A little over a year ago when I was re-injured, I decided to focus less on the yard and more on container planting. All my houseplants were in something similar to Al's Gritty Mix, but it was still lacking, stayed a little to soggy. Then I found this site, read all about gritty mix and haven't looked back. My veggies have done the best that they ever have, they actually produced something this year! Even the rabbit's and rats have had something to eat. They are planted in airpots, in a 5-2-1 mix (fir-turface-pumice). Twice a week they get FP, and watered as needed the rest of the week.

So here is where the dumb luck comes in. My houseplants were always just ok, kind of just hanging in there. So back in February I started re-potting all in a 1-1-1 (fir-turface-pumice or perlite). I just went for it, I washed all the soil off every plant and cut half the roots off, even off the big variegated ficus, I was not delicate. The ficus only lost maybe 10 leaves and it's been pushing out leaves like crazy since. Two new plants that were in 6" nursery pots I forgot them on the side of the house and by the time I found them they looked dead (the sm varigated ficus and the croton). Not at the same time, about three months apart, I don't unload plants on that side of the house anymore. So I did the same even know they looked dead, I washed all soil off, cut half the roots off, the croton was actually just three sticks. The ficus came back to life and is beautiful and in the last couple days the croton is pushing out some new growth on all three sticks. The other two ficus's never lost one leaf from this process. I think plants are more resilient than we think. Here's a couple pictures of watering day at my house. There is a lot more plants packed in this group than it looks like.

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The plumaria is not a houseplant, and the succulents are not in a gritty mix, the succulents were a gift from a friend and get hug on the outside wall after watering. Everything gets watered once a week right now with FP, the 5th time is just a flush. November I'll cut watering back to every two weeks.

Not one thing has died, and two brought back from the brink of death, I'm telling you it's been great, and worth every penny and worth all that sifting.

Thank you Al, and thank you to all the others who's posts I have learned from.

Jerry