Actually - I was wondering why the dog cracks were necessary - where they even came from?? Seeing that 'light' come on is very gratifying to anyone trying to teach someone else something. I give a lot of talks to gardening groups about various aspects of growing, and I get to see that light whenever I explain how water behaves in soils, about the importance of root maintenance to long term plant health, about fertilizers .... There are knucklehead dogs and knucklehead people. Fortunately, you can usually ignore the knuckleheads you're not related to, but you can't ignore your knucklehead dog. The point was, the stick to it attitude when it comes to the dog makes the difference between a dog's lifetime of frustration and teeth gnashing (by the owner) vs a companion that rarely tries your patience and loves you without reservation. It takes effort to raise a dog right, and it takes an effort to grow well. It doesn't come naturally, it has to be learned. Your gardenias shouldn't be all that tough. You're already most of the way there. Al

You don't get out much? Lead a sheltered life? ;-) See why GW is the best place to be? You can learn stuff here, that you can't learn at the other places you frequent. Ignoring its existence or sacrificing reason on the the skeptic's altar does nothing to relieve its limiting effects, btw. Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to become proficient at bonsai in the worst way, but he failed. He realized that root problems related to his soil choice were limiting his ability to keep his plants viable for the long term, so he put the plants aside and hit the books & the net until he had fixed his problems. Realizing that MOST other hobby growers were suffering under the same limitations HE had suffered under before he figured out how to fix them, he started to share what he had learned ..... I didn't 'discover' the concept. All growers with even a basic working knowledge of soils recognize it as an inherent part of growing. How water behaves in any medium is bound by a very rigid and predictable set of physical principles. All I did was define those principles in a way that allows anyone who wants to, to take advantage of a concept that can be used to build soils that work FOR the grower, instead of against him. Cindy - If the soil is colonized by roots and you can still detect moisture in the soil, in most cases there is no NEED to water. What determines whether or not a watering that occurs before it's needed is harmful and to what degree it might be harmful, is whether or not it creates a PWT, and if it does, how much and for how long. When you use MG soils, you must either water in sips or endure the effects of the PWT created when you water correctly. When plants are growing well and the planting is mature (roots fully colonizing soil and in the fast growth part of the growth cycle) a temporary PWT might be very tolerable because the water ion the PWT is used quickly, but in all cases where the PWT hangs around for a significant amount of time, the grower leaves a lot of potential lying on the table, EVEN if there is no direct evidence of root rot or spoiled foliage. Simply put, airless conditions in the root zone impede water and nutrient uptake, which affects growth and vitality. Plus, the fine roots subjected to the effects of the PWT die off very quickly, so the regeneration of these roots before growth recommences is all paid for in the form of lost potential. Since I did not detect any standing water can I assume that I did not have a PWT present after I flush watered?? Forgive me, but I'm not sure what you're asking. PWT in pots is the same as static water level within the ground? correct?? Not necessarily. Technically, water doesn't 'perch' due to slow percolation or a lack thereof. There are many cases where water exists close to the surface for extended periods because of a bedrock substrata, or even as clay substrata. When this occurs, it's simply slow or no percolation that is causal. Water can stratify even in coarse gravel under these conditions. PERCHED water is water that is held so tightly in intra-particulate (between particles) spaces that gravity cannot force it to drain from the soil. Will a constant light moisture cause any of the harmful "too wet" symptoms that most times will occur with houseplants? leaf discoloration, leaf drop, etc. NO. Constant light moisture (about like a recently wrung out sponge) is about as close to ideal as you can get for houseplants. Unfortunately, it's pretty close to unachievable. The closest you'll get in conventional container culture is with soils like the gritty mix. You can wet them frequently and they don't hold perched water in any significant volume, so they have an extremely favorable ratio of moisture:air as long as you water regularly. At the other extreme, when using heavy soils, every time you water like you should, you have extremely unfavorable conditions in whatever fraction of the soil holds perched water for as long as it holds perched water. That the soil CAN hold perched water is related to particle size and the tiny size of the air spaces between particles, so even the soil above the level of the PWT is going to have less aeration than soils formulated from larger particles, which means that even at their best (when the PWT has disappeared and the soil is largely just damp) these soils are still significantly inferior to soils with much better aeration. What signs should I watch for so that I can accurately water my tree? I have light moisture top - bottom with a rootball that should be within 2" of the bottom of the pot. I know I am experiencing water vapor within the pot: but, at what stage does the moisture get low enough to prevent this from occurring? -or- does it? How do you best determine when the moisture is too low to be absorbed? First, the less PW a soil holds, the less important it is to be concerned about over-watering. You could probably run a hose on a plant in a well made gritty mix for an hour twice each day & not over-water. It has all those evenly spaced air spaces between the soil particles that are large to fill up with water, so the soil is always extremely well-aerated from top to bottom. If you first put a definition to what a perfect container soil would be, it's actually very easy to see what type of materials you would need to use to achieve that end, and what types of materials are counterproductive when it comes to striving for the superlative. ;-) That would make an interesting conversation - reverse engineering a soil ..... Keep testing like you are. Use the wood dowel or a finger at the drain hole. Use your judgment - if you think you're under-watering, don't hold out and cause unnecessary stress, but in most cases, if you can still detect moisture, you can hold off watering (soil fully colonized w/roots). Al

