Gritty mix is 1-1-1, equal parts of ingredients, non of them should be predominant (maybe you confused it with 5-1-1 mix?)

But as many grow in different mixes with success, you may mix it according to your weather and growing conditions.
Most important, make sure it is well drained. Whatever ingredients you use, they should be as close to same size as possible (Chad already mentioned not to use very fine perlite; also mentioned ratios of ingredients used which is not necessarily 1-1-1). Whatever ratios you use, make sure the soil or bark is smaller % of the mix.

I grow most of the succulents in 1-1-1- (gritty mix), using chicken grit. I use perlite but screen it (and rinse) to get larger particles.

Pine bark should not be used as the base but as the minority portion of the gritty mix as stated many many times. I was not commenting on the use of pine bark but at the amount of pine bark. It should be counted as the organic portion. I usually do all organic at 30 - 20% depending on the plant. IMHO.

Well I did a 1-1-1 mix. Pine bark, chicken grit, and turface. And I have many drain holes at the gotten of the box. What I want to know is should I water them in or just wait?

DO NOT water them in. I sugest that you wait 4 days to a week. One can thump the table up and down to help settle the dirt. Maybe tap the bottom or the sides with a hammer. The vibration will settle the dirt also.

Ok great! Thanks!

Wantonamara, so if I understood you correctly you were telling me that pine bark is bad if you don't use it in the correct ratio? I know I mentioned that I used it as my predominant base but its mainly an equal part with the turface and chicken grit. Is that good?

Rachpreach, I would "sift" that pine bark and it should be great to use on the 1-1-1 Gritty mix...I use a sifter from the dollar store, something like this to remove all the fine pieces and dust that could cause the mix to stay too wet...

Works great for Jades, succulents and Bonsai potting mix too...

I'm sorry I have so many questions about all this. I just want to make sure I so everything right. If I have a planter box like the one that is my size in my coffee table, with plenty of drain holes that have screens on them, how long should I water them for at one time? I know I've read that they like a good "soaking" instead of more frequent waterings but I don't know exactly what that means. How long? How much water? I was planning on watering them tomorrow since it will have been 7 days since I repotted with the gritty mix.

Hello again from south Louisiana, rachpreach! Being on the newish side like you and being here in the humid climate as well, I have the same feelings about watering as yourself. I have been watering once a week because I have been keeping them out of the rain we have been having. It's raining as I type this, by the way! I went to Lowes yesterday and purchased a moisture meter with a long thin probe that you stick in the soil to find out if its dry or not. I know to some that may seem ridiculous, but here with our humidity and not wanting to risk overwatering, I figured what the heck at least until I get more familiar with being able to just look and tell that they need water. It was under $10.

Interesting. I might have to get one. So you just water when ever the meter says its dry?

I've been reading the thread to learn new things - newbie here.
Is Miracle-Gro Perlite considered fine perlite? Thanks.

I prefer to measure the moisture in the soil by using a bamboo skewer stuck down in the soil several inches. When you think you need to water, pull it out and hold it to your cheek or back of your hand. If it feels cool and damp, dont water, warm and dry, water away.

After time, most are able to tell if a plant needs water by picking up the pot (if applicable) and judging by the weight. You will learn the weight of a recently watered container vs. that of a dry container.

Yes. There were different ones to choose form, the fancy ones even tested PH levels. I am always worried about the bottom of the soil staying damp here where my fingers can't reach, plus I figure it will also come in handy for my house plants.
I became interested in it after seeing old-n's post on this thread.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cacti/msg070933217251.html?19

So back to my question.... Do you think it's ok to water my plants tomorrow? It's been 8 days tomorrow since repotting. Soil feels dry but it was dry when I repotted.

Ok. Well I watered yesterday. The soil drained very well. It felt pretty dry by that afternoon. I guess that's normal? I just hope they got enough water. At least I know that my soil is well draining!!! And my little cactus purked up from being drooped over. I think I'm going to get one of those soil monitors.

Hi rachpreach...I live in hot very humid FL and I water my Jades/succulents about every 7-10 days if we don't get rain, but I do have them planted in the Gritty mix and it drains very well.

Fluffy, I've purchased Miracle grow perlite and a lot of what's inside is fine/dust...I would be very careful (wear a mask) is recommended so the dust does not blow back in your face...I usually rinse or sift all that fine particles/dust and only use the chunkier, medium size pieces and throw the other stuff out.....

Puglvr, does your soil dry out like the day you water it? I stuck my finger down as deep as I could get it in the soil and it felt a little damp. I was just surprised at how much it dried out so fast.

