Gary.. You might still enjoy this ratio for the gritty... You can alter the makeup to adjust to your needs as I have done here in the heat of the summer.

for more water retention, I'll add more Turface..

Example. The normal mix of equal mix 3-3-3 . I'll take the three parts of fir bark and make my formula as such.. 4-3-2. 4 Turface, 3 fir bark, 2 granite..

this will make your mix more water retentive if it's drying out to fast in your heat. As long as you keep the equation equal in parts and the fir/ pine bark at 3 .. You can adjust accordingly ..

hope this makes sense to you..

Regular ratio. 3-3-3 the normal mix. ( same as equal ratio )

more water retentive mix. 4-3-2 . Turface, bark, granite or cherrystone

good luck!!!

Laura

another option is to substitute pumice for the granite.

Instead of the granite, can I use:

No. 2 cherrystone should be superior, tho a tad harder to find, than this product, which as its uses. IMHO superior to gravel, which might be heavily limestone based, depending on its source. They raise chickens in Ca., right? A farm & home type store should sell the cherrystone, and it is probably just a couple stacks away from the quikrete product at the front of the store. Of corse, thinking like a midwesterner here ...

All purpose gravel is limestone in our areas. It is grey in colour. The pic you posted looks so different from the one we get here. The gravel is meant for making concrete mixes and the size of the pieces is pretty large. Mostly larger than 1/4 inch. Pretty inappropriate size for container mix. I do use it sometimes for larger succulents in small quantities to make the pot heavier for top heavy plants like Jade.

I wouldn't purely base suitable mix on zone. My 6a rooftop is currently more like California than Ontario: 110F+ in the afternoon and 60F at night. My plants get full sun all day with few light obstructions (so we may even get the same amount of light). It's really quite specific to your own growing location, including wind/humidity/etc.

Based on my own measurements, I would roughly say that:

• Bark holds 2x the moisture of grit.
• Turface holds 3x the moisture of grit.
• Pumice holds about the same amount of moisture as bark.

Don't forget to customize the mix for each species you grow too! I find that very helpful in making watering much more convenient. =)

Instead of turface, one can use the Napa floor dry product No. 8822. the floor dry may be easier to find. sift out the smaller pieces.