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
