I use 1/4 peat, perlite, black humus compost, small orchid chips as a general mix...I lighten up for bills, dyckia on the bark and add more perlite

I'm using 25% small red lava rock in my mixes. It really seems to work. I've been cutting back on the bark. When I de-pot plants I'm finding some rotting bark (especially if it's pushed up against the side of a plastic pot) with stuff growing on it that I don't think I want. Maybe the bark chunks are too big, but small bark is expensive. Anyway, regular potting soil has some bark in it and I use that instead of peat.

I've also used generous amounts of good old Florida soil, aka sand, if I want to add some extra weight to a pot to keep it from tipping over. My plants in the landscape like it, so why not the potted plants?

Winter I did have a problem with pine chips but so far no probs with the small fir chips.
Plants in pots need better soil and fertilizer since repeated watering leachs out all the good stuff. I repot once a year with fresh potting mix also

I don't see how potting soil leaches out any faster than the dirt/sand in my yard. We get about 60 inches of rain a year and then add the 24 inches of sprinkler water...I still think your idea of repotting once a year is correct.

Are small fir chips expensive? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that except maybe the pricey orchid stuff.

The chips are to expensive here as we have an orchid wholesale here and he will bulk bag any amount of fir you want from a cubic ft to cubic yard...largest chips is a half inch done to a quarter inch...makes a nice show top dressing too

that should read 'the chips are not to expensive'

I found an old bag of lizard bedding wood chip bits and used that for a while. Since the stupid lizards will eat it they can't treat it with anything so it should be OK. Still, that stuff ain't cheap. I wonder if ground up corn husks, used for bedding also, would work? That can be had at more reasonable rates.

I wish I could come up with a simple way to grind up the pine bark chunks.

I have heard of rice hull being used if you have access to that

Hi everyone,

While browsing through some old posts I came across this one Posted by gonzer (My Page) on Thu, Mar 27, 08 and thought I should add a warning about Rice Hulls.

I had an orchid growing friend who started using rice hulls in his orchid mix for extra drainage. Within a couple of weeks he was invaded by mice and the odd rat. Numerous holes were dug into his potting mix and seedlings displaced as these rodents foraged for grain amongst the hulls.

Once he removed the rice hulls, the mice disappeared and everything returned to normal.

The moral of the story: Mice like rice hulls better than bromeliads and orchids do.

All the best, Nev.

So the moral of the story is; Don't use rice, it's not nice for mice who might have lice.

I am probably a bit dogmatic with this but i dont care what it costs as long as its good quality ,it may not mean that much if potting Bill,Nutans ( but why would you ? )but with quality plants you may as well use a quality mix ,after all you dont put recapped tyres on a " Rolls Royce " do you ? the 50 litre bags we get from South Australia work out about $15 @ bag to our door ( for a 40 bag pallet ) that is great buying in my book for a top quality product
Jack

Hi Jack,

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disputing the advice you have given in previous posts, it's just that I came across this old post and thought I would pass on the info I knew about the rice hulls to prevent anyone else having mice problems.

All the best, Nev.