The best possible mix can differ depending on the type of plant you plant to grow and your climate. The more humid and wet areas may require a better draining soil than drier areas.

Pumice lasts longer and doesn't crumble nearly as easily as perlite. Also, pumice doesn't float, and perlite does, leaving challenges when watering your plants.

I have heard of others having success using chicken grit, but have never used any personally.

I wouldn't consider wood chips in succulent mix, as they can hold water, but just my opinion. I have mixed in wood chips for some of the hardy succulents with success, but I wouldn't try it with the more fragile ones.

I have not had good experience with fertilizers; if you over-fertilize by just a little bit, you can give the plant fertilizer burn or kill it. In my experience, death happens much more frequently than burns, and I have pretty much stopped fertilizing now.

Here are my thoughts:

1. Pumice doesn't float as much, holds water inside, holds more nutrients, more robust, and therefore superior to perlite.
2. Grit is extremely cheap and not many components hold less water.
3. Go gritty, but customize the mix to available components, your growing conditions, and what you are growing (species, seedlings, etc.)
4. Bark is intended to be cheap filler, takes a while to re-hydrate, and floats. Reptibark is $$$ and not worth it.
5. Foliage Pro 9-3-6 or Miracle Gro 12-4-8 liquid with micronutrients. Follow the instructions and flush your pots frequently.

Here are some suggested succulent soil mixes: [Soil Mixes and Porosity[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/porosity-water-holding-capacity-cost-of-common-soil-components-dsvw-vd~4061703).

Good mix doesn't have to be expensive - mine costs around $1.60/kg (Pumice, Grit, Turface for most things). As a comparison, Miracle Grow Cactus Mix costs $3.44/kg at the local garden center.

Eww, I am not sure about your price comparison. A pot of gritty mix is much heavier than a pot of C&S mix. You get more pots out of a kg of C&S mix. Price comparison per liter would make more sense, I think.

Hm... good point since we are filling pots not buying ballast. =)

My mix is around $2.15/L versus $1.60/L for C&S mix. So you could say it's around 35% more expensive by volume.

Overall, I would still say it's cheaper because you should replace C&S mix every 1-2 years while my mix should be good for maybe 5 years.

One thing about reptibark: I always get the special priced bag that gives you twice as much for one dollar more. So, a big bag comes out to 9.99. It can go a long way with houseplants. So, if you can get that special priced bag, it may be worth the money. They always have it at my local pet smart.

Lauren - Canadian Petsmart? It's $32/24qts (20L). Sometimes it goes on sale, but not by much. The big bags do go a pretty long way.

For a succulents mix, I would forget the bark (unless you are growing epiphytes). The particle size doesn't well match the size of the grit or perlite, so you always end up with all the bark at the top (I don't like that).

I would like to point out that 'wood chips' and 'bark' are 2 very different things. Wood chips are good for using on walkways, and sometimes as mulch outdoors. For mulch, they are better if aged some, as fresh chips will consume lots of N available. Bark is what should be used in mixes.

I have stopped using bark in succulent mix few years ago. Difficult to get good product (size-wise), usually contains sapwood (some bags more, some less, but I do not like look of it in any mix :) and reptiBark is too expensive if having many plants. Now, I am using only chicken grit #2, perlite (sifted) and some turface. I would use pumice if it was easy to get where I live, but it isn't. I would/will switch to pumice if I get some...I do not find perlite annoying as I use grit for topdressing and it keeps it down. I use smaller % of turface (typically up to 20% of total volue), and adjust for some water holding. No soil at all (I do have few pots that have small fraction of soil, but only about 10% of total volume). I am also one of the ppl that do not fertilize succulents.

ETA: I never figured cost per L or otherwise; but buying in bulk (most components in 50lb bags) is least expensive. Maybe one day I'll make a batch and see what the cost is...Even if it was little more than bagged soil, it is much better for plants and definitely lasts few years as ewwmayo pointed out. I do not throw it into garbage when repotting...lots of it can be re-used (I sift it and if I worry about anything, rinse it in water with some bleach added. Ten I add anything missing or deteriorated) and in worse case it goes into compost & garden.

Echoing Garrett's comments, it largely depends on what kind of plants you've got & what conditions you'll be growing in. Are they succulents, tropicals, jungle cacti?

I have roughly 12 types plants, some of which are not id'd yet.

•Haworthia retusa

•Gibbaem album

•Echeveria minima

•Jelly bean sedum

•Aloe variegata

•baby Aloe CV. "Raspberry ruffles"

•corn cob cactus/Euphorbia mammillaris

• Typical nondescript cactus? I'll post pictures when it blooms.

•Sedum clavatum/treleasei

Plus four others, one being an aloe and two being a Echeveria I assume. And one which I have no idea, but is too tiny to get a good look at it.

I have just started my addiction to these plants, which is why I'm trying to learn as much as possible. They have all been in terrible soil, which is why I'm going out to buy the necessary parts to this mix.

I live in a very hot area in southern California. It can get to 110° in the summer, however it's typically warm all year, staying around 50-80° most the year. I tend to keep them inside on a sunny windowsill until they bloom, then I put them outside during part the day so the bees can get at them.

I typically pot in terracotta, however I have been using more plastic recently. I find that they have better drainage, and I'm not afraid they'll fall and break. (Also I got a really great deal where both terracotta's and plastic pots were buy one get THREE free... Let it be known I bought at least twenty of each.).

Pumice is very easy to find around here, and I'm sure it won't be too difficult to find other things.

What are the parts of a good mix? 1:1 pumice and soil? 2:1:1 pumice soil and turface? I'm very new to all this and I want them to live long healthy lives.

