Thanks Mike and nice to meet you too. Castiloga recommended that mixing perlite into the potting mix that I already have will help albeit a little. Should I start off with this? As for the sand that I found available at the local garden shop was the red type - looking like the builder sand - but it was not coarse enough (let alone very coarse). Is there some sort of measure to determine how much coarse the sand should be for potting mix purposes? I have found a picture of the red sand from the internet and thought this might help you in assessing what I am referring to. Also I found a very huge supply of tiny gravel (around 5mm) just lying scattered besides my apartment building in quite a large quantity. Can that be used for any purpose? By appropriately mixing it with the potting soil or sand etc? Will this be helpful in water flow and aeration? O and btw, the potting soil that I will now be using (my fourth try) is on the link provided below - has details about what fertlizer and PH it has. It also says it has 125% water retention ability!! Thanks again. Here is a link that might be useful: Al Bustan Potting Soil. This post was edited by saood on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 2:51

Hi Bigshoes! Potting mix and watering method are very much dependent on your growing practices and conditions. They are both dependent on each other and one should do some adjustment on them to suit the needs of that certain plant. Now these tips are for hippeastrums/amaryllis... For me, bottom watering is the BEST...IF you do not let your plant sit in the water for a long time. Specially for newly planted bulbs that do not have much roots. I use those cheap clear plastic saucers in the Dollar Store. I pour plain lukewarm water with a few drops of Superthrive in these saucers, let the soil absorb it for a few minutes, and then throw away the left over water. Any plant that sits in water would surely rot unless it's a water plant. This method ensures that the bottom soil gets the moisture and not the top soil. Thus it promotes the roots to grow and at the same time prevents the top soil from getting too wet which sometimes causes the bulb to rot. I would check the pot for lightness in weight and top 1-2 inch of soil should be dry before I water again. I also use clay pots as they dry faster than plastic ones. Once the bulbs are established and has enough roots, I can then water from the top. I make sure that my soil mixture would be light and airy enough that it dries out in 5-7 days indoors and 3 days outdoors. You are right about Miracle Gro potting mix. It has too much peat in it that the fungus gnats love. An infestation of fungus gnats would tell you something though. Your potting mix stays too wet or stays wet for a long time which is causing the peat or other ingredients in your potting mix to decompose...their food! Try using coco peat mixed with perlite and vermiculite. If it's not available in your area, MG mixed with perlite and vermiculite should be alright as long as you maintain that "dry-water-dry-water" method. Good luck with your fight against the fungus gnats. Sometimes it's inevitable to use strong chemicals for PESTS before they take control. And they will... At first sign of infestation (indoors), I use Shultz Fungicide3. If it does not work, I would then use the Orthenex spray, bringing the plant outside before applying. Hope that helps and happy amaryllis growing!

Thank you, Irina! I am happy to have found this board, as it seems I have found AV experts here! I have enjoyed reading other posts for info and all your good advice to others too. My husband and I just bought our very first home last August, so this has opened up the world of plants and gardening! I have always felt I couldn't work with plants, that I would kill them all, but so far I have even got begonias going strong. I realized I just need to pay attention and follow directions! :) In the past, I think I killed plants because I wasn't attentive to their individual needs. Really excited about getting this violet going. I bought soil and perlite at home depot today, but both have miracle grow. I was worried about how to deal with that as far as knowing when to start giving AV food. I considered going to the nursery tomorrow to find mix and perlite w/o additives. If I do use the miracle grow, your advice to wait a few months is perfect. I will update with pictures! :) --la

Perlite gets yellowish deposits/fungus (?-I am not sure) when constantly wet, and maybe from too much fertilizer too, so double check your watering routine. Maybe you are watering too much? You could help by using light layer of topdressing with gravel, it will also keep down lightweigth perlite. But it will not improve the overwatering should that be the culprit or if there is a disease of some kind.