Forget the cactus soil (it's usually mostly peat), do use the orchid mix, but maybe break up the soft wood into smaller pieces. You could add a little percentage of potting soil, but only if it's loamy, not peat.

Thanks, and any suggestions on what brand of potting soil to mix with the orchid mix?

When I search for a good blend or brand names to use, I never can come up with a straight forward answer... Thanks

Schultz is always decent, but not knowing what else is available there, it's hard to say... I'm in Canada, and while we have Wal-Mart and H. Depot & Lowes, I usually mix my own stuff from nurseries, so... I don't think any one mix would be 'bad', but if maybe use Schultz as your base and compare others to it.

Ok , thanks, I'm in Kentucky, and there's just about anything you can think of here to get and mix together..lol

In all seriousness, I think you won't get a good answer because of the limitation you imposed on yourself and others who might offer advice, the limitation being the ingredients have to be available at Lowes or Walmart. Relaxing those limitations opens the door for you to learn a lot about avoiding the limitations imposed upon your plants by unsuitable soils. As growers, our proficiency is defined by how successful we are at identifying and eliminating the things that limit our plants.

I think the 2 most critical obstructions to breaking through the barrier of frustration that is the inability to keep your trees alive and healthy is, understanding how plants work and understanding how soils work (or don't). Unless you gain that knowledge, the frustration that comes with killing plant after plant will probably remain in the forefront of the growing experience, something you want to leave behind sooner rather than later, I would think. It might sound like a hard line, but it's the truth.

Al