SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
webuser_364699994

Questions on watering and propagation in gritty mix

HU-364699994
last year

Two questions, as always (I can never seem to separate a question's form from the real situation that spawned so many of them simultaneously). Perhaps I should have started for a few years and struggled with keeping containerized plants in potting soil alive, but after reading Al's posts on the matter, I figured I'd just do almost all of my container gardening in gritty mix and learn a better way from the start.


Since I haven't started from a firm understanding a good time to water even in potting mixes for most plants (usually "letting it feel dry a couple inches down" was my go-to, ergo once a week or less, trying to deeply water when possible), I'm even more perplexed on what I should be doing for gritty mix. With these plants indoors (and some under lights), I'm curious how people handle deeply watering things that are likely to spill out plentiful water, especially if you don't want water to pool in the plate below the pot. Are there any confabulations people have come up with to satisfy the two simultaneous desires to leave a pot in place and to water it deeply? Furthermore, while I'm sure that the two cacti that I moved over to 1-1-1 gritty mix will be happier, I'm not so sure what to do with things like herbs, which I didn't see mentioned heavily in the discussions regarding gritty mix--I'd like to learn how plants that supposedly need more water are handled in these forms, and if I end up having to amend the massive amount of 1-1-1 that I made with something else, so be it, I would just like to not kill these plants so many times before getting good results.


Speaking of, that brings me to my next desire, spawned from the death of plants, which is propagation. I've seen some mention on here of people propagating succulents on gritty mix, but I tried propagating some mint I bought at the store in the mix after watering "from the bottom" (terracotta pots, pretty big ones compared to the one stalk I put in the pot), and within 8 hours the mint simply wilted, dried, and seemed to die, so I tried again and misted it after about four hours, still to the same effect. I'm unsure which of the many variables I should isolate for testing, but I figured I'd just ask for the right answer instead: How should I handle stem cuttings in gritty mix? Does it need to be deeply watered every few hours until it properly establishes roots? Should I just propagate in potting mix and risk the early damping off?


The same goes for succulents, though: I hear that the nodes must sense water to really start eeking roots out. Does anyone here do both stem and leaf prop for succs in 1-1-1? How does Al do his propagation, and what watering culture is really involved in this process?


If it helps for understanding humidity's sake, I'm in Utah, so it's pretty dry air-wise. I considered putting plastic bags over top of the soil to reduce evaporation, but I'm not sure I'd be helping anything.


Thanks for reading the wall of text; please let me know if there's anything really confusing about it.

Comments (3)