That is the idea.

Wantonamara, I forgot to comment your on your gorgeous Campfire...what beautiful colors!! Thanks for posting...
I had one a few years ago and it died (root rot) :o(...soil wasn't drying out during one of our very wet summer rains.. I need to find another, I really miss mine.

Rach, I wouldn't say it dries out the first day (again, because its SO humid) here...but it does dry out quicker than any potting mix I've used...that's what Jades prefer...slightly moist, fast draining and not wet soils...its okay if they're dry for a few days before watering them again...just because it feels dry to your touch does not necessarily mean the plant is completely dry...the turface holds some moisture for the roots...

Well I'm here to say that the advice of you all and my hard work has paid off! My plants are looking great and I have some small baby plants and roots on my cuttings! When I saw those roots and babies it just made everything worth it. :). I had also cut off the tops of some plants that the bottoms had rotted and I just stuck them in the soil and now they have roots too! It's so easy once you have the right components!! The only thing I wish I had was more indirect bright light. Which is something I can't change. I have to push them out into the direct sunlight for about 4 hours a day. I guess I'll see how this works out.

I'm getting a bit discouraged. My succulents are doing ok but I just don't see any definite growth going on. They just seem stagnant. At least the ones in the larger planter box seem that way. The ones that I have planted I the smaller container are actually showing more signs of growth. Just not sure what else to do here. I've included a pic of where I have the coffee table in the morning. I push it out from under the patio at about noon but I try not to put them directly in the sun. Any advice?

Your picture is upside down. Some things do not put on growth during the height of the summer if your summer gets very hot. All I can say is patience grasshopper.

Sorry. It doesn't look upside down on my end. I guess you're right. Here is a pic of one of their roots. This guy has been planted for about 3 weeks and the roots look there have been no new growth. Are the dark spots on the leaves ok? I'm just discouraged. When I get into a hobby I want to do it right.

The black spot is a bacteria infection. I would spray with Daconil ( available from big box stores) . It is due to heat and humidity. Once I got the daconil, I might pull the leaf but spray to prevent new outbreaks.. The black spot won't go away. When I water, I would try not to get water on the leaves.

rach,

If that's your mix in the background, it's much too water-retentive for humid Louisiana. Just my opinion now, but you're always going to have problems such as these with soil like that. It's like this and that .....I'd suggest a load of chicken grit, along with some Turface, to go along with a removal of those larger chips. For leaf succulents such as the ones you like, I don't believe anything but a really gritty mix is going to keep these fungal infections away.

I commented on your mix a ways back and I don't usually like to repeat myself, but I do , too often. It is frustrating. That does not look like a 1-1-1 mix to me. It is WAY too brown and fluffy, more of a jungle cactus mix. It does look dry in your picture. Did you shake or sieve out the smaller decomposed stuff. Bark does not equal grit. All that brown stuff holds residual moisture and these plants are not tree jungle cactus. I would think that if you have a hummid condition in your environment, then one should err on the side of more inorganic grit. IMHO.

I know of people who grow in a 85% inorganic mix. Some grow stuff in 100% pumice. Matter of fact I am mixing one up today for a Euphorbia and an opuntia.

If the roots aren't growing it could be because they have rotted off , maybe from before, and the roots that you are looking at are dead and it has to start at the beginning again. Hard to tell. Sometimes the young roots keep rotting if the mix is wrong and too wet.. With succulents, I like to think that roots grow LOOKING for water.

Black spots equal too much moisture or a sloppy watering method. It could be a residual infection from before you repotted. Again, hard to tell.

This post was edited by wantonamara on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 15:03

Well my potting mixture is super dry. I can't imagine how much more dry the would want it. When I water them it seems to dry out the next day. And it drains very well. So I'm so confused as to what the problem is.

rach,

Given that these leaf Crassulaceae grow in conditions in their native habitat (have you seen pictures of some of them on the Internet? Many are ravine / cliff-dwellers - see link) quite unlike yours in LA, you perhaps should consider a grittier (less organics) mix, with constant air circulation and protection from rain, if you want to get into Echeverias. What you're trying to do (quite laudable, I find) is a botanical equivalent of spitting in the wind, or something like that. Those fungal infections are, at the root of it, caused by your weather, and you have to take your situation and alter it to grow those things which fly in the face of reason. If you want them spotless, or at least not so heavily marked, stricter measures must be made.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:579236}}

This post was edited by cactusmcharris on Mon, Aug 5, 13 at 12:46

Well not quite sure how to take the info I've gotten. But mainly I've understood that I need to make my soil more gritty due to my humid environment. So I just got through removing half the soil mixture from the planter box and yes there was alot of pine bark more than anything else. So I added more chicken grit, turface, and perlite and mixed mixed mixed. I am going to let it dry out for the afternoon while i go find the antifungal spray for my little darling and his black spot. How does the soil look now?

