If you want to add lime (?) to Gritty Mix, just mix it in.

The lime is supposed to be added to the mix as an ingredient. I don't know why adding it afterwards isn't discussed as an option, because I keep forgetting the lime / gypsum at mixing time.

NO LIME is used in the Gritty Mix. GYPSUM is used in the Gritty Mix, spread evenly throughout.

Lime is used in the 5-1-1, thoroughly incorporated at mixing time.

Josh

Josh, before you clarified, my entire world was on the verge of collapsing, haha!

Grace

"Josh, before you clarified, my entire world was on the verge of collapsing, haha!"

How does this add to the discussion at all?

Thanks Josh.

now be nice, CJ. Friends are allowed to partake in silly banter on threads.

Meaning, I believe, that Sugi was thinking, "Oh no, I've made my mix with the wrong ingredient!" But after the clarification, she realized that she had the Lime in the 5-1-1 as should be, and thus her world fell back into order.

Josh

Sorry for not adding real value, CJ. In the last 2 months I've reported everything into Al's gritty mix or 5:1:1 and it's been an ordeal. The thought of having to redo it all makes me shudder so I exclaimed my relief "out loud". :-)

Josh, basically verbatim what I was thinking! Thanks!

Grace

Lol.....maybe that came across a bit harsh. My apologies. I'm new here and don't know you guys like that.....I took it the wrong way.

What happened with the gritty mix?? No good? Please do tell....

I'm waiting to see how my stuff responds first. I replanted a sansevieria so far but it's too early to tell. The last thing I want is to repot everything and have it all go down hill...

CJ, nothing happened. Everything has grown great so far and I can't give it enough praise. As I've told Al, he's made gardening (and experimenting) fun again!

But given my obsessive way, I repotted everything when I bought it. Then after reading much, much more, I started repotting into a much better-draining mix of stuff, then decided I will repot AGAIN into Al's 5:1:1 for some and gritty for many others.

So I did.

And if lime was what I needed to add to gritty mix, I'd be doing the whole damn thing over again, haha. Keep in mind that after a 6 year hiatus, I came back to gardening in January. Of 2013. Yes, that many repots since! Hence, my comment.

But really, give it a try. If you're coming from plain soil, it takes a considerable amount of getting used to, to register that yes, indeed, your plants ARE getting enough water. It seems impossible at first! But now, the plants kind of speak for themselves and I've had to accept that it's true. :-)

But definitely, GYPSUM is what you use for gritty mix. I got the pellet kind by Encap, and merely threw into the soil while mixing it all up. I think i bought that at OSH. At this time, I have 90% of my houseplants in GM, 100% of succulents in GM, and the remainder of the plants in 5:1:1 or some variation of it depending on the plant (i.e. peppers have more than one part soil, etc.).

The only plant I took out of GM and switched to 5:1:1 was the kumquat tree--and I daresay I was being hasty. But that was the only one that did drop some leaves and in hindsight, it probably had more to do with sun placement than soil. The others never missed a beat despite severe root pruning.

I've attached my whole saga below. :-D

Here is a link that might be useful: Taking on Gritty Mix

Well...my only complaint so far is that after watering, the water drains into the tray so fast that I have a tray full of water that I have to empty. Before I'd leave it and it would just get soaked back up.....I don't think that's going to happen now......