After a quick search I'm a zone 9b

And changed my name accordingly

I use the gritty mix or 1-1-1 potting mix discussed endlessly on the Container Gardening forum for all my succulents and have for years. I find it works very well and I have no issues with floating particles :-)

1 part composted bark fines (1/4-1/8" size)

1 part perlite or pumice - they are interchageable.

1 part turface or granite grit (can also use cherrystone chicken grit)

And although most cacti and succulents are not heavy feeders, I do fertilize a couple times a season with a dilute Dyna Gro product simply because the potting mix offers no nutrients to speak of and I get better growth response and flowering when I do.

As gardengall said...my mix is approx. equal amounts of grit and perlite (I would use pumice instead if I could get it easily), and smaller amount of turface (in my case, no more than about 20% and often less). I do not really measure any more, go more by the look :) of it. After you make it few times, you'll get good idea how it should look. Turface holds more water than perlite/pumice or grit, so amount of it could be adjusted if needed (maybe little more in hotter climate).

If pumice is readily available to you, as you say, that may well become one of your favorite components. It's one of mine...and I have it mailed from California to FL. I use it with C/S soil for my Sans, and I use it as part of a gritty mix with Turface and Manna Pro poultry grit. I'm not crazy about Turface; prefer pumice because for me it generates better roots. But as many has said here....your "favorite" will emerge as part of your experimentation and learning experience. It's an individual thing.

There is some chicken grit that contains crushed oyster shell- very different from granite grit- so check ingredients. If I am remembering right, the crushed shells will make the soil mix far too basic.

Pagan, my dog has taken umbrage with your comment that chunks of squirrel should not be included in ice cream, and was only calmed down with extra belly scratches.

ez

Since you're in SoCal, pumice is readily available (lucky you :) and will work with any mix. Its going to take some trial and error to find a mix you really trust and love, so be patient with yourself. For ex: I live in a far more humid climate so most of my plants are in 50-70% pumice with a few other things like horticultural charcoal, decomposed granite, tiny lava rock, and occasionally akadama, sharp sand, coir, etc.
Cacti I grow in pumice, decomposed granite and hort.charcoal. Haworthias are 3 parts pumice, 1/2 part akadama, 1/2 part hort charcoal, and a sprinkle of coarse sand.

Pagan are you serious? "Kind of like ice cream---we can only list the things it shouldn't have (shards of glass, chunks of squirrel, sand, etc). The rest is a matter of personal preference." Hahahaha

Ez - You are correct, the crushed oyster shell is no good for soil mixes.

Robin - I agree that pumice gives better roots. At least for me, adjusting new plants to gritty mix is easier with pumice than without. My understanding is that you get a better distribution of moisture inside the mix than with just grit and Turface alone.

I would say it's a bit of a double-edged sword... easier to root but if you start getting rot and don't catch it fast enough then pumice-oriented mixes are less forgiving.

Sift the pumice, Shaye! Although, on that note, I'm now wondering what it will take to rot anything in pure sifted pumice? I tend to underwater and add holes to my pots so I have never seen it.

I must apologize to your dog, Ez. I did not mean to cast aspersions on his ice cream preferences.

Welcome to my sense of humor, Minty.

Got supplies! For some reason, the people at HD, Lowe's, and 4 nurseries were no help. They thought I was saying "hummus" and straight up didn't know what perlite was. I expect it from big box stores, but the nurseries too? Uhhg. I found pumice but the ones I found at the nurseries were charging... Wait for it... $46 for 3 qts

I couldn't bring myself to do it in because I can find it cheaper online. Also the ones they had looked far too fine, resembling perlite.

Speaking of which, I couldn't stand to let my succulents sit in terrible soil anymore and bought perlite until I can buy some pumice. I bought perlite, chicken grit (no oyster shells) and turface. I've mixed three different mixes to experiment with.

1.) 1 :1: 1: 1/2 sifted perlite, turface, grit, soil

2.) 1:1:1 sifted perlite, turface, grit.

3.) 1:1:1 sifted perlite, turface, reptibark (I used to own many reptiles.)

I repotted all my poor succulents. While doing so I found my first cacti's (given as a gift and probably bought from HD) roots were bound into the same shape as their original "pot", hard as a rock. I've never experienced that before, however I knew the only way to help the poor guy thrive is to get the dirt off of all the roots by washing it off. I did that (luckily no root rot) and will replant it tomorrow, after he dries a bit.

I'm sure they'll all be happier. Thank you all for the advice!

Depends on what type of succulents you grow. Succulents in all varieties have varying types of roots. I grow mostly echeverias and crassulas, and the more sensitive have very fine and brittle thin roots. They tend to fair poorer or take longer to establish themselves in my gritty mixes with bark. After playing around with more variations, Equal amount of pumice/grits/perlite/turface/growstones are fine as long as you add 10-20% rich loam/soil. The results are always amazing!

But as always, if you have long terra cotta pots, those dry the fastest, so you need to keep up with your watering.

Hey, perlite is A-OK! No problem with it. I don't blame you for not getting the pumice...

About the plants, after repotting into gritty mix, they will go through a shock period. Water them as little as possible during this time, and keep them out of really strong light and heat. For me, it takes a couple of weeks for them to get established.

shaye

I am assuming you are aware of General Pumice Products -here-

Shipping in US is free, 15lb bag of 1/8 is $25. Lexi posted here few times in the past. Not sure if it was already mentioned...

Rina

Yep! I was planning to buy from GPP.

Palmsandsnow

Should I take them off my windowsill and place them below it? (Indirect light as it is blocked by a wall). The room doesn't get too hot, now that it's winter.

It depends on the windowsill, but I think it should be okay there; the light through a window usually isn't that intense.

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