With Rhododendrons, I discovered they do extremely well in a container, in soil that is sized redwood bark (I filter out the sawdust). I have actually improved growth further by creating an even mix of redwood bark and turface (a hardened clay pellet that holds water and releases it very slowly). The turface keeps the moisture levels much more even and for a longer period of time. Turface also helps bark to rehydrate should it dry out. Would this kind of soil work for Camellias?

Redwood bark has a pH of around 4.5 to 5, and I am reading that Camellias want pH around 5 to 6.5. So I guess I would need to add some garden lime to my soil mix in order to bring pH to the right target?

I read others online using a container mix of peat moss and coarse sand. That's a much wetter soil and would have a higher perched water table because of the small space between sand particles. I worry that might rob the Camellia roots of growth.

What are problems with my proposed Camellia container soil, and what would be optimal?