drdawg said:Miracle Gro Potting Soil and really any of the other commercially available ones are OK as is for some folks. If I used any of them I would definitely amend them with at least a good bit of coarse perlite. ...
Rick, if the potting media has the right components, it will be difficult for even someone "addicted" to watering frequently, to over-water. ... Experience is the grand teacher.
Some folks manage not to over-water, which is as amazing to me as walking on water would be. If I don't see water come out the bottom, I "know" it needs more water.
But I agree that once you make potting media that drains fast enough, you CAN see water come out the bottom, and it keeps coming out until many of the good-sized voids are filled with air as they must be.
If very coarse Perlite or expanded shale / clay pellets were cheap and easily available, I would probably use them as additives to "professional" mixes with fibers coarser than peat and longer than MY bag of Miracle-Gro was. Crushed stone larger than 1/16th inch would work as drainage enhancers, but be heavy.
Instead I've developed a fetish for screening bark shreds and nuggets. I found a cheaper imitation of ProMix high-porosity, and I add plenty of bark shreds to that so I have a very coarse mix that's much cheaper than ProMix, Sunshine or similar bales.
I could probably stand there with a watering can 24/7, yet STILL not drown the roots.
Until I manage to re-program the 'watering centers' of my brain, that's what I have to do.
