I am surprised the 5-1-1 is not providing adequate drainage. I use it for almost all of my containers - and I have LOTS - and drainage has always been excellent. But adding any kind of horticultural grit (like cherry stone) should help.

Gardengal is correct, but cherrystone or other forms/brands of grit won't do anything that less expensive perlite won't do, other than add to the pot's stability because of the added weight.

Al

Than you GG and Al. I did not add the cherrystone out of fear. lol I have changed the planter to a shorter but wide potting bag and they seem to be doing much better. I am waiting for some more bare root strawberries now to add to the larger bags I have for them.

Thanks again for your time and advice. You are the only two folks I totally believe on gardenweb. I have been reading here for a very long time. I am making some 511 for some houseplants now to transplant the few I had acquired this winter thanks to Al's recipe. I use reptibark for the pine bark fines. It works well for me.

Thanks for the kind words. I don't know if you noticed or not, but Pam limits herself to operating within the limits of her considerable knowledge. By doing so, she protects her credibility, which is likely why so many trust her judgment. That's an uncommon quality in most settings.

How did you make the 5:1:1 mix? Did it look like this,

or what you see in the middle below?

Al

Gosh! Both you two made me blush. I often get a lot of flak from a lot of sources - Al knows the score - so it is especially nice to receive a compliment. Or two. 😊 Thanks!

I would say it looks like the top picture. In other pictures the particles in the middle one look smaller to me than what I have here.

OK - FWIW, the first image with the pencil is at about the upper limit of what I would use because the bark is a tad too big, meaning too little water retention could be an issue. The second image, middle, is about what I would consider to be ideal. The bark products (from 3 different suppliers) at 3, 6, and 9 o'clock are all great for 5:1:1 and wouldn't require screening.

Al

Al, What do you show at 12 o’clock? That looks one looks like the reptibark I use.

At 12 is a prescreened 1/8-1/4" fir bark from Shasta Forest Products in Yreka CA. I used to buy a pick-up truck load every year when I traveled to Chicago for the summer bonsai show at Chicago Botanic Gardens, but the entity (Oakhill Orchid Supply) folded. For fir bark in the gritty mix, 1/8-1/4" is ideal, for pine bark, 1/8-3/8 is best.

Al

I am pretty new to the 5:1:1 concept. Though I have container- gardened for decades and just got lucky I guess with regular potting soil — my hostas didn’t seem to care! But have lost some container plants in past couple of years that I’m now pretty sure was drainage issue.

My dilemma is that I typically have medium to large containers— large hostas, some Japanese maples, hardy ferns, hardy herbs some summer veggies and a few annuals at times.

Point, I need a LOT of soil mix, and haven’t been able to find larger amounts of bark fines ( such as mulch- sized bags, a cubic ft or 2). I think Kellogg used to make a “ soil conditioner” that was actually mostly a type of bark fines, I got some a few years ago to use in- ground but haven’t seen it recently.

I’m going to PETCO to look at Reptibark this week and see if amounts/ price seems practical.

Before learning more about container soils & drainage here, I had used some pine bark mulch, because is available and so many nursery potted shrubs seem to contain pretty coarse bark.

And theoretically I could try to “ screen” a bag and yield a portion of smaller stuff for potting , and use the rest for mulch.

So, how do people source the bark fines, especially on ongoing basis? Meaning, I’m not able to use a truckload of container material. I’m able to travel if I found a regional source— for example, I plan to gear some trips around visits to some native plant nurseries, botanical gardens and so if I did find a nursery or composting co. that carried a product , I could go there annually or something.

I did just watch a YouTube on shredding pine bark mulch!

Thanks, Al. Too bad about Chi-town, as I now have some family that I visit in that area.