What would be the difference between regular tree bark and coconut coir/husk (rough pieces) for succulent/cactus soil mix (and for other plants in general)? I used coco coir, so I was wondering would bark act any differently since it's lot cheaper in my area than coconut coir. What are your thoughts on this?

Chunky bark dries out much faster, though it will also hold some moisture. Coco coir holds more water longer That is why it is quite good addition for orchid media. They may be good during the long hot and dry months, but on the other parts of the year, it will be dicey with their water retention, it may just promote faster rotting if one tends to be a heavy waterer or if your humidity levels are higher, and temps getting colder at other times of the year, then all the more rotting potential is higher.

I do not like using them with my succulents, since it is so easy to rot the roots. Unless you are trying to grow the more tropical ones like Epiphyllums and Rhipsalis, they will enjoy that, but I would not use them alone, I would add maybe more pumice or clay rocks to further encourage airflow at root zone since Epi's and Rhipsalis are more epiphytic.

The bark holds less water than coir, which is really a sponge.

Thank you for your answers. I usually mix 50% perlite, 25% regular potting mix and 25% rough coco coir(not the one for mulch, still smaller pieces than that) for my succulents, so could I use regular bark instead of coco coir since you said it hold even less water than coco coir and it's a lot cheaper (at least in my area)?

It depends on what type of succulent you are growing. Also where are you growing them, indoors or outdoors. There are other factors that will help with the dry out time when it is outdoors. Indoors, it will make it much longer and with a quite water retentive media, if there is no good airflow around, you are risking fungal issues as well.

I use a very similar mix: 50% pumice, 25% potting soil (mostly compost) and 25% fine coir. You can substitute bark for coir but you probably will have to water more often.

I have nothing against watering them a little bit more often, if that would be the case. The humidity in my home is pretty high (50% - 70% depending on seasons, 69% atm) so maybe it would be better (at least in my opinion)to substitute bark for coir and therefore make the potting mix dry a bit faster. I am growing them indoors.

It would be a good experiment. I think your area is somewhat like our climate, wet winters, hot summers. But weather is different year to year, so learn to adjust your watering regimen as seasonal temperature and light levels change.

Baja's growing area is more to the south, while my location is more inland to the north central valley of California. So as it stands, we got different growing areas. The same for you, it will be a matter of good observation and discipline to see if using coco coir will give a good return for your succulents.

Klara333 said:I have nothing against watering them a little bit more often, if that would be the case. The humidity in my home is pretty high (50% - 70% depending on seasons, 69% atm) so maybe it would be better (at least in my opinion)to substitute bark for coir and therefore make the potting mix dry a bit faster. I am growing them indoors.

Ex yu grower here. I switched to mineral heavy soil, and began cleaning roots. Wet root rot has dropped completely.
Only plants that i loose now are from bugs, or from some unusual disease turning them into dry husks.
My soil is mostly gravel, leca, coarse sand, crushed brick, and perlite as of recent.
I add tree bark for epiphyte cacti and more soil for other , regular succulents(not cacti, euphorbia , stapeliads, adenium , pachypodium)...
I have issues with high winter humidity, and have found this (and watering discipline to be the best solution). Not the best, but it works.
Look up 87walker on youtube for the watering regime in winter.

Two years ago all of the succulents (around 10-15) I bought rotted within the first 4 months (with most of them gone after first month and a half) and the reason behind that is because I didn't know better than to leave them in the soil in which I bought them. Around 70% of succulents I ever bought were in soil that was 80%-90% compost + 10%-20% fine sand (and all store bought succulent potting mixes I ever bought were like that), which in my opinion is the worst soil in which you could put succulent in. And other 30% of succulents came in soil that consisted of 50%-80% bark and the rest was compost, which is better but still too organic for the humidity levels in my home. Because of my love for succulents and cacti I decided to try again this year after learning from my mistakes and this time potting them in mostly anorganic soil as I mentioned (50% prelite, 25%regular potting mix and 25% rough coir). Only month has passed since I bought first few of the succulents I have today so I can't say much of how affective that mix is for me, but for now all of them (around 40 (of which most are still babies)) are healthy and no one shows any signs of too much moisture or root rot. But as I said, only month has passed, so wish me luck.

I change the media of my new succulents if I see they seem to be in peat. But I have learned to buy them now from actual nurseries that know how to grow and handle succulents.

So I have learned to make my own mix too. I always have on hand a bag of cacti mix. But I still choose which type I get, since some sellers now even add already fertilizers and too much water retentive stuff. Then I also always have a bag of pumice here. I also found out about akadama and kanuma which the japanese bonsai gardeners use. If I have them on hand, I also mix that in.

For now any coco coir or bark I have is just used for my orchids , epis and some hoyas. They have much better use of them

tarev said:I change the media of my new succulents if I see they seem to be in peat. But I have learned to buy them now from actual nurseries that know how to grow and handle succulents.

