I go to Orange County Farm Supply in Orange and purchase Big R, Turf n Tee and Pumice and mix my own. This costs about $50 for about 80 gallons (about 12 cu.ft.). James uses E.B.Stone cactus mix which is about $11 for 1 1/2 cu ft bags. This is a good mix however I would buy a bag of pumice at OCFS ($7)and mix 50/50 with the cactus mix to make it faster draining. However, the Stone mix can be used straight. Bill

Thanks Bill..

Looking further into this, I found that this is kind of a touchy subject, or at least has been in the past. I'll work it out from what I've read and see how it goes. Thanks again everyone, past and present.. heheh

~Bob

Bob, I've found that my plants in black plastic pots bake, and those in white ones, don't. You can also place your pots in such a way, that your leafier plants provide some shade for those with less leaf growth
And I use a blend of 60%/30% Black Gold potting/perlite, Ammended with earthworm castings and bonemeal and Nutristar time release plumeria food.

Thanks everyone... I'll see how difficult it is to acquire the stuff for the gritty mix... but might go with a good cactus type mix and Perlite... or something similar to what desamecyra mentioned.

I'll let you know...

~Bob

This post was edited by BobTheWizard on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 21:28

Bob, I use poting soil mixed with perlite, because it drains very quickly, but also because its light -weight. (I'm fairly small -5'-and can't schlepp heavy pots around) The ammendments are optional...liquid fertilizers are even easier to use occasionally, when you water.

I did not respond since I am in Texas, and not in Calif. I noticed that desamecyra uses a soil formula very similar to what I use. Saying that, I am just going to add that my plumeria do best if they are planted on the south side of a building in full sun. I use the gritty mix to root cuttings only. Barbra

If you can get pumice it is far better than perlite. It holds up far longer and does not compact. I shifted from 25%perlite/25%pumice about half a decade ago to 50%pumice and results are far better. Pumice is available out here and many experienced growers use it as it is a volcanic rock which adds to the soil chemistery.

Wish we had pumice here....

Lucky Cali ....

Laura

Bill, how does pumice compare to perlite in terms of weight? I love my plumies...but I need my back for work, and plumeria pots only get larger, as they grow.

I found pumice.Which one should I buy.....1 or 2.

Thanks in advance, Fred

derft, you can buy it broken up? I have to break mine up using a hammer. Mine would look like a size 3 or 4, its larger than what you are showing. Gosh, what a time saver. Where did you find pumice that size, if you don't mind me asking? I spend and entire afternoon, breaking pumice that I buy from Lowes. Barbra

I like 2 size... Good find!!!

;-)

Laura

I buy pumice in large bags from my local non-big box garden center. I usually plant in a variation of the gritty mix - I substitute pumice for gran-I-grit, which makes the mix retain a little more water. It gets so hot here, and my work schedule can be crazy, so it helps the plants out. For bark, I use Repti-Bark or very fine Orchid Bark (which also comes in huge bags from the local garden center). I found Turface at my local irrigation store (Ewing). I want to try Jack Morgan's mix, but haven't made it to a place that carries Turf n Tee yet (I've got the Big R, though).

Barbra...Here is the link to online store. They are in Fort Worth.

http://www.sandersonbonsai.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=139

Hope this helps, Fred

For SoCal sources:

Turface - Ewing irrigation, John Deere Landscapes
Big R, Turf n Tee, pumice - Orange County Farm Supply
Big R, x-large bags of perlite and pumice - Covina Garden Center
I think Turf n Tee (and more) may also be at Whittier Fertilizer, but I haven't gone there yet - http://whittierfertilizer.com/
E.B. Stone organics - Armstrong nursery, Whittier Fertilizer, and many others

desamecyra- I agree with you 100% regarding black pots. If they can't go in the ground and must stay in pots even in the summer, plunge those pots or paint them white. Especially in Florida where the sun is so intense.

daogirl- Using pumice instead of granite sounds like a good idea. I'm also wondering if adding the grit to potting soil would work. It's worth a try. I love the Gritty mix for healthy roots in WHITE pots but in black pots, wow does it get hot.

Plus it's so hard to feed them constantly and they get root bound so fast, then the food just runs right through. I put some of my root bound big ones back in soil and in the ground and they are much happier. You can't beat Gritty for rooting cuttings or small rooted cuttings because it's next to impossible to rot them plus with rooting cuttings the extra heat created with Gritty is a plus. Mature roots, they don't like hot roots.

Fred, thank you for the information. Barbra

Recently jandey and Kms2 told me about a product called Happi-Gro Landscapers mix (Lowe's) and I bought some to mix with my Miracle Grow potting soil / perlite mix and I have to say, so far I love it!!! Our weather is just too hot to go gritty, but so far this is great to break up my soil from compaction, while giving a good amount of water retention / even watering because the peat base was compacting. It's little bark pieces that are the perfect size! So I'm doing somewhere around 40/40/20 MG/HG/Perlite right now.

Ohh...Bill, I'm soooo glad I found You! I have pumice and perlite on hand, could BLACK GOLD potting mix work? Or would you use, only, 50% perlite and 50% pumice only?
Thank you
Annamaria