"The leaves need to be cleaned----how and with what???" Cover the soil with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Add a 1/2 tsp of Murphy's Oil Soap or dishsoap to a quart spritzer and fill with warm water. (you can also add 1/2 water & 1/2 alcohol if you prefer. Both the soap and the alcohol make the water wetter and more effective at removing dust. The alcohol will provide some knock-down of insect populations should they be there. In the shower, spritz the plant thoroughly & wipe leaves if you like. Rinse with cool water (room temp) and remove the plastic wrap tin foil. You might wish to flush the soil several times by allowing water to drip through the foliage while it's in the shower. This will help flush any accumulating salts from the soil. Can I prune the tree to even it out?? I wish you had included where you live in your user info. It's much easier to give specific advise if your geo-location is known. You can start the tree back on the road to fullness if you prune every growing branch tip off now. If a main branch has several secondary and then tertiary branches - they ALL get the tip removed. This will immediately stop the trees ability to extend branches and force it to back-bud behind the pruning cuts. Later in the year, when the tree has gained considerable energy, you can do a more radical pruning that will further help to restore an attractive shape. ... what kind of sunlight will it take? The answer is species dependent and in some part, depends on where you live. ... (I'm) afraid I will kill it if I try repotting. If you wait until summer to repot, and come back for some pointers, it's VERY unlikely you'll do your plant any serious harm. I've posted some pictures on the forum of some very radical rejuvenation efforts in which both the top AND the roots were simultaneously cut back hard, and the plants recovered quickly. Not all plants will tolerate such indignities, but most Ficus are sufficiently genetically vigorous that they hardly miss a beat. Place your plant in bright light with the bare side toward the source. If the plant was in a dim location previously, be careful to introduce the plant to the brighter light incrementally to avoid sunburn. Don't be tempted to over-nurture with water/fertilizer. If you do flush the soil, fertilize the next day with (preferably a 3-1-2 ratio fertilizer like MG 24-8-16 or 12-4-8, at 1/4 recommended strength. The above are all simple operations. After completed, just wait & watch the tree start on its way to filling in again. ;o) Al

No need to screen the mix you described for the ficus, but anything that makes manifest the idea that the more perched water eliminated the better will be your plants' opportunity to realize their potential, should be screened to appropriate sizes. Since the main reason for using the gritty mix is the absence of perched water, it wouldn't make sense to go to the effort/expense of making it, only to cut corners that ensure the soil would have the same inherent limitations that other more convenient soils have. IOW, if you skip screening out the fines, you might as well just make a larger batch of the 5:1:1 mix and use that, then reevaluate somewhere down the line when you're not so pressured by time. The Father's Day - 4th of July time frame is a good guideline that's easy to remember. Farther south the window widens some, like from Memorial Day to mid-July. The timing is based on the plant's desire to grow, which is controlled primarily by photoperiod and temperature. You want to complete the work early enough that the plant has fully recovered before the short days & cool temps come, but not so early the plant isn't fully awake from it's winter lethargy. Al