Specialty Gardening: Suggestions for amending container potting mix/soil?, 0 by tapla

tapla wrote:
The gritty mix is a soil I make that has a 2/3 inorganic component and 1/3 uncomposted bark. I use it on long term plantings, like bonsai, the woody plants I grow on for bonsai, houseplants (including succulents and cacti). I'll leave a picture.

From all appearances, he is limiting himself by adhering to an organic approach. That is fine, as long as we realize that we are eliminating a huge portion of methodology that is capable of producing plants with better yields and better vitality with less effort and a wider margin for error.

To answer your question about what kind of nutrition you can expect from finished compost - compost provides almost nothing in the way of nutrients. It's value comes in what it adds to the moisture retention, tilth, and mineralization of mineral soils.

I'm not saying this from a defensive posture, rather, from a purely observational perspective: It's easy to claim you have a secret soil and to say that you get spectacular results from it. I could do that and get away with it much more easily than Mr. Smith could because I can point to the testimony of hundreds (if not thousands) of growers who are using it, but I don't. I can though, take you to an open forum setting and post your comments about the soil recipe you just mentioned, and soon, a large number of growers that USED to grow in similar soils but have sinced moved on, would join the conversation with their thoughts.

Al

The gritty mix: