Hello - and thank you, Lynn, for the request to share the recipe for a soil that works extremely well for succulents, houseplants, and any plant material you intend to keep in the same soil more than only a few months. I'll be following the thread, and I'll be around to answer questions if there is interest, so I won't go into tremendous detail here. I'll leave a link at the end where you can explore some of the more technical aspects of container soils and container culture in general.
The reason this soil works so well is because it is very simple. Each ingredient serves a particular function, and the particle size is sch that the soil holds good amounts of moisture in the internal pores of the ingredients, but very little water in the pore space between particles. This provides tremendous aeration, which promotes excellent root function/metabolism/health, and provides the grower with a much wider margin of error when it comes to issues like watering and the accumulation of soluble salts so prevalent in peat based soils, which comes about from the necessity of watering in sips to avoid conditions favorable for root rot.
The ingredients and ratio - Equal parts by volume of:
uncomposted pine or fir bark in 1/8-1/4" size
Screened Turface (may substitute calcined DE, such as NAPA floor dry)
Gran-I-Grit (crushed granite in grower size or #2 cherrystone)
gypsum (1 level Tbsp/gallon of soil)
If you decide to adopt this soil as your 'go-to' mix, we can talk about a favorable (and easy) nutrient program.
You can find more in-depth info here at the link below. I've been helping people understand some very important principles that determine to a very large degree, their effort:reward quotient as it applies to gardening in containers. For many years, I wouldn't allow myself to say that an understanding of information in the link below is critical if you have a desire to get the best from your plants, but after hearing it repeated thousands of times by so many others, I feel more comfortable in suggesting to you that it really IS that important. So many people have read it and offered comments similar to, "The light just went on" or, "I knew I was missing something, but I just didn't understand what."
I hope you'll have a look. My guess is you'll come away with a much better understanding of what it takes to give your plants at least the chance to grow to their genetic potential.
http://cubits.org/containergar...
Thanks again for the invitation, Lynn. You've done such a nice job on your Cubit.
Al (tapla)
