Libby were do you live it is important that you edit your profile so the appropriate person in your country/ area can address you it is critical that a member in your zone area can advise you as the potting mix varies from country to country

Yes, I agree with Peter. And as to whether to use straight grit, or soil, or mixtures of them are hotly debated. All of these may also vary depending on what you have available to use in your area, your growing conditions, temperatures, rainfall, sun exposure, and type of plants you are growing and how you want them to look.

Some people prefer to grow their plants very dry and slow in straight grit and don't want to mess with them if there are heavy rains. This can produce very lovely specimens with small leaves but usually very few flowers. Might be an option if you want to grow arabicums, Thai Socco, etc but do not want them large. Growing them 'dry' makes for some very nice gnarly, less bloated trees and roots. This may also be a good option for a beginner for larger plants to avoid rot, but less ideal for seedlings or young plants you want to flower.

Some prefer a mix of grit and richer soil for a little faster growth and flowering, and don't mind to move or shelter the plants from heavy rains in the wet seasons or winter. I fall into this middle group. I use a soil mix that is very high in perlite and charcoal, but also has potting soil, a little sharp sand, worm castings, etc.

A lot of people in the tropics grow them in rich soil with very little grit (Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, etc) and have few rot issues. I would personally recommend you be cautious of going this latter route until you really feel like you know what you are doing, and know both your plants and your growing conditions well. This would be harder to avoid rot for those who are not closely attentive to the needs of their plants. In the tropics it is not unusual to get rain briefly every day, but also lots of hot sun to dry things back out rapidly.

I forgot to mention it also has a LOT to do with the kind of pots you use and their sizes. Bearing in mind that smaller, shallower pots dry out a lot faster than larger, deeper pots which tend to hold more moisture longer and have less surface area to dry back out.

So if your only option should be larger, deeper pots and they aren't drying out fast enough, you may want to either use a lot more larger grit, or fill the lower /half/ of the pot with large chunky grit to drain quickly, but use a bit richer mix both with soil and grit on the top half, for example. All of my larger pots have at least 25 to 30% of the lower portions filled with larger chunk grit without soil to aid in drainage. When feasible pots may also have additional drainage holes added to them easily if they are plastic, both to let out excess water but also for air movement. Much like orchid pots.

party thank you so much for your answer I'm with you. I have used what you suggested to someone else in another thread somewhere and I did as you said and I did the mixture between what you said and what Latin lady said I put them together I do move mine around because I am in Tampa Florida and it does rain alot I had no idea about the soil until this year and I've had my lady for four years now. and my Gentleman for 2 years this is what they look like now and I will show you how much I had to cut off of my Gentleman six months ago. and the bottom of the pots I put a layer of lava rock. my mixture was river sand gravel Grit perlite and soil I made a mixture of all four things and that's what I planted them in. in another post somewhere you can see them both out of their pots because I did have the lady in a big pot not knowing any better. and I had him in a plastic pot about the same size that he's in now but I changed them both to clay pots I find that the clay pots work very well on this side of my home and my orchids work there as well they just don't get the sunny part

A lot of it is trial and error to learn what works best for your location. Despite your past troubles with them, they certainly are looking good now!

I agree, it takes trial and error to find what works in your area and your growing conditions. Gritty mix is horrible here in my heat and humidity and just cooks plants, it will be 20-30 degrees hotter then any soil mixes. I grow mine in a thick, rich, dense potting mix and have no problems. Mine are for the most part in clay pots and grow on a tar roof in full sun. Even when we had 8" of rain in 3 days they had no problems, I treat them like thirsty tropicals. This time of year I move them around the side of the roof and they get afternoon shade, I still water every day and some of them really want to be watered more often.