Please note that the following is general comments for some soil amendments. Many of these I would not necessarily use for certain applications; i.e. a mix for Adeniums or plumeria or Brugmansia. Some of this stuff, I only use for planting in the ground - not pots. I wanted to list this because some of you may find it helpful, especially if you have not tried such products.
I make a lot of potting mixes for my own use and for my business - Pony Express Plants. I grow ~ 50 types of trees and shrubs. I also grow hundreds of species of perennials and herbs and a few annuals.
First Tarev
- I am sorry that you do not have a Tractor Supply or Orschelins store nearby for some chicken grit
- good stuff BTW. 5 or 6 miles for me to nearest store. But then you can feel sorry for me as well. For me to get Pumice I have to drive 130 mile round trip to Kansas City or order from internet. No thanks.
Too much $$$. But I DO like pumice.
Manna Pro crushed granite is best. Do not use chicken grit made from crushed shells - oyster etc. Too many baddies leech into the soil. Granite is very benign. (Tarev - maybe I could send you 20 # of Granite chicken grit and you could send me 20 # of pumice? <wink>.
If you want to add the benefits of kitty litter - be careful. Special Kitty brand from Walmart is one of the few that I and others I have seen on Internet use that is acceptable. Too many of the brands turn to gooey messes or clumped up messes. You want a product that is calcined. Most aren't. Special Kitty is.
Similar - an amendment that many use is oil absorbing material. Again - you need to be careful. The only brand that I and others have found to be the good stuff is that sold by NAPA - Napa #8822 Floor Dry (calcined diatomite (diatomaceous earth)). Most oil absorbing products are made from non-calcined clay.
As I understand it, the calcined products are fired so that the clay/diatomite doesn't break down to silt.
For my trees and shrubs and perennials, I like to add pine bark fines. It is a specialized product and has nothing to do with mulch, most pine nugget products, etc. For most of my apps I use the pine bark fines rather than sphagnum peat - which I hardly ever use. Fines adds structure to the soil, holds moisture and breaks down slowly. It has little effect on Ph. It is sometimes labeled as soil conditioner.
A couple of amendments I also like are Cotton Burr Compost and Mushroom compost. They are both good stuff and I often use them when I can find them on sale. They both have many of the benefits of cow manure compost.
When using sand, I want to use the coarser/larger construction grade sizes - not the pulverized teeny stuff. Childrens playground sand is not what you want.
Of course anything coco is a great amendment. I have started using it mixed in with medium bark for my orchids.
Out of the bag ready to use, I like Happy Frog and Foxfarm Ocean Harvest. I often use them with some of the other above amendments.
Bringing this back to Adeniums, I used a mix of Cactus soil, sand and perlite and vermiculite (about 3 parts perlite to 1 part vermiculite). I think I found that recipe here somewhere. Being new to Adeniums a year ago, it seemed like a reasonable mixture.
cheers
I have never seen coarse pumice sold.
I use it maybe in half my soil mixes. So happy you found some. Keep us posted and let me know if you are happy adding it to your soil mixes. Provides massive assist for drainage. 
