Id place rocks and large particle things near the bottom...

Its what i did with leca balls....

And i placed a rock in a very tall square plastic pot...

Needless to say, drainage is amazing...

as for the dry/wet ratio, think it should even out...

If the particles of each of the materials used are the same or at least similar. It should not be a problem. The soil will dry back from the top to bottom either way.

To be honest, when I unpotted my Adeniums 2-3 yrs. ago. I had, had them planted in a mix with Turface and I hated what I found at the bottom of the pots. Subsequently, I stopped using the Turface.

Rick

How do you water? How big a hole in the bottom of the pot? If you water pouring in all the water at one location the rest of the top will be drier. If the hole in the pot is too small, water will back up soaking the materials at depth. I usually erexpect the hole to be 1/2 inch or greater.

I am watering in 2 ways. If I fertilize I use a sprayer and spray around the plant until I see water pouring. If I water for sake of watering, I drench 5-10sec in a bucket with water.

Basically with earth the discrepancy between top and bottom of the pot is not as large.

Also I made a small experiment and placed a pot with gritty my in a saucer with water. The top was still bone dry. There was very low wicking...

Rick what soil mix are you using

Where do you live and what are your growing conditions? Did you sift your Turface?

1:1:1 is too water retentive for most succulent growers, which could be part of your problem.

What sort of pot?? Unglazed terracotta breathes better, helps your mix dry out.

Marica,

I use Horticulture Pumice, Coconut Husk Chunks, Perlite and my own micronutrient mix.

All pieces of the mix are of relative size.

My experience over the years w Turface proved not to be what I like to see in my mix. Screening would not give my desired size to match that of the other ingredients use in mix.

Spanishfly - Good point. I also like raising my pots off the ground on a rack or egg crate, which promotes airflow underneath the pots and more even drying.

I admit I did not screen my ingredients. There does not seem to be a lot of "dust" around. Only issue is bark is considerably larger: it's the smallest orchid bark I found so far.

Here's a photo of my mix

@rcharles_gw

Why do you add both pumice and perlite. I thought they served a similar purpose.

vlad

if it is too moist, cut back on the turface. my 'mix' is simply chicken grit and floor dry. if it is too dry, I add floor dry. too wet: reduce the floor dry. no bark.

I have found with the Turface that Screening it is not worth my time, as the largest particles of the Turface (Sold here) is too small in comparison to other ingredients used. What I found on the bottom (Turface) when transplanting up to a larger pot was not to my liking and meant perfect conditions for perched water.

Vlad, I use both the Horticulture Pumice and Perlite for two reason. One being the the weight of the Pumice is much greater and also the cost of the Pumice is much more than the Perlite. So, I mix for both cost (especially when potting up 10L batches for one plant) and weight.

I always find that my Coconut Husk chips are slightly larger than the rest of the mix, but have had great results with it.

Rick