Joe

The bark is used for the pH factor and it is far less expensive and lighter on a per volume basis than Turface or granite.

You might be able to favor the presence of granite a bit more than the Turface after it is screened, but I can not even imagine how much that mix would weigh.:-)

Cheers

I would bet it would weigh a ton, because let me tell ya, I have a large snake plant, in a 14" pot, that is filled with gritty mix, and I'll be a monkey's bare aced uncle if that isn't the heaviest dang pot I ever lifted!

Joe

ROFL!!

I know what you mean Joe! I moved a 14" terra cotta with a tree. :-) But around here, winds are bad in the summer, so I appreciate the extra weight.

Hi Mike!

JoJo

I'm about to mix my 1st batch, bark is hard to find. Actually, there's a local landscape supply wholesaler that has them, but they sell by the truckload. They can fill up a pickup bed for $70.

meyermike: did you receive my email? Thanks for any info you can provide!!

Thats why I started making a lighter version of the gritty. 4 parts perlite,3 parts bark 2 parts turface. I have 4 20 gallon teracotta pots filled with the gritty. Last fall I went to pick one up, and I thought someone nailed it to the floor! Sweet fancy mosses! :) filix.

I grow most of my succulents in a pumice, Turface, granite mix. Al has stated that he grows some conifers in a Turface, granite mix. So 100% inorganic soils can definitely work. If you want to keep the weight down, you can replace the bark with a lightweight ingredient of moderate water retention like pumice, lava rock, perlite, etc. You may need to experiment with ratios though.

If you don't mind the cost of such a mix then it will work fine. Just remember that because you don't have any acidifying component in the soil you may need to add gypsum to counter the alkaline effects of the turface/granite, or else occasionally water with vinegar. I have one amaryllis in a bark-less mix and it flowered really well.

Maybe Al knows what a turface/granite mix looks like after 6 years of non-stop use.

Other than some staining on the soil particles as a product of the decomposing organic matter left in the soil by dying roots, and the roots that would inevitably remain in the soil as you combed it out of the root mass, it would essentially look the same (texture) ..... just used as opposed to fresh & new, but still just as functional.

Al

Newgen:

I never recieved an e-mail from you. Sorry:-(

Mike

So, can we say that perlite is an OK replacement for the bark component of the 1-1-1 gritty mix? Any special considerations? This would make things simpler for me.

Al would know better than me, but in my case the perlite replaced the granite. That made the mix much lighter. filix