I only just opened your message. Sorry for not being able to get to it sooner.

I would want my medium to have >60% total porosity, >30% moisture retention at container capacity, and air porosity @ container capacity 20% or more.

J sambac doesn't like the heat. Ideally it would be grown where it's in the very low 70s by day and 10* cooler at night. It also likes some humidity, and good air movement which helps to keep leaf temps down.

It's just one branch with a foliage problem? Picture?

Al

Thank you so much Al. Sorry , I got too busy at work, didn't see your response . So. 1) i need to increase retention , I wonder if I could add turface for that.

Strange you say that sambacs like it cooler. We had some unusually high temps like high 80s, and my sambac esp moo bloomed so much . Grand duke did some but gd supreme just doesn't open fully. As soon as we cooled again , all flowers are small, none of GDS even attempting to open . I feel they need more food and bigger pot but the plants are relatively new and small except for a few 3 G ones.

I have a humidifier running and a fan since march.

2) Re the plant with no growth, it is a GD Once it got warmer and I started humidifier, it started to sprout green buds from main stem , I pruned off the rest. But they have remained green right in the center. Outside of those is turning brownish, scaly. I will try take a pic but they are so small, may be difficult to see. Once it started sprouting, i gave a weak FP, seemed very dry. Right after I did that, this browning started and I am afraid to water at all.

I am wondering if this be a good one to try with gritty mix ? I will try pics and post tomorrow. I used to live in Eagle Idaho , had big sambacs in pots . Even my holy basil plants got to 4 ft high in pots and lived 4-5 yrs. Winters were hard .no unheated sun room there but a heated room with lots of windows. And there they grew in MG soil. Since I moved to oregon, have lost them every year . So joined this forum , learnt about right soils . Got lights for winters , covered half a southeast deck with glass ... still ...

Thanks you so much again .

Look forward to your response.

God bless you Al ! I call you a Garden Angel :-)

Manisha

I don't know if these make sense.

Also Al, you suggest to use weak fertilizer but my gardenias certainly seem to lack nitrogen with all bottom leaves turning yellow after transplant . Like below

Any suggestions for any of them? Btw, the gardenias were bought from home depot and are like usual many stems in a pot. So I transplanted into 511 bigger pot after they were done blooming . It was just a mat of root mass, couldn't separate, made deep sits though I tried to price apart.

Thanks for your help again . Sorry long post :-(

Manisha