Depends on the plants. Id go heavy mineral(less than 20 organics on)

-taproot cacti(rebutia, astrophytum asterias, lophophora, ariocarpus, certain gymnocalyciums)

-copiapoa

-eriosyce

-matucana and oroyoa

-rare cacteae(without taproots), like mammillaria senilis, thelocactus, sclerocactus, echinomastus, echinocactus horizonthalonius and polycephalus, etc

-echinopsis, subsection lobivia(probably slightly less, but only slightly), along with other rarities within

-melocactus(and to that extent, arrojadoa and austrocephalocereus) as well as discocactus

-mesembs like lithops, pleispilos, conophytum(all the difficult ones)

-medusiod, globular and other rare desert type euphorbias

-pachypodium

- rare cacti with no significant classification: uebelmania, blosffeldia etc

Rob

I use mineral mix, with no soil at all. Equal amounts of sifted perlite ( difficult to get pumice here, otherwise I would use it), and small % of turface - maybe 10 to max 15%. Have many plants in a mix without turface. Very seldom I add small amt of potting soil - just to 'stretch' it when I am short on otherwise 100% inorganic mix. Particles, in my case, are relatively same size, aprox. 3-5mm. I use more soil in the same mix when rooting cuttings, but not always - again, depends on how much I have on hand when needed.

I try to keep it very simple; i do not measure any more. I rinse perlite sometimes - when getting to the bottom of the bag and there is much more dust. I buy in bulk, and try to sift/rinse and mix in bulk too. Mix drains very well, and I do not cover plants when raining (I used to...) I would only protect plants in case of really long periods of heavy rains, more than 2-3 (?) days or so. Luckily, It does not happen often - didn't cover them at all last 2 summers.

Here is pic of my mix. Gravel happens to be mix of black and white - just because I found a bad of black. Most often, it is more whitish chicken grit.

First time this year, I got ManaPro brand, which was not carried by supplier where I get grit before. It is same, just very slight variation in color.

I use topdressing, usually bigger sized chicken grit ('layer' size or turkey), sometimes pea gravel. I use it on most of my plants, not only succulents. Have big pots with figs for example, or olives, and much more. I started using it to slow down squirrels from digging...it actually helped. And I like the look...

On all your plants?

Rob

If you are asking about todressing, yes, just about all potted plants I have. Figs, brugmansias, olives, couple of loquats, passion flower, bay leaf, bougainvillea...even some of potted perenials I have - few hostas, even a boxwood. They are potted in a mix of about 50/50 potting soil and coarse perlite, adding some bark - as much as I can, which isn't usually as much as I would like - when I have it. For these potted tropicals, I would like mix of about 1:1:1 of soil, perlite and bark. I would use grit in the mix too, but pots are quite large and get too heavy.