Beginner Gardening: Good Growing Practices - an Overview for Beginners, 1 by tapla

tapla wrote:
The bark you see in the picture above is what you need to look for. Unfortunately, the size of the bark is important, and it often takes some scouting to find something suitable. When it comes to deciding what soils are top notch and what soils are inappropriate to best vitality, size (of the particles) matters. I'll wait for questions before I go deeper, but I hope any others that are curious will consider joining in the conversation. I really think that beginners can take a giant step forward if they learn to get the soil right.

The gritty mix is what I use for all my houseplants and material growing on as bonsai, as well as my bonsai. It's a very coarse mix that looks more like gravel with a little bark in it, but it has terrific structure, it's really durable (lasts a LONG time) and super easy to grow in. I think it's important to understand that 'rich and black' soils are wonderful in the garden, but are often too water retentive to be well-suited to container culture. Container soils are all about structure. If you keep in the back of your mind that ensuring there is plenty of air in the soil for as long as the planned interval between repots is your #1 priority, you have it ...... as long as you learn how to do it and follow through.

The gritty mix (These soils were named by others after they started using them. Both have a very large following, more so at Garden Web than here, but you can see how popular the information is by noting the degree of participation on the threads devoted to a discussion about soils on the Container Gardening forum.) is also comprised of 3 ingredients:
1 part of screened pine or fir bark
1 part screened Turface
1 part crushed granite or cherrystone (chicken grit in grower size or #2 cherrystone)

You should be able to get the Turface at John Deere Landscapes, 2020 Kelsey Ct in Fort Wayne, (260) 490-0041

The grit can be found at feed stores & grain elevators with stores that sell farm feeds. Skip the big box stores for Turface or grit. They might have suitable bark, but that's a deal where you find it when you find it. I have several places within a few miles where I can get it whenever I need it. For the gritty mix, I buy prescreened fir (orchid) bark in 1/8-1/4" size, but screened pine bark works just as well.

I think it's important to realize that it's not the 'recipes' that are of value, it's the concept found in the information I linked you to. The recipes are just good ways to implement the concept.

What I use for my houseplants & bonsai:

Al