Insofar as how it would impact root health, there is no difference between plastic and high-fired clay/ceramic. If you can see no crazing (myriad small cracks reminiscent of a fish net with small holes) in the glaze, you can eliminate anything toxic making its way from the pot to the grow medium. If you haven't fertilized or used any type of tonics, insecticides, leaf shine, detergents, etc., it's a very good bet you have unwittingly over-watered due to the fact there is no way for water to evaporate or be used by the plant as the new medium is not colonized by roots and remains a hostile environment to roots due to lack of oxygen. My suggestion would be to lift the plant from the pot to see it the lower reaches of the soil column are saturated. If so, see figure D below. Remove the soil from the new pot, place an over-turned pot in the bottom of the pot so it fits snugly, and cover the drain hole of the over-turned pot with something that won't rot (it does not need to allow water to drain through the hole in the over-turned pot, but it's ok to use a screen if you wish). Mix enough of the soil that falls away from the roots or remains in the large pot with an equal measure of perlite and fill to the top of the over-turned pot, then reposition your plant on top of the pot. and back-fill with the remaining soil w/o the extra perlite. The shaded areas in the images above represents perched water. By comparing D to A, you can see the over-turned pot significantly reduces the amount of excess (perched) water your soil will b e able to hold, so air will return the the soil much faster. The operational words for the moisture level of a grow medium is damp/moist, never wet/soggy. After having put the pot to work as ballast, start checking moisture levels with a "tell" you can make from a wooden dowel rod. It is far superior to a finger or a "moisture meter". More about using a 'tell': Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Questions? Al

In a effort to be clear I have rewritten my post about Dr Ingrams. I have used contemporary language to the best of my ability. If there are still questions of what I am saying I will attempt to try again... Im tired of people messing with Dr Elaine R. Ingrams. Dr Ingrams be working hard, real hard. Dr Ingrams got courage and character just like Superman. Dr Ingrams, that girl know about her compost tea (dirt too!), she in the front row (snap) sitting on the corner. Dr Ingrams was telling people to geek up their compost tea. Somebody found out she was doing wrong and put it in the funny papers. You know everybody seen that! Dr Ingrams jumped up and told everybody they were right with the quickness. She covered that butt and dont care what nobody say behind her back. People be talking about they be calling Dr Ingrams all the time. I bet they be calling her when she get off work too, and she talk to them anyway (hmmph). I am NOT having no talking about Dr Elaine R. Ingrams behind her back just so you can stay stuck on stupid. Dr Ingrams is a real nice lady and helps everybody, even if they talk funny to her. Dr Ingrams take them just like they come, she dont pick and choose. If you wants to talk about somebody with me you best be picking somebody else. If not, you can talk to the hand Blutranes

I'm not sure exactly what part you're saying is mythical. From what you've posted: "Coarse Sand or Gravel Subsoil Fine soil overlaying coarse sand or gravel subsoil must become very wet before water will move down through the large pours of the subsoil. Under these conditions, the overlying soil holds up to two or three times as much water as it would if the course subsoil were not present" And that's exactly what I was talking about. The water "perches". It's not actually 100% saturated but it is water that is perched until you apply enough for gravity to suck it down into the subsoil. With proper irrigation management, you can perch the water where you want it and use that effect to your advantage. Of course, that saturated zone (not actually 100% saturation but close enough for the girl's I go with, as my grandfather use to say) Will be bigger in a fine soil over gravel due to greater capillary action but it will still be there in a sand over gravel. You might have a 5 or 6 inch layer of saturation in a heavy soil over gravel and a 1 or 2 inch layer in a sand over gravel. In the paragraph above that, your reference states (when placing a find soil over sand): "When water passes through a fine layer and reaches a layer of coarse sand, it stops until enough water accumulates to nearly saturate the fine soil" Note the use of the word "stops". Again, this happens when going from a sand to a gravel due to a difference in capillary action of the two different layers. Again, this is the effect that we use to "perch" water where we want to so the roots can get to it. As far as a clay layer goes, you're right. You can perch water that way too. "Clay Layer When water reaches the clay, the very fine pores of this layer resist water flow. Although water does pass through the clay, it's penetration is so slow that water tables often build up above the clay." In that condition, note that water actually moves but slowly rather than coming to a dead stop like it does when you put a finer material over a coarser material as discussed previously. However, your zone of saturation will be larger and you can't "push" water into the subsoil when you need to by applying a bigger head of water. It will just perc as slow as the clay will allow it to move and no faster. It's harder to control soil moisture that way. Both of these conditions become less and less important the deeper in the profile the textural interface is but when the interface exists relatively near the surface, either by accident or design, it can be an advantage or a liability depending on intent and management practices. ("Or so the legends of yore go.", I suppose I should say)

Well, today I bit the bullet, and got 'er done. Everyone recommended I add "oil dry" to the mix, so I went down to the local NAPA store and got the smallest bag they had....probably enough to last the rest of my life unless I spill the grease the next few times I fry fish. Since I had already made enough mix to fill the selected pot (thats a joke!)and it contained sand which some of you recommended against, but I couldn't get out, I just added a measure of the oil dry to the existing mix. Next step was removing the plant from its pot....Turning it over and tapping the pot on the bottom did NOT work! I struggled for over ten minutes before I convinced that plant to turn that pot loose, and when it did come out, it just kept on, and on, and on coming out. You've been to the circus and seen 10 clowns get out of a car the size of a large suitcase......Well, I'm convinced Adeniums taught them how to do that. There was more plant in that pot than I would have ever thought possible. None of the pots I had considered using was going to work, so the search began all over again. I finally found one thats a bit small, but will work for a while. Photo #4 shows what I got out of that pot. There was a large swolen root that had been just below the surface, and another much smaller root on the opposite side. I trimmed all the small roots off the smaller one, and left both of them on the plant, thinking they might add interest in later years (hows that for a new grower being optimistic). There was a small cluster of roots on the back side of this photo that was growing above the old soil line, and a little "button" of an old root stub that was starting to grow a new root, so I took both of these off flush with the Caudex. I removed a few of the more flimsy looking bunches of tiny roots, and thats about all. Photo #5 shows what I put in the new pot. The swolen root is on the left, and the one I am going to try to get to match it is on the right trimmed of all its small roots. Photo #6 is the final product. The plant is raised about 2 inches, and shows the large swolen root on the right, and the new smaller one on the left. You can see the spot near the center of the Caudex where I cut off a small patch of roots that were growing above the old soil line. I intend to leave the plant on the porch for two or three days to allow it to dry and heal the cuts I made, then will slowly reintroduce it to the sun until it is again in pretty much full sun, and being fed and watered on a regular basis...like every couple of days. I know I probably did as many things wrong as I did right, (I would consider 50-50 a real accomplishment) But I do believe things went pretty well, and now the challenge will be to grow this (to me) strange new plant. Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement. I have been lurking around here for some time, soaking up the knowlege you good folks have been putting out.....I guess today was exam day...Thanks. Bill