When I get some I sieve it to remove all the fine dust before using it, but I dont wash it. It would just stick together due to capillary action and be unmanageable I think.

At the moment lm using vermiculite.

I just bought a large bag of perlite from the garden center, which has quite large particles and hardly any fines to screen out and not so much dust.

The bag of MG I had just finished, on the other hand, was probably 50% unusable dust and fines! I will not be buying that again!

I wash mine, too, because I was told to here :-P

Larry, it does stick together and act very weird when wet, but I like that it makes my mix somewhat moist when I'm potting up and I don't have water it down right away.

I've been potting my Sans wrong this whole time but they seem to be doing well for now; I didn't know to add perlite till I read it on this forum and it would be a lot of work to re-pot 30 plants. I've just been using Cactus & Succulant mix; I guess if I notice they're not doing well I'll have to do it and not put it off!

Mine did fine for years while I was doing it "wrong" with regular old potting soil ;) also barely any light or water lol

as long as they're not sitting around sopping wet or otherwise looking unhappy - you should be fine :)

I just use regular potting compost. Its all I can get hold of. I mix vermiculite into it in various ratios depending on the plant but I could do with some sand and grit too. I do put a coarse grit layer over the drainage holes to help with drainage tho. Something I've always done with all plants .

Don't know if it's all vermiculite but watch the dust. It may contain asbestos. I heard that it's processed and mined by area where asbestos is found. Don't know the link but check it out.

Stush

I wash my perlite. I use a kitchen sieve first to get out the tiny fines, which I throw away, then I wash it to eliminate the dust. It doesn't take much extra time, and I think it makes for a better mix, if you are going to use anything like a 50/50 with C/S soil and perlite. But, maybe that's just me.

Larry, gravel at the bottom of the pot doesn't improve drainage. It just decreases the amount of potting soil in the pot. The ability of potting soil to drain is determined by it's structural properties and of course a nice big hole in the bottom of the pot to prevent flooding.

I think I will begin sifting the perlite. Dust doesn't do any good. And I think I'll start looking for an online source of perlite with less dust....

Sorry but I've always used a gravel layer at the bottom. It would be very hard for me to stop doing so. Every houseplant book I read as a kid recommended it, and Ive done so ever since. Especially with cacti and succulents. Better to mix that gravel with the soil instead?

I didn't want to go against the flow, but I can't be bothered washing my perlite either. I have enough to do just keeping up with potting.

I found a place where I can get decent compost and today I bought a big bag of John Innes no.2, some general potting compost for containers and some grit/sand mix. Yay