For wholesale, i dont think croatia, spain or france have been any different in that matter from here.
All use that peat mix, i see in mine.(with the occasional oddity in it)...
I dont know whether they have pro nurseries like that in zagreb anyway.
If they do, i suggest she looks them up/finds proper growers.
Me, been there, tried that. Nobody really can help me. There is only a handful of experienced growers here, and none are really into selling or trading...

Yes, that is understandable. Trading live plants and seeds among countries is not highly encouraged and lots of restrictions. Though there are reputable sellers online these days, and some just plain scams. But it is in the long run for the benefit of the environment.

Just like when I go back to my homeland, oh, so tempting to get a live tropical or get good seeds there, for plants that do not exist here normally. But for me, it is not worth the trouble at customs inspection, I just want to enjoy my vacation hassle free. But it is interesting how I find good specimens of desert succulents there, that really should not be growing there. I guess there will always be a backdoor source somewhere.

You are likely , much better off, using decomposed oak leaves, for organic matter. At least from what I've seen, some really good growers used & had results with. But partly, it depends on you climate & humidity levels all year around, to help you decide what works, best. Mine tended to dry out a bit much in winter, though had southern exposure in winter.

Beside , I'm probably farther south, than you may be. I never liked "pine bark, in particular, as it often stained white spines & would manage to rise to the top, from watering, eventually. Hard wood, may be better, than pine, when using a "wood product' to the mix. Something about "humic acids' from what I recall, helps..
Some "coir" may be contaminated with salts, from the ocean,as many Coconut palms, tend to grow near beaches, in the Tropics.. So, if using it, be sure to soak & rinse, first, prior to use.

Home Depot has stopped selling Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus soil (add a little perlite and, in my mind, perfect for everything) and has replaced it with Kellogg Garden Organics Cactus, Palm and Citrus soil. The Kellogg's stuff is the same price as a small bag of Miracle grow but is at least twice the size (8 dry quarts vs 1 cu ft - I don't know how to compare that).

Here are the ingredients for Kellogg's:
Recycled forest products (paper? cardboard?)
pumice and sand
bark fines
dehydrated chicken manure
hydrolyzed feather meal

This list worries me. I'm sure we will soon be seeing posters who used that stuff and now are in survival mode.

The only listed ingredients on the Miracle gro is forest products, sphagnum peat moss, sand and perlite and Miracle gro plant food. Now I need to worry about what else might be in there too.

I just saw some the other day at HD here, so I wonder how long until they phase it out. Do you have a Lowes nearby? Walmart and Lowes carry MG at least.

I think there, is one commercial mix, that may not be too bad, of quality ( considering what it is sold as & what is actually the ingredients.) Black Gold , may actually have pumice & sand, in it, here in U.S.
But I never bought a bag, although quickly read some of what was in it... I I did use that, I'd rather add coarse sand, more pumice, or perlite, to the mix, that would work best in my climate/conditions, for growing outside, spring through summer & into autumn & indoors, during winter.

Some growers in Europe, may still sell "cactus soil' such as possibly Kakteen Haage, which I think is an very old vendor, maybe in Germany but may offer it now, mainly just for starting cacti from seeds? While commercial growers have been known to simply use peat moss & perlite, compressed, to actually start the cacti seed, in greenhouse...

One of the problems, ends up, that the "mealy bugs' love to start to get into attacking the plants roots, when kept in that peat moss mix.
I started using nearly 95 % pumice, gravel, sand & /or with perlite, & sometimes added top dressing of some crushed slate, or marble, or fine righ gravel..to resolve that problem & simply watered, very frequently, with a little diluted fertilizer... Results; no mealy bugs, at all & much less tendency to rot.

I think it is better, to completely remove, as much as possible, near the start, of the growing season, remove it, after soaking & rinse it off & remove carefully as possible. Then allow to dry, ( without roots "stuck together") & repot, into a"dry mix" that you are going to use, so as to avoid the mealy bug problem & also avoid staying wet, for too long & rotting.

I never liked Miracle Gro, so if I can I go for Black Gold but always, I add more pumice to the mix.

All I can find locally is MG, which has worked for me so far, adding perlite.

I have always experimented with soil mixes - I think I have used about every one that has been devised during my growing lifetime - and I have found all those that were of coarse and gritty texture, thus providing excellent drainage and root aeration, consistently produced healthy and robust plants. In consequence I have always used very porous, well aerated, soil mixes for cultivating potted cacti.

In addition to producing healthy looking plants, ease of plant maintenance is an important attribute of soil mixes in my opinion. They should tolerate occasional watering misadventures and be light enough to make potted plants easily transportable. The over-riding soil attribute for me (because of my disabilities) is light weight!

I now use a soil mix that consists of 70% coarse pumice and 30% bagged coco-peat (coconut coir).

This mix is very lightweight and provides superior drainage and optimum soil aeration. I have found it to be ideally suited for cultivating all arid land plants in our extremely dry and hot southern Arizona environment


Soil mix dampened in preparation for posting


Root ball of Discocactus growing in soil mix


Close-up pic of root ball