Beginner Gardening: Help please: Black rotting spots on my Bodhi tree leaves! , 0 by PatrickA_FL

PatrickA_FL wrote:
Hey Al,

I was able to find a fir bark, coarse perlite and charcoal mix by way of BETTER-GRO 8-Quart Special Orchid Mix at Lowe's. Also, I picked up a bag of BETTER-GRO 8-Quart Orchid Bark, which contains just fir bark.

Would either of these be a suitable substitute for pine bark in your soil mix? All the pine bark I could find at Lowe's was large "Pine Bark Nuggets" for mulching or possibly garden use and cannot say whether it is clean, (doesn't look too clean to me). The pieces were also too large for use as a potting soil and the only Perlite Lowe's carries right is Miracle Grow Perlite, which has fertilizer in it with an Ammonia base. I will continue to search for plain Perlite, but would the Special Orchid Mix with the coarse perlite be okay to use? It also has charcoal in it, which I do not know what its purpose is for, or if it will harm a ficus tree. I guess I could technically pick the charcoal out of it before using.

Would love your opinion on this, as well as those of others willing to weigh in. This morning, I see small new foliage growth up top.

Thanks to all,

Pat



This message was edited Jan 17, 2012 10:38 AM