Experimenting with 1-1-1 gritty
I'm new to citrus, only five months in. I read here every spare moment I can grab trying to get a grip. I am an organic raised bed veggie person. Never messed with anything in containers. So you can imagine all the mistakes I made. Luckily I discovered that my "magic homemade compost" was turning into a nightmare for the citrus trees I had acquired very quickly before any serious damage occurred. After finding this forum and much researching through many years of discussions I decided to go with the gritty mix. I didn't have any problems finding the ingredients and I sifted out everything under 1/8. I knew I was pushing my luck doing all this bare rooting and repotting in July but was more afraid of root rot. Right after our upper 90's heat wave we had a major cool down so I took the plunge. It was nerve racking to say the least. I couldn't sleep and was out in the yard every hour on the hour all night with a flashlight. After a few days went by and nothing fell over dead I started relaxing a little bit. Then little problems here and there started cropping up. There for a while I decided that I hate this gritty mix and I really regretted it. I just kept coming here and reading sometimes 12 hours a day or more. I finally came to the conclusion that I was way over watering and under fertilizing. I did not like the dowel method at all but kept at it. Now here it is October and I feel like I'm starting to get a grip on this thing. I am really starting to like the gritty mix (a lot). The one thing I don't like about it is when I stick the dowel all the way to the bottom for a few minutes and then pull it out, the bottom half of the pot has plenty of moisture but the top half is pretty much on it's way to being dry. I don't want my little roots near the top to dry out but I don't want to over water either.
On the 20th of September I received a 4-5 year old cara cara. It arrived in very good condition and appeared to be a very healthy tree. The next day I bare rooted it and put it in gritty mix but this time I changed it up a little bit. The bottom half of the pot I stuck with the original recipe. Then I only did about an inch at a time eliminating more and more of the pine bark as I went up substituting more grainy grit. By the time I got to the last two inches I did about half and half of the grit and (napa floor dry) slightly more grit. Now today I stuck my dowel in it and it was way more uniform in moisture. Also today I noticed the very beginnings of new growth on the tree.
You guys are the experts, do you see any problem with what I did? I could change it If it is going to start causing problems.
I like the look without the bark
A closer up of the top two inches.
There is the dowel after pulling it out. The moisture is a lot more even from top to bottom this way. I had read several times that it was nearly impossible to overwater in gritty but I now know better. I was watering every day afraid it was drying out because the mix felt so dry when I would grab a handful of it. Now using the dowel method I am only watering every four to five days. All my trees are doing so much better now. My anxiety level has went back down. I also read the medium should be consistent but I really wanted to experiment and hopefully rid myself of that doubt of rather to water or not when the bottom half is moist but the top half isn't so moist. Also while I'm at it I would like to thank all of you for such a wonderful, very well managed website. I have learned so much because of you and would have lost everything without you.
Comments (18)
poncirusguy6b452xx
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b thanked poncirusguy6b452xxAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years agoThanks Steve. Those are my 3 1/2 month old bluetick beagle baby girls. I watch them very close when I bring them around my trees. They could chew one up in a skinny minute if they got half a chance. Last week I noticed a strange plant growing in the gritty mix of my clementine. It looked like sweet potato so I went to look in a bucket where I was making some slips and they were all tore up and slung all over the place. I was surprised when I pulled the sweet potato out of the pot, it had taken serious root and they were already getting deep. Now I'm wondering if I could grow sweet taters in the gritty mix?
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Excuse me, Al's Gritty Mix 1-1-1 question
Comments (2)1) All plants have rhythms (search endogenous/circadian) that control how they react throughout the growth cycle, the primary stimulus being photoperiod. My plants in the basement, with only 1 small window at the far end and growing under timed lights, 'know' when the spring equinox has arrived, because that's when they begin to grow in earnest. It's possible to trick a plant into ignoring what would be its natural rhythm by very closely controlling photoperiod, but it's not easy. Your citrus tree will grow in spurts. You can repot at the end of a growth spurt if you wish, but it's better to repot in April. Still, with the cool temperatures we've been having here in MI, it wouldn't be too far off the mark if you hurried and repotted now. 2) Screen your Turface MVP over insect screen and use the fines for something else. Screen the crushed granite or cherrystone over insect screen to remove the dust. For bark, use what passes a 3/8 screen (1/2 is ok if you can't find 3/8) and what doesn't pass a 1/8 screen. 3) Yes 4) Saw off the bottom half of the root mass, then cut 2-3 pie-shaped wedges into the remaining roots that will eliminate half of what remains. Next spring, you will remove the other half of the roots by removing the wedges that remain, then skip a couple of years. Zone 5b, eh? What city/town do you live in/near? Al...See MoreA GREAT experience regarding the gritty and 5.1.1.mix!
