Cheers! ;)

Billy is still hanging in there. I decided today was the day to take him out of the yoghurt cup.

Forgot to add the other pictures....

He is happy....great mix... I love it.

Marie

Finding the ingredient for "real" gritty mix here is not working, so I'm experimenting. So far, a bit of reptibark, tezontle, expanded clay, and a bit of grit-like rock is working. I'm pulling the bark from many plants. It is just too wet in the summer here.

Nice to see Billy is alive and kicking, I wish him well :-) What are you 'feeding' him with these days? He should respond nicely to some gentle nutrition in the type of mix he is in as there are no obvious ingredients that actually provide nutrients for him.

Gill

As young seedlings they can not dry up or they will just shrivel and die off. I'm not sure but gritty mix in my opinion is not for everybody.

I'm right on the coast & in the tropics, so humidity remains pretty high here. It rains pretty much every day from June to November. I agree that being careful about not letting seedlings get too dry is a good practice for most people. It isn't much of a problem here though, except November to June, when it doesn't typically rain at all. I bring very young seedlings inside so downpours don't wash them out of their containers. Billy stays out. So he gets rain almost each night, plus a drink around noon, usually. Seedlings still in egg cartons are getting water (I had to stop spraying & now use my finger to stop the force of water from a water bottle) 3 times a day. They'll go into gritty plus some c&s when they go into yoghurt cups, and then just gritty when they get pots. I agree, though, gritty isn't for everyone. I'm happy to hover & I don't mind watering even every day if needed, so it works for me.

Gill, I give Billy Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro & Pro-Tekt. He gets it maybe every other day or so. I suspect starting him in somewhat boulder-like gritty mix stunted his growth. Some of the month-old (Rinoa) seedlings are not much smaller than he is, but they were started in potting soil & perlite. The latest batch of (Mr Ko) seedlings were started in some organic cactus/succulent mix I found that really seems better than most C&S stuff I've seen. I'll take photos & put in my Babies thread.

DYna Gro and Pro tekt are what a lot of growers here use and with good results. I'm not familiar with them myself here in the UK, but feel sure he will benefit from their use. Good luck!

Gill

I have to get people to bring them to me from the US.