I can't give you any opinion about the Miracle-Gro cactus soil without knowing what the ingredients are, what it looks like and feels like. I've seen other Miracle-Gro potting mixes and they have all been extremely fine-textured, mucky/peaty products. I have never seen the cactus mix.

All potting mediums should be coarse textured and fast draining. Are you able to water properly on your balcony? Your containers should be able to be watered thoroughly and then allowed to drain off.

I know that this may be a strange request, but is it possible to take a close up picture of your potting medium so that we can see it?

Rhizo, I definitely will.

It does seem to drain very well, and hopefully the added pearlite will help airate and drain it even more.

I threw the bags away last night, so unless I can find it online, I will not be able to tell you the ingredients. It said "Fast-Draining Formula!" on the front, so hopefully it truly is lol

Be careful you don't make it too fast draining. Full sun, containers and light soil = watering several times a day. Most herbs don't need too much food. I usually use a slow release fertilizer in pots - use maybe half what's called for. You can always add more. And check your bags to see if your soil already has fertilizer. Then a very dilute application of fish emulsion or manure tea every once in a while.

Cactus mix is for cactus. Rosemary and most other herbs are not cactus. While the 'Mediterranean' herbs (of which Rosemary is one)can handle fairly dry conditions once mature, they do require regular watering, so they don't even behave like cactus.

Regardless of brand-name, you just need an ordinary, good-quality potting mix.

Even in a pot, rosemary can grow into a large shrub. If you have a pot small enough to fit indoors, and you've got 6 rosemary plants in it, you're headed for Competition problems. Keep one plant per pot, and be ready to transplant it to a bigger pot before too long.

Agmss15-

I recently started using fish emulsion fertilizer on all of my plants as well as neem oil extract for pests. All are thriving except my basil, which I cannot seem to get to recoup.

I do need to get a slow release fertilizer though. Is there anything in particular that you recommend? And would it work for all of the herbs that I'm growing?

Daisyduckworth-

I do water whenever the soil dries out. They are all outdoor plants, not indoor. And I clearly stated that I only have 2 rosemary (only 6 inches tall) that are in a large, well draining pot. Large being 16 inches. I do not think that they will have competition problems for quite a long time. All of the other plants reside in their own 12 inch pots.

It's not important what it says on the outside of the bag - what's important is what's IN the bag; and all "cactus mixes" are not created equal. Cactus mix 'A' may be entirely appropriate for a particular herb, while cactus mix 'B' may be entirely inappropriate for the same plant. There is no way to make a determination based on what label the packager put on the bag. If anything, I'd be concerned that some cactus mixes hold TOO MUCH water to be appropriate for either cacti or herbs; so Rhizo's hedging was entirely appropriate and essentially what I'd have said. Neither of us are willing to accept what it says on a bag of soil at face value unless we know the soil.

Ideally, you want a soil that holds good amounts of moisture, but doesn't support perched water. Perched water is the water that occupies the soggy layer of soil at the bottom of the pot that occurs as a result of using MOST commercially prepared potting soils; so I would say that from the plant's perspective, what most of you consider to be ordinary, good-quality potting mix is too water retentive to offer your plant to grow at even close to its potential.

I tend to look at things from the plant's perspective; and to a plant, there really isn't such a thing as draining too fast. There is a balance to be reached when it comes to watering frequency, but you can almost predict an increase in potential growth and vitality as the need to water increases. IOW, soils that need more frequent watering can generally be counted on to significantly increase the potential for growth and vitality, while at the same time increasing the growers margin for error when it comes to watering and fertilizing.

Let me know if you'd like to know more.

Al