I was wondering about this myself... I was also wondering what the difference is between growstone GS-1 and GS-2. I've been using "Safe T Sorb Oil Absorbent", Magna Poultry Grit and pine bark fines.. I would like to replace the "Safe T" with the clay pebbles or growstone... Any ideas?

what do you use to start seeds?

here are a couple of pics...

the mix i'm using now.. "Safe T Sorb Oil Absorbent", Magna Poultry Grit and pine bark fines. a lot of sifting for this mix.

more chunky more expensive mix that I have not tried yet .... growstone gs-1, clay pebbles and repti-bark.. not a whole lot of sifting to this.

didn't realize that the growstone and clay pebbles will break down until Pagen mentioned it.. that's a problem.

For starting adenium seeds, I use ordinary potting soil mixed in with 25 percent perlite. Then I get it wet before nuking it in the microwave oven for 10 minutes. Then cool this down to room temperature. I use a plastic salad box with holes cut out of the bottom, spray it with alcohol then let dry. Do the same to the lid. Dump the cooled nuked soil, dump the seeds. Push the seeds down so they are about an eighth of an inch under the soil. Cover the salad box with the lid. Put in the sun. Check every morning. If you see large beads of water on the lid, open it and pour the water out. You'll realize you will get antsy and will want to check every two hours. Or every hour. Or every fifteen minutes. Resist this urge, it's insane.

Note though that I have only ever sown seeds in winter. Not on purpose, it just worked out that way every time. So I put the whole assembly under lights, on a heat mat.

Pagan

Additional Details

thanks for all your advice.

I agree with Pagan. The Gritty mix I use had to be adjusted to my young plants and for my dry area. The Growstone which I have been using for a year is still the same size, Not a lot of breakdown. I had to add chore powder to my mix because the mix was drying out to fast. Not a lot added though.

I have been listening to everybody here and they kind of do there own mix for their area and for what they can buy. Since my plants are small (6-8mth) I am having to learn what water they need. I have killed to many seeds I started I was so afraid of dry rot that I found that I was underwatering. Since mine drain and dry fast I just splash and go. The water runs through and a day or two later I splash them again. My TT little fat boy really wanted more water. The caudex had a slight give, but once I changed how I watered it is firm again.

I am holding water a little more on my tree that stopped sucking up water during shipping. I had to hack the whole top and 1/2 the caudex off. The roots were fine. So we shall see how that works out.

I will try seeds again now that I am getting to know the trees needs.

Clay pebbles dont breakndown fast. Alteast they last longer than coco coir..in my opinion

Sinha, what kind of mix do you use?

Those particles are very coarse. An adenium will survive because it is so drought tolerant but won't be super vigorous unless you water very frequently and you'll have to fertilize frequently in small amounts

Todd C - which ones are you talking about? Or all the above?