Dunno. I have a couple citrus in gritty mix sitting outside. It's been 3 days since they were watered and MAYBE tomorrow will be the day they get watered again.

I suspect that as the plants get larger and summer comes on it will be just about right, but for now even the gritty mix is taking longer than I would like to dry down.

Sounds odd looking at myself typing this as I don't like watering everything daily, but at least I can say the gritty mix dries down faster than the 5-1-1.

Both dry down faster than peat based mixes.

You just need to get used to it, Alys. If you used starter or grower grit, it's not as dry as you think it is. Everyone thinks it's too dry at first. ;o) You'll probably need to water every 2-4 days, depending on weather, how robustly the plants are growing, and what kind/mass of plant material is in the container.

Al

Well, okay. You two are the container gardening gurus so I'll give it some time and see.

I did use real turface (not a substitute) and grower grit and 1/4 inch or smaller bark, noncomposted. The plant in question has very little in the way of root structure, but I swear, I put 3 cups of water on this thing and I poured off 2 cups that went right into the drip tray and there's another cup in there right now. It's in the house, so weather isn't an issue. I'll keep an open mind. Worst case senario, I swap it to the 5-1-1 mix, which I LOVE, BTW, even though my bark isn't composted, it's just great potting mix.

How large is your container? 3 cups in and 2 cups out must be a very small container. What are you growing?

Shhhh ........ ;o) it'll be fine. You may need to water quite often until the roots are established, but I promise - your plants will really like the gritty mix. ;o) Water is supposed to flow right through - it's designed to include that characteristic. The Turface and bark hold water internally and on their surfaces, while the granite only holds water on the surface. Remember - plants grown in soils don't 'drink' water - they absorb it molecule by molecule from the microscopic film of water on the surface of soil particles and from the water vapor in soil gasses.

Al

jag, it's a mother-in-law's tongue, or snake plant. You know, until you asked the question, I never bothered to look this plant up to read about it, I just know they are pretty hardy. I was told to take a leaf, stick it in water, and it will toss out shoots and grow roots, which is what I did. There isn't a lot of root structure, they are only an inch or so long.

From what I just read on this website (linked) I was completely wrong on how to care for it. Since it was doing well in plain water I assumed it would like being wet, but this says you should let it go bone dry between watering, and can pretty much only kill it by overwatering, so I guess I'll see. Heck, what I'm reading even says it doesn't root in water, but mine did, and sent out four new shoots. Anyway, this may well be the perfect mix for it.

It is in a fairly small pot, maybe 1/2 gallon?

Here is a link that might be useful: snake plant