gardener Mini Pine Bark Nuggets, but those are fairly large in comparison to what the 5:1:1 potting mix calls for (about 1/2" pieces). We'll water carefully and mindfully and I'll be on the look out for the right ingredients for when its time to re-pot. Thanks

I've never paid too strict attention to the actual bark size......larger than optimum is far better than too small!! I repotted a sedum this weekend I purchased earlier this year into another container and discovered it had been growing in what look liked almost a bark mulch - some chunks were as large as an inch or more!! Plant was doing fine with a big healthy root system. IME, it is more the overall texture and durability that is important rather than the specific size. When in doubt, err to the larger particle sizes :-))

The soil you made is very likely to be so water-retentive that a large fraction will remain totally saturated for extended periods after a thorough watering, which will pose serious limitations on your plants' ability to realize much of their genetic potential. So, physically, your soil is going to be very poorly structured. Also, soil biota is largely overrated and inaccurately labeled when it's said to be an essential or even highly beneficial part of container culture. It's very difficult to impossible to efficaciously grow plants in soils that remain saturated for extended periods; the volume of soil life in soggy soils is generally very minimal and populations erratic; too, it's very difficult to maintain an appropriate level of nutrition when you consider nutrients on an individual basis.

I mentioned that, for container culture, the presence of soil life is overrated. I can say this because it's completely unnecessary to court the presence of soil life at the expense of soil structure. What does soil life do? It breaks down the soil and increases water retention. The 'theory' that these animals, including worms that can't live in saturated soils, will burrow through the soil and make it fluffy and moist as a well-wrung sponge just isn't realistic.

Container growing is much closer to hydroponics than it is to growing in gardens/ beds/ landscapes ... A biotic presence, other than the plant, isn't essential in hydroculture, so why would it be essential or even 'highly' beneficial in containers? I've grown for >30 years in a soil that has only a small organic fraction (1/3 by volume), chosen specifically for its resistance to breakdown. IOW, I choose it because it DOESN'T feed the soil or the plant, so it retains it's structure and ensures that no part of the soil is EVER saturated. Essentially, I grow in about as close to a sterile medium as you can get, using nothing but 1 soluble synthetic fertilizer, and I consistently produce a wide variety of plants that remain healthy in the extreme.

I sometimes use the soil seen below. Objects provide size perspective.

1 gram of good organic soil contain millions of good bacteria that help plants grow independently with less human intervention. Any biomass surround us are enough to feed the plant without the need of human made fertilizer, that's because all the biotic are presents in soil, even only in 1 kilograms of soil in pot. Some microbial activities indeed breaking down soil structure, but then the result is nutrients for plants. Other microbial activities are working in reverse. Fungi that live in plant's root make mutual symbiotic. Their root expand and making room for plant's root to get more air and nutrients. It's not only worm. Any living that exist there giving more benefits than harm.

In hydroponics culture, almost all are human dependent. Even nitrogen in urea form is useless since no bacteria that produce urease enzime available. It's a labour and cost intensive culture.

I won't say that one better than other. All have their own benefit and obstacles. Like water retention in dense living soil. Pot that have more holes can solve the problem. People that plant in hydroponics-like environment also have their own problems, like repetitive watering for example. What i do to resolve the problem is drip irigation.

So why have to choose if we can use both? Yeah.. people preference, so go ahead using what u think better. I use both anyway.