Soil Ratios

[Blue Trilobyte]

Hi all; after the last thread I posted (about fertilized perlite) I went out and got some more (better) soils for my mix. I want to make a general kind of mix as I have mostly cacti and cacti seeds, but I can adjust for my few succulent. My current mix is:

2 parts Fafard cactus mix
2 parts horticultural vermiculite
1 part horticultural perlite (no fertilizer in this one)
1 part coir

The Fafard cactus mix is pretty decent compared to commercial mixes I've seen in the past, and I went ahead and sifted out the larger organic pieces.

I made a test run of this mix, and it seems to drain well, but it also sort of "bulges out" when I watered it, by that I mean it rose up when watered then fell back down as the water drained out. Its almost all small particles, with few larger pieces.

WP_20140208_004.jpg (52.06 KiB) Viewed 1026 times

How does this mix sound, particularly the ratios? I want to use the mix for repotting my cacti and for starting seeds, but more pertinently I want to repot an Agave celsii ASAP that's been suffering in hardened manufacturer peat (and a too small pot). I appreciate any suggestions.

[Harriet]

What does the Fafard cactus mix contain?

[DaveW]

Just looked it up on the Web Harriet since it's evidently only sold in the eastern USA:-

"Description:
A fast-draining medium formulated for succulents, Fafard® Cactus & Succulent Potting Mix is the first step in creating your own garden oasis. It contains a blend of perlite, peat moss and aged pine bark to encourage good growth while providing ample aeration and drainage that most cacti, bromeliads and succulents need."

Evidently it already contains perlite and so your mix would be a mainly peat/coir/bark medium with added perlite and vermiculite, therefore pretty inert so they would need regular fertiliser during the growing season.