If you search our forum for "511 mix", you'll find a very nice container potting soil mix recipe that is excellent for container citrus.

Patty S.

Thanks, I read through the post and watched a few YouTube videos. I bought fine pine mini nuggets today but the pieces seem quite large for both fine and mini. Is it ok to use?

Thanks.

Edit: never mind, I think I will go look for some zoo med repti for bark as I have seen others use. What I bought is very large by comparison.

It's worth it to hunt down the small bark - Pine or Fir bark works well. The bark is best if aged, but I use fresh bark without difficulty. You want a blend of particles from fine dust up to 1/2 inch. I use a piece of 1/2 inch hardware cloth to screen out the overly large particles, and keep all the bark that falls through.

Screen the bark, then dump it into a plastic bag or container and thoroughly wet it, stirring it up before making the final mix.

Josh

Thank you for your response.

This is what I am looking at.

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Reptile-Bedding-Quarts/dp/B001F9AMW6/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I will probably just go to petsmart to handpick a bag.

I would highly recommend doing what Josh has suggested in screening pine (or fir) bark mulch over a 1/2" screen. You can use chicken wire, available at any hardware/home improvement store. Just buy a big bag of bark marked "Pine Bark Mulch", or use the bag of mini nuggets you bought and you'll have the perfect medium for your 5-1-1.

The bark you posted is a GREAT bark for Al's other mix, gritty mix. I use that exact stuff for mine. For 5-1-1, however, it does not have the small particles, or "fines" needed to make a proper mix. If you use that for 5-1-1 you won't get proper water retention, and will have to water too often. Save yourself the money and just screen the mini nuggets!

Well, my tree came in today from four winds. I stopped my order from the other place. Tree looks great. I made the soil today and I followed the brochure instructions to fully dampen the soil. I poured in about a gallon of water and watched it drain incredibly fast from the pot. I'm used to dense soil in a bag, so please check out this picture and let me know if it looks alright.

I used the zoo medi reptile fir bark for convenience. The particle size was great and it's already screened.

Here it is:

- See more at: http://s48.photobucket.com/user/t5Nitroz/media/image.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0#sthash.vk79elxM.dpuf

Looks pretty good to me. Again, the reptibark doesn't have the fines that the pine bark mulch will have, but you definitely don't have any pieces that are too big in there. If anything, you'll just have to water it a little more often. Should be fine though.

MeyerMike has always recommended sticking a wooden dowel or chopstick into the soil at root-level to check for moisture. If the stick is moist, don't water, if its dry, water it. That will help you prevent over/underwatering till you figure it out by feel.

Also, good call in giving it a good soak. Hold of on fertilizing for a few weeks then use a good water soluable fert like FoliagePro every watering. Citrus love fertilizer!

Yeah, can you believe I went to three stores looking for pine bark mulch this morning? Not one had it. I then went to the reptibark on my fourth attempt.

Thanks for the info regarding fertilizer. I did 1 tablespoon in the gallon of water that I poured in there. I will hold off for a few weeks then before I do it again. Hopefully it isn't too bad for it right now? Most of the water drained out the bottom anyhow.

edit: those mini nuggets I had were ironically very large and I would not have gotten much from the bag. Maybe it was just that particular bag I had.

This post was edited by Neurosci on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 13:00