Turface is not part of the 5-1-1, but of the gritty mix. Since you also have perlite, I'll assume you are actually looking for 5-1-1, which also needs peat and dolomitic lime which are both easy to locate.

Ok thanks for the clarification. I was a bit troubled as to what the actual ingredients were.

The turface you're refering to is a ~modification~ of the 5-1-1 that a few of us, mainly Josh and I - maybe a few others, use as a replacement for the peat fraction of the original mix. Capo is also correct in the fact that it's a component of the "gritty" mix. It's not required, however, it does provide much more durability and structure to the 5-1-1. This is benificial if you aim to get a few years out of it, rather than the one and done aspect of the peat fractioned mixes.

This year I'm not using peat at all for the short term plantings. I'm using the fine screenings of my bark (1/16" - 1/8") as a replacement. There's all kinds of modifications that you can make to the 5-1-1 to customized it to your liking. The important thing is to understand why the ingredients work and what their properties are, as opposed to how they are labeled, then the sky is the limit with how you choose to build your own.

Good Luck!

PJ

Well said PJ.

Very well said, indeed!

Josh

Agree with DaMonkey as well. I would however suggest that anyone newly exploring mixing their own soil less mix start of with the standard 5:1:1 for annual plants to get familiar with the differences in working with a fast draining soil as compared to peat based soils they may be more familiar with, then decide what modifications they may require based on their own needs and material availability. The standard 5:1:1 is the baseline of which all other mixes would be measured against, and has cheap materials in it, so it's good to get familiar with it first if the materials are available. Since the OP was unfamiliar with Turface, I think it would be best for them to start with the standard mix initially. We know that it already works in most situations.