Can you get 5mm scoria?

I assume you can get coconut husk chips.

half cm scoria? I got bigger particles but I'm willing to smash and sift them (when i do have time). Yes, coconut husk chips are much easier to find than pine bark (the latter also grows at that city plateau/ valley i mentioned).

Ok, smashing the scoria wasn't such a brilliant idea... the coconut husk chips have to be 5 cm as well, yes?

Sorry, BP. I get a lot of mail from GW, and the first thing I usually look at is whether or not you have your home page settings configured so I can reply to you. I didn't notice you'd included your email addy in the body of the message so I deleted the message. I just found it after reading your post. Please forgive?

The most important advice I can give you is, the concept behind the soils many of us use is more important than the actual recipe. Distilled, the concept is based on the fact that water held inside of soil particles is not something we would consider as having much potential for limiting root function, and by extension, the well-being of your plants. Water held between particles, is a major contributor to root issues, with the severity of the issues usually linked closely to how much water is held between particles and how long it is held. By increasing particle size and promoting uniformity in particle size, we can eliminate almost all inter-particulate water AND control the volume of intra-particulate water by choosing what material the particles are made of. This concept continues to have a major influence on the ability of growers who understand it and use it as a tool, to consistently bring along healthy plant material. If you have questions or want to understand how it all goes together, there is an ongoing discussion here.

Easy (inexpensive and sourced near):
- sand, garden soil
- granite or small river stones/ quartzite
- scoria or red lava rock (i can't find pumice)
- coconut husks (shell/ coir)
- rice husks/ hulls (some nurseries here grow their coleus in pure husks and i must say theirs look better than mine!)

More expensive and harder to acquire:
- perlite (though i find it pricey here so i only got one bag and i'm not planning to use it for long term)
- "orchid bark", pine bark

And... i cannot find turface here. This one stumps me. What can i substitute for it? DE is a no go too.

Based on the material above, can you recommend and acceptable mix?

When you're building a mix with the idea you want water inside of particles instead of between them, obviously, you'll need some ingredients that can absorb and hold water, and the size of the particles as well as the range in size is also in play. You need particles large enough that the spaces between the particles (macropores) will be largely empty of water. It also does you little good if you carefully screen one or more ingredients, then add sand of topsoil to the screened ingredients. You end up pretty much with a soil that has the drainage and aeration characteristics of a soil comprised of only the fine ingredients, unless the volume of fine ingredients is closely controlled.

Let me know if you have questions about what I said so far, please; and tell me about dry/wet seasons and what you think would be an acceptable interval between waterings. Sometimes, practices that offer the best opportunities for plants aren't within what the grower seems reasonable, so compromises need to be made. It's better to work within those parameters from the outset.

Al

Let's try it this way. What size pumice, scoria, and coconut husk chunks do you have access to?

lane

can you post a photo of what you have available (like the 'sand', granite, scoria) - just a small pile of each next to something (a ruler, battery) - if not in your possession at home, take photo where you can - to compare the size?

lane
Excellent advice from Al, I mentioned in another post about over watering. More people kill succulents with' kindness' ie. over watering, than anything else. Good roots make good plants.You have some really good materials locally. I would use Sterilised garden soil with granite, small river stones/quartz and scoria or red lava rock.
When I started, I read everything I could and became confused, until I realised that what people were advising,was what worked for them only.I then chose a mix of materials I thought would be suitable and used spare offsets in different proportions of the chosen materials until I found what suited me.
I still pick up the watering can when I see a wrinkled plant, but have learned to put it down again before I do damage to my plants. I grow winter growers and summer growers here, so have to be very carefull at change over times.

Hello all! I'm sorry it took me some time to reply. I tried to apply the concepts i learned from you to actual use before i reported back. So far i've managed to find new material that's more suitable. I emailed Al but he must be busy so i decided to give you guys some feedback.

So here's the material i've been able to unearth (pun very much intended).
- mixed soil (supposedly has vermiculture, perlite, burned rice husks, etc, very dark, looked suspicious but it was better than the initial sack of very fine garden soil i had)
- pumice (mung bean sized it says on the sack, when i sifted it through a coliander with 1/4" holes only a few big pieces remained, so it's good)
- pine bark (huge sheets i have to break down into smaller pieces)
- small river stones
- coarse perlite

What i've been experimenting with:

- A fellow succulent grower here in the Philippines recommended a half and half of decent garden soil and perlite. I tried it but it was still too soggy for the recent rains. A few plants rotted in that mix.
- I tried equal parts soil, perlite and river stones. Also soggy. THOUGH I usually cover my plants with a transparent plastic sheet during typhoons, it's a bother to leave in the morning and have heavy rains "drown" your plants in the afternoon (even with drainage holes and wicks).
- I've just started using the pine bark because it's such a pain to break it down (i've been seriously deliberating on whether i should ruin my mother's blender/ food processor) and i also use the 1/4" sieve for it. I use 1 part of that, 1 of pumice, maybe half of sifted soil. I know, i know, soil has fine particles. But the reason i do that is that i think the soil has nutritional properties and retains moisture which the plants might need during summer? Please disabuse me of this notion. I can be very obstinate at times. From what i understood, it's ok as long as i keep the volume of the garden soil to a minimum?

Basically, we have six months of cold, rainy season and six months of scorching heat (you MUST come visit haha). During the rainy season -- which starts at June but since the climate change, it's continuing until now -- i let the containers get rained upon every week or so. As a comparison, I water my coleus every other day when the weather is fair/ mild (not rainy, not too hot).

As for the size particles, I use two sieves, 1 very fine to remove the dust, and the 1/4" to limit the largest particles.

I would just use the pumice with the fines removed. I wouldn't bother with the 1/4" seive since it seems like almost everything passes through. I use pure pumice all the time.

Don't add garden soil. It will contribute little as far as nutrients are concerned, and it could bind some nutrients up. Just use a water soluble fertilizer with micronutrients.

I suggested straight pumice because it should work well in that environment and be a good baseline to start from. But Al is right, if you find you need more or less water adding another material to the mix will be in order.

Wow, thank you so much. You guys have been immensely helpful.

Al, it's ok if you didn't reply right away. You've already contributed so much to my newbie knowledge. And that diagram! It made me smile when i scrolled down and found you included illustrations. (It's "iane" though, not "Lane" :D)

At first i started worrying because i didn't immediately equate 1/4 of an inch to 5mm (the former is a bit bigger but no matter) and I've been cutting down my pine bark to 1/4". I'll be experimenting with the straight pumice vs a mix then.

Nil, I had this cutting i tried putting in pure pumice. When i checked it, the roots that had grown were feathery. (In loose soil i've seen more solid looking roots.) Do you think fertilizer will remedy that?

Again, thank you all!

Without a pic of the roots it is hard to say, but feathery sounds about right for some plants. The real question is whether the roots were healthy and actively growing.