As said in your other thread w/ same question -- it won't work.

Bite the bullet & obtain a pre-formulated commercial potting mix.

I saw your reply in the other thread and asked if you could explain why it wouldn't work???? I am new to this stuff and it is best to understand why things work or don't.

One part crushed brick by volume broken in pieces smaller than 1/2 in and bigger than 1/8 inch. One part sand from 1/32 inch t0 m3/16 inch. one part clay for micronutrients and rotted compost ( I use rotted leaves, wood, plant stems that have made it down to fine soil. Potting soil can be used in place of compost. Or you can make up a batch of alls gritty mix, it will cost some though.

how ever you can find broken bricks. sweep sand from the street, find rotted leaves and wood in a hollow tree and find clay in most yards. and make it for free.
Let me know if you have a hard time finding clay and I list some on ebay for all to bid on. buyer pays shipping though.

Hay Don't feel bad. I was going to get about 50 of those pads and fill a 25 gallon pot to grow hydroponic roots in to disperse solution for a hyber hydroponics system and then decided not to

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seed grown meiwa kumquat tree growing in my fortunell formuls

Thanks for all the info, those plants look great by the way! But why did you decide against the scouring pads, I must know?? I have never heard of putting brick in the mix (then again im new to this) what is its function? As far as clay goes, I can get that no problem

ProjectX, try searching this forum for either "511 mix" or "gritty mix" for good home made potting mixes that are well draining and that many forum members have found success with.

Patty S.

Thank you Patty, I have definitely read a lot about the gritty, 511 and I believe Al's mixes and for the most part that's exactly what I have in my mix. I am just really curious if anyone has any insight into the scouring pad idea???

The scouring pads would girdle the trees roots as they grew larger than the hoops in the scoring pads. I could not find a restaurant that had used pads to throw out. Buying them would cost more than the gritty mix. The brick is volume that does not hold water but provides the volume that the roots of a larger tree can grow into The tree must be large enough to use the water in a totally saturated pot so that it dries quickly enough to prevent disease.. Citrus roots must dry some between waterings or rot can set in. Another trick I am using is bottomless pots. The soil can be more like regular soil and the tree responds as if it were directly planted to ground. The pot is tall enough that at the end of the growing season I can lift the pot up and there will be no root damage as the roots have not reached much beyond the pot. However if money and spouse permits stick with tried and true mixes.

Click on the picture to open my display. All my picture are listed as public so feel free to browse around

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sweetlee tangerine trees in bottomless 1 gallon cans

Here is a link that might be useful: http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/wreristhechimney/slideshow/five-four-thirteen

Poncirusguy-thank you so much! Someone else also mentioned it could damage the roots, so looks like I won't be trying it on my only orange tree. I got 25 strawberry plants coming and will try it on a few of those-just to experiment with. Again thanks so much for answering my actual questions, that was exactly the kind of insight I was looking for.

X

any plants like bean strawberries, peppers, eggplants, broccoli, cabbage, beets, turnips, etc. Anything that grows fast and never gets big root should work fine. I take it you have an endless supply of scrubbies because they are not cheap compared to potting soil

Not an endless supply, I was just thinking of maybe tearing up 2-3 into roughly 1/4" piesces and mixing it throughout. I did see that 3m makes a round scrubby that you put in the bottom of the pot to keep soil from getting out and drainage.