Comments (2)I know what you mean the plants were "dancing in the rain". My peppers were doing the La Cucaracha yesterday when we got our first inch of rain in 6 weeks. I was out in it uncovering rain barrels and setting out every bucket I could find under the eaves. I almost danced too! :)...See MoreMy First Time Transplanting into 1:1:1 Gritty Mix
Comments (16)Hi Westy, hi Brenda- I am in a pinch for time today, but I will tell you where I got my ingredients really quick so you can get started! Bark Fines- Just plain ol� Repti bark from Petco. I had to get the smaller bag because they were sold out of the larger ones. There has been talk that they may be using different sized bark partials in the two size bags, but I only have experience with the smaller bag. Granite- De Young�s Farm & Garden (Right next door to Molbaks in Woodenville). This was the only place I could find the exact size granite I was looking for. Turface- Ewing Irrigation. I picked up mine in Auburn. They also have locations in Burlington, Pasco, Everett, Redmond, Tacoma and Tumwater/Olympia. (You can search locations at their web site- www.ewing1.com) Seeing how we are coming up on baseball season they will be sure to have it in stock. *In a pinch I have been told you can use Floor Dry #8822 from Napa (the automotive store), but I have not tried it yet. If you search my name (Jessicasgrowincitrus) you will come across all my posts. I wrote up a whole post on my Gritty Mix making experience last summer. (Titled: Al's Gritty Mix -- A Learning Experience) Check it out, there are step-by-step photos of the whole sifting process and photos of the partial size you will need in the end product. Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck!! ~Jessica...See MorePortland Oregon: Where to buy bark for gritty mix / 1:1:1 / 5:1:1 ?
Comments (0)Hello, first post here :D Can anyone recommend a source around Portland for the appropriate bark for the gritty, 511 and similar mixes? Horizon in Milwaukie (near Bob's Red Mill) carries Turface MVP, and down the road, Concentrates (across from Lowes) is a good source for granite / grani-grit, perlite and other container planting materials. Bark is another story- everything I find is too large, any help is appreciated! :D...See MoreAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years agoAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
6 years agoAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years agoI never messed with SP's until this year and they did very well. I did half of a 4'x10' bed and then did four slips in a 20 gallon tote. I've eaten them all summer out of the bed and yesterday pulled one out of the tote. I love 'em and it sure would be nice to do another 20 gallon tote this winter. I have a small tropical room set up and I think the heat from the lights will be adequate. The tote is deep and you are probably right about the weight of the gritty embedding into the potato. I've got a half whiskey barrel of good soil prepared for this already but when I seen how fast that slip rooted in the gritty it got me to thinking. I'm thinking along the lines of half perlite and half napa floor dry. It would be cleaner and wouldn't introduce bugs into my house. What do you think? Here's a pic of the first one I pulled out of the tote yesterday.
It would be nice to pull one out without getting dirty. lolponcirusguy6b452xx
6 years agoMike I can see why you thought I was kidding.
Next years sweet potato beds
I will have 6 of these straddling the rooftop ridge and 2 rows of 6 on the south side slope. They do very well with 3 plants each. Very early spring I will stat spinach and collards to be picked by SP time. I fill these with pure compost from my compost pile that is 30 feet long 6 feet deep and 9 feet wide.
Steve
Denise Becker
6 years agoponcirusguy6b452xx
6 years agoAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years agoAngela Piedmont NC zone 7b
6 years ago
myermike_1micha