There is nothing detrimental about putting rocks on top of the soil - I do it - I use big rocks as ballast & decoration and I use gravel as top dressing (granite). I plant my Sans high so the rhizome is just below the top of the soil and any roots exposed are covered by gravel.

Thanks so much NextO! I just needed to be sure I wasn't going to harm my Sans... I'm sick and tired of sweeping, haha!!

Mary, I commented on your original post but will copy and paste here in case you didn't see it.

Hi Mary, I've run this around in my head for a few minutes and I can't think of another, or a better, way of keeping the soil mix from blowing out of your pots.

There's nothing wrong at all with top-dressing pots of sansevieria with gravel or stones, it just makes it harder to tell when they need watering. Top-dressing with gravel is a very attractive addition to a pot, and it would keep the wind from blowing the soil mix away. Check Ebay offerings of seller and expert grower Bodombilly, you'll see gravel top-dressing. If scraping a little gravel away to check the soil moisture isn't a big deal to you, that's what I would do.

Russ

Then again, if you replace what you currently have your plants in (soil medium) with gritty mix or similar, it probably wouldn't blow away as easily as it's chunky and heavier - the advantage would also be more oxygen in the root zone.

If not, you could invest is one of the probes to check how much moisture is in the soil, and/or wick the pots to drain perched water table, etc.

Thanks NextO, my watering schedule is good, it's just that the lighter cactus and Succulant mixes get blown away easier... There's too many pots for me to repot right now, so I'm leaning towards the pebbles. Y

thanks again!

Interesting on the river rock holding more moisture than a stone with angles, I haven't heard that but I'll try to find info on it.

On gritty mix, I'm wondering if sans in it would dry out way too fast in a windy area. Watering plants every day or even every other day might be more of a chore than many want to deal with.

Also, the so-called gritty mix has calcined clay in it and I'm not a fan of it. I've tried it (Turface) over many years in a variety of C&S mixes and it holds too much moisture. I stopped using it a couple of years ago.

I'm reading posts where newbies are even planting ficus and dracaenas in 'gritty mix'. I don't know where they're getting the idea that it's an all-purpose mix and better than a tropical mix. Tapla's own 5-1-1 bark mix would be much better for those particular plants, as well as many other mixes formulated for tropicals.

Russ

I have read something about the round River rocks collecting water as well. I can't remember where exactly, I want to say Italy or Spain, but where it is a particularly dry coastal region, some farmers put large rounded River rocks at the base of their fruit trees because the fog and general evaporation from the ocean or sea collects on the rounded surfaces and they rarely have to water their trees because of it.

Thanks vitorama, I learned something new, nice imagery too.

The gritty mix I make up subs pumice for calcined clay, I was using 50/50 pumice & bark, then added some crushed granite (it's heavy though), for the trifasciatas I increase the pumice, desert types I don't as I can't imagine they need it. I would use it for echeverria, dudleya but not ficus or dracaena, but then, some people like to be needed & water every day. Not me.