I got 2 bags of granite chick grit at the feed store. I still need to find some coarse sand. I'll pick the Miracle Gro no moisture control up later. I had ordered some decomposed granite, with my miracle gro, but I haven't picked it up yet. I guess it needs rinsed before it can be used as gravel?

I use a woodstove, but getting to the appropriate biochar stage might be pretty tricky, I think I'll follow Lynn's suggestion on Miracle Gro and mix from there. I did manage to find powdered dolomite for the garden today, and I could add a little of it if I should. I can only find pumice on Amazon, nothing locally, well I haven't checked Atwoods yet, but Calloways doesn't seem to have it.

I should maybe figure out pots fairly soon too.

Alice, you can buy it in larger quantities on this site. The price sounds reasonable to me.
https://pumicestore.com/pumice...
At the bottom of the page, and you can choose the amount you want.

The reason I suggested what I did for your mix is because you want really quick draining mix because of your summer heat and humidity. You will have to play around with figuring out how often to water.

Alice
I've never bothered to boil my charcoal, too much hassle. I have crushed and sifted it before to remove pieces over 1/4" though.
No need to rinse your granite. There's not likely to be enough dust to worry about. Decomposed granite is mostly rock dirt, crushed granite on the other hand is essentially pretty gravel.

valleylynn said:Alice, you can buy it in larger quantities on this site. The price sounds reasonable to me.
https://pumicestore.com/pumice...
At the bottom of the page, and you can choose the amount you want.

The reason I suggested what I did for your mix is because you want really quick draining mix because of your summer heat and humidity. You will have to play around with figuring out how often to water.

I went ahead and ordered 5 lbs of each size. I've got room to store it, and I'm playing with succulents as well. Definitely less expensive than Amazon, thank you Lynn.

Would you say a 24-8-16 fertilizer is suitable for semperivum?

WAY TOO MUCH NITROGEN, Paleo. You are asking for rot.

Kevin

Glad I could find some better prices for you Alice.

Maybe if my semps do well I will have a little North Texas sideline. There are a number of things I used to grow that I can no longer grow here, so we shall see. I have officially bought enough soil supplies for way more than the semps I have on order. But my baby succulents will all need repotted when spring comes so it is all good. I killed plenty of them last year too

JungleShadows said:WAY TOO MUCH NITROGEN, Paleo. You are asking for rot.

Kevin

I would have said the same.
That is the NPK ration on the label of the Miracle Gro, 24-8-16, ironically the secret of big growth.

I believe the MG Quick Start is 4-12-4.
Miracle Grow has many different fertilizers for all types of applications.

Paleo/Kevin,
Nitrogen does bulk them up faster and creates lush growth but it disrupts dormancy. I think excessive nitrogen in the soil is a bad call, but used in moderation during the growing seasons as a liquid fertilizer isn't as big of a problem because you can control when the plants get it and stop feeding during to induce dormancy. Definitely avoid strong slow release fertilizers or composts heavy in nitrogen, the slow release fertilizer in Miracle Grow potting soil doesn't seem strong enough to cause much of a problem, but I wouldn't recommend their standard potting soil for sempervivum specimens without amending it with inorganic material like gravel and sand to make it leaner by volume. I have seen some rot in pure miracle grow potting soil.
-Sol

Yes that's why I use JUST Quick Start. It has a relatively low N content and I even use it at half strength when I fertilize.

The irises that are my other big crop do the best with that same range although I can bump the N up on the beardless irises with no problems.

Kevin

valleylynn said:I believe the MG Quick Start is 4-12-4.
Miracle Grow has many different fertilizers for all types of applications.

Well, that is very important, since I kept seeing Miracle Gro, and the first results were the 24-8-16 for the All Purpose one.
But yeah 4-12-4 of the Miracle Gro Quick Start is totally another thing.

JungleShadows said:Yes that's why I use JUST Quick Start. It has a relatively low N content and I even use it at half strength when I fertilize.

The irises that are my other big crop do the best with that same range although I can bump the N up on the beardless irises with no problems.

Kevin

Alright then it would be something like 2-6-2 at half strength.

No I never said Miracle Gro, always Quick Start.

Kevin

as I have a bag of Miracle Gro regular (not moisture retentive) on my porch. I also have access to a really good Miracle Gro Organic that I get at costco that contains yucca and coir and grows wonderful tomatoes, but I wasn't going to use that on semps because it prevents overwatering and helps with underwatering which means moisture retention... I'm using that for a peony I am about to move to a pot.

if I dilute my regular miracle gro with chick grit from granite and decomposed granite, and I can't add pumice til it gets here, but right now I have a box of semps on my porch that need potted in something, even if temporary and I just put them in my somewhat shallow rain gutter. (pumice is on the way, don't know when it will arrive)

Alice,
I've been surprised with the performance of semps in the Miracle Grow Organic soil, I've had some potted up in that stuff for about 7 months now and the plant's look pretty good, might want to run with that for now, toss some gravel in there if you want. Maybe it's the yucca fiber. It prevents overwatering to some degree which is helpful to the semps, they do like more moisture than cacti.

By the way:
"Decomposed" granite is very different from "crushed" granite. Decomposed is yellowish, sort of rusty white in color and it is ANCIENT! On it's way to being dirt it tends to become like concrete and in my opinion shouldn't be near semps in or on the soil. When wet it bonds to itself and solidifies. Crushed granite on the other hand is a clean white with black speckles and is very much a gravel, not nearly as dusty, a great amendment in the soil or on top of it as a mulch. Make sure your using the crushed stuff
-Sol

Not sure if anyone mentioned this but when you plant you will need to remove the soil that they arrive in. They are from mountain crest right?

They are from Perennial Obsessions. and I started mixing soil based on volume and I'm not happy with it at all, I'm not sure how much I am going to end up with, I think I will have a real mixed "bag" so to speak.

I had 2 bags of granite chick grit, nice dry, happy with that. i did add an equal amount of decomposed granite, I might be able to get some of that back out. (ya'll posted while I was outside). and then I added the same volume as the granite stuff in Miracle gro non moisture control regular, and the mix is almost pure sand. I'm getting a bigger bucket. I'll see if I can get rid of any decomposed granite, and I'm going to mix in some of my organic miracle gro left from last year as long as it looks and smells good (bought last May) If it doesn't I'll stay with the fresh miracle gro, but I am guessing mix should be by weight rather than volume?? Gone to find a big bucket

Alex,
I always mix by volume because moisture content affects weight so drastically but it can actually diminish volume a bit. The change in volume especially as it pertains to potting soil is far more negligible than the effects on weight so I tend to mix for volume. There is also a huge difference in weight between a buckets worth of gravel and potting soil, if you mix by weight you'd barely be putting in any gravel unless you really ran the numbers. If that's the way you mixed in the decomposed granite your probably fine because there won't be enough of it in there to harden the soil. As a side note the fibrous materials do a good job of loosening things up, I made a whole bed with native clay, pea gravel, peat and sand at equal parts, the peat and sand really loosened up the hard clay, it wasn't an awful mix, held a little more water than I liked it to though.
-Sol