yesterday after reading your message, I took a quick trip to the local store and did see them, bought one bag and made a small batch using fine perlite which is available with some MG soil, new to this forum, and new to the 5-1-1 mix, had killed so many plants in the past, some are struggling for life now, hope this mix will make the plants happy.

Glad you found some of this pine bark. I hope your soil mix works out well.

I've not made any soil mix with this particular bark yet but from what I can tell based on the bag I bought I think it should work quite well. A mix of this pine bark with some perlite and dolomitic lime should be a very good 5-1-1 soil mix. I'll be doing that in the spring.

The bag I have contains quite a bit of fine material. If your bag is the same then you probably won't need to add any peat.

The bark in the bag I bought was very dry. Before mixing your 5-1-1 soil I would suggest soaking this bark in water for a few hours, or overnight, just to make sure the bark does not get hydrophobic.

Good luck and keep us posted.

TYG

hi TYG, I just learned you are like an expert here, so please give me advice on the following plants that are struggling to survive: 1 - an Osmanthus fragrans, I have killed 3 of them by taking them back in the fall, this one I bought in spring, all good through summer outside, the mix I used is 3parts of MG potting mix and 1 part perlite, when I took it back home, it began dropping leaves, now it only has about 15 leaves left, I took it out of the pot, and could see a layer of white roots surrounding the root ball, the soil is very well compacted, as I couldnot poke my finger in, I donot want to think it is dying, so should I change to the 5-1-1 mix now or wait for one month until it is still alive? 2- a meyer lemon tree about 12" high, I got it last summer, overwinter it lost almost all the leaves, put out in the summer, hope it can grow some new leaves, but not, no new growth at all, but it did bloom some small flowers, right now it only has 4 yellowish leaves, the root ball is very small, but all the small branches are green and it has two small flower buds now, I just changed to the new mix yesterday, based on your experience, what can I do to make it grow new leaves? 3- a gardenia, I killed 2-3 in the past, this fall I got a big one on sale, did not change the pot, it has buds, but always has new yellowish leaves at the bottom parts (it is pretty leggy already, the yellowish leaves are very close to the buds now), I mist it twice a day, seems did not solve the problem, I also use acidic fertilizer for it. the soil seems not compacted. is it because of low light? really appreciate your input.

xpfeng,

Thanks for the posting. These days I have very limited time so I am often not here for extended periods of time.

Just to be clear, I'm not an expert on growing plants in containers. I read and re-read hundreds of previous posts by other GW members and took their wisdom, experience, and advice and adapted those ideas to my local needs and conditions. I'm not a gardener by trade and only grow small conifer trees (pine, spruce and firs) in 1 and 2-gallon containers for my own use. I do not grow veggies, houseplants, or flowers in these soils so I have no experience to share in that area so unfortunately I can't comment on your specific plants and their needs.

The first few times I made Al's 5-1-1 mix I made it exactly as the recipe stated. As I gained experience I tried different things. In general, for my climate conditions and they types of plants I grow, I find that a soil mix of roughly 3 parts screened (1/2" and smaller) pine bark to 1 part of screened perlite is a good place to start. If your pine bark has a lot of very fine dust in it you will not need to add any MG potting soil or peat. If your bark has very little dusty material then you will need to add peat. The amount of dust and fine material will vary from bag to bag so you just have to get a "feel" for this.

To each gallon of soil mix, I add 1 Tbsp of dolomitic lime and 1 Tbsp of control release fertilizer.

If you find that your plants need more moisture then increase the amount of bark. If you want less moisture, cut back on bark and add more perlite. The goal is that you want to keep the soil damp or slightly moist in the root zone but also provide oxygen to the roots. You do not want soggy soil.

I have to run, but I hope this basic info has been helpful in some way. You can ask specific questions in the Container forum and others here might have the answers you need.

Good luck.

TYG