Here's what it looked like before. Far improvements I must say.

That is better. I can see grit in it now.

I would also top dress the soil with a rock top dressing . That helps with soil born diseases and holds down the perlite and soil. I would not water in the evening . You want the leaves to be dry by night. Morning is much better. Also I find if water collects in the rosettes, and is not evaporating fairly quickly,( it might cause rot or fungal infection) I blow the water out.

So I went and bought this as suggested. Now I need some guidance as to what to do next. Do I spray the whole plant or just the particular leaf? And how much should I spray? How often?

rach,

Start with the directions and treat as an ornamental plant.

Here's something you might have a read of.

Here is a link that might be useful: Echeveria eh?

I read the instructions. Pretty vague. It said to spray until runoff. So I kind of just sprayed the sick leaf and a few of the other leaves without saturating it. The formula is really kinda thick. It says to do it for a 7-14 day period. So I guess I literally do this everyday for 7 days?

On another note, since I was adding more grit to my mix, I had to set my plants off to the side. I checked them thoroughly before replanting them and a lot of them had their root look like this. I assume this is the product of root rot? I used a clean knife and cut the stem to the good part of the stem and then put cinnamon on the end.

Here the all are. You can see some of the bottom leaves are shriveled.

Ughh. I went out there this morning and saw this to one of my plants. The ends of the leaves are all messed up. It's just to the one. I'm seriously wanting to cry. I really need some help guys. Y'all have been wonderful dont get me wrong but I still have so many questions.

There are many diseases that can be introduced through rot also. I would spray the leaves and plants with daconil and/or Bayer 3 in one. A drench of the soil IF your unrooted plants are not in it. You are having a bad go of it. All this yanking and doing stuff with the plants in humid hot weather could be stressful but so is going to the doctor and having an operation. Lots of plants do naturally stop growth in the heat of summer, but yours do look sick on top of summer dormancy..

One might look into what plant would like dry hummid shade for that spot. I am not a grower of them but a haworthia and gasterias like a shadier spot and so does sanseveria, christmas cactus, and the arborial jungle cactus. They might need protection. I think it is best to try to match the environment with the plant. some bromeliads would be good possibly. Check what they think on the bromeliad forum..

Well I know the last picture of the crisped leaves are from sunburn. And I have been yanking them in and out of the soil to try to get the soil right, which I finally have. Now I just going to leave them under my patio and hope that there is enough light for them.

When do they start growing again? September-October?

Bump

rach,

That's right, the Crassulaceae as a rule (there are exceptions) do much of their growing / flowering in non-extreme temperature times, i.e. spring and fall.

So the shriveling up of the stems is rot? Caused by overwatering? I just don't feel like that's the cause of it.

I just feel like all the plants in the big planter box are just going to crap. The plants in the smaller container are doing pretty good. Do succulents do better in smaller containers?

Succulents in Louisiana would do best in clay pots of any size. Period. Not wood and not plastic. Good air circulation makes a big difference in high humidity. The coffee table just doesn't make sense down there. Sorry.

Yea. I decided to put them all in pots and I moved them to the front of my house which faces south. Lots more sun. I'm still worried about them getting sunburned. Succulents at the local nursery here are all out in the sun and are doing just fine. When I put mine in the sun they start to get spots on them. I assume that they aren't used to it yet. So I guess we will just see.

Any time you make changes like sun exposure, it's best to do it slowly. Plants, just like people, will get sunburn until they get used to the sun.

Ok whip1. I'll try to do that. They are in brighter shade now. After I moved them to the new spot and then I noticed them getting a few sunspots I moved them back a little bit so now they are getting just "bright shade" for now.

And Pots_alot, I appreciate any info you were trying to convey but honestly I'm not sure what exactly the advice was...???

rachpreach

I live in central louisiana and new to growing succulents...hints how I came to find this thread. I see that this thread is a bit old but I was wondering if you are still growing them and how they ended up working out for you with the advice that was given? Thanks

Hello, I live in Louisiana too, and the humidity and rain is a struggle, I know. My best solution to that is using sulfer dust to prevent mold and some essential oil spray to keep away insects. For outdoor plants, I recceomend a greenhouse, or if you can't afford that, you can always manually move them under cover when it's about to rain.

I’m in south west Louisiana, this is my mix I use and have had great luck with.