Most of the succulents and cacti you will see thriving here are in various types of gritty mix, mine included, Katie. Maybe you could post some pics of really healthy ones which are not, I would be curious to see some of those myself - e.g. plants in soil and sand. Have you pics of your own? We're always showing off ours.

Yeah, I know :) It was really just to see everyone's pictures in one spot. I was going to post pictures of mine, got distracted, and then forgot because no one commented lol. idk, I thought it would be fun... Here are some photos I've seen on Instagram (these people use a soil/sand mixture). I've been following the one (needlesandleaves) for a while and you can see from the timeline when she reposts certain plants.

Here are some of mine..

(gritty)

(soil/sand)

Joe, your plants are lovely, you should let us see them more often.

Katie, those instagrams are beautiful too, but I can't see what they're planted in. The 'plants' in the heart-shaped container look more like cuttings, there would not be much room for roots there. Joe's point is very good, easy to buy a plant and repot and show the same day, bad culture can take a while to have repercussions if it doesn't involve over-watering or a total withholding of water.

If your own two plants you showed were the same plant it would be easier to judge the merits of different growing media.

Hi, Katie. I appreciate your idea behind posting plalnts in different growing media, but there are some other considerations as well. All of my plants are outside year round. Hard to believe, but I don't have a single house plant! So my plants don't have to adjust to an inside - outside regimen.

My zone 10A in sw Florida is not the same as 10A in other areas. We have a LOT of summer moisture, so for me the gritty mix has been great for my potted plants. On the other hand, I have very sandy soil, so those plants PIG have to deal with that. Nearly all of my beds are raised, slanted and have a lot of grit added for drainage when I plant there.

So in the spirit of your experiment -

The larger plant is in gritty. Those PIG do get some afternoon shade. The plants are the same age. I'd be willing to bet that I fertilize the plants in pots more than those that are PIG, too.

Have fun with your plants!

Thank you, Crenda and Joe. Marguerite, I know you cannot see the potting medium and that is why I've asked her what she (and the other person) uses. She gets a cactus soil from lowes (can't remember the brand name) and adds sand and perlite. I know the plants in the heart container are cuttings. I was more showing the plants behind the heart container. Like I said, I've been following her stuff for a while and it's easy to tell the progress of her plants.

I don't know if you read the original post, but the point was not to talk about which medium may or may not be better. "Important note: The point of this post isn't to advertise why one mix is better than the other or to tell others why their mix is wrong. It is simply to show the health of your succulents." It should've been something fun, not annoying.

Well, I hope you're not annoyed, Katie, because I certainly am not. You should go to the Search box above and look up the mountains of old posts in the archives - you'll get your fill of healthy succulents.

i like buying the very smallest sizes the bbs carry. i immediately transplant into potting soil so ancient it consists mostly of old roots and perlite scraped out of my terra cotta pots. they seem to do ok.

They certainly look wonderful. What do you re-pot into when they get bigger?

the same thing. imo part of the success of gritty mix is that for the first time a lot of people really start paying attention to their plants-lord knows some people-usually not the most expert growers-become absolutely obsessed by it. reading the posts on the container forum is really kind of bizarre. i guess what i'm saying is that, within reason, it's the grower and not the grow mix that makes the difference.

I'll post a few pictures. Bear in mind, I'm not a succulent expert. I've been growing plants indoors and out for decades, but succulents only for a year or two. I used to use the cactus/succulent mix from Wmart. Lately I mix regular potting soil with perlite 50/50.

that's a nice combo. what's the big one in the first foto.

Thanks dave, that big one in the first photo, was labeled Sedum nussbaumerianum, when I bought it.