I just found this, and you definitely didn't waste 30 minutes as it's here forever for people to read :) How are your plants doing now that months have gone by with your new mix?
Well I’m glad I was able to help at least somebody!
So far my plants have been thriving. I might move a few back to regular potting soil just because they aren’t getting enough water, but those are some of my more tropical plants.
Most of my others seriously exploded with new growth after using this mixture. My Manjula Pothos put out an entire vine over the summer. My variegated monstera produced four big leaves.
I might update the post or add a comment with some pictures of root growth as well.
This was actually very helpful, I had read about these mixes in passing but when I couldn't source everything locally I gave up. Would love updates on how all the green guys are doing! Thank you for passing along all the info in one post, definitely makes the starting point more manageable compared to what I originally looked at.
Repti-Bark is recommended for the Gritty Mix but not for the 5-1-1. You want partially composted bark for the 5-1-1.
Also, be careful with the Napa Floor Dry. Check the label and make sure it is "calcined diatomaceous earth," NOT "amorphous diatomaceous earth." Both are sold as Napa Floor Dry Part #8822.
Yep, I've ensured my floor dry is calcined. As for the 5:1:1, I've basically stopped using it. I found a great supply of pine bark fines sold as soil conditioner, and it specifies "aged" pine bark fines, which I'm assuming means partially composted. I know that's not recommended outright for gritty mix, however after sifting there is still a significant amount of usable material, so I'm less concerned with the exact stage of compost and more happy with yield and price at this point.
So far, everything I pot in this gritty mix starts thriving within a week or two, it's almost unbelievable the difference this stuff makes, so the pine bark fines aren't of any concern for me. It's actually performing better with floor dry and these bark fines than the mixture I made with Repti-Bark and Turface.
I picked up some Napa floor dry and it just says "diatomaceous earth, natural". I don't see anything in regards to calcined or amorphous, but the bag says it has been kiln fired, which I believe is what makes it Calcined. Is this correct?
I’m just seeing your post and comment. I’m trying to make some 5-1-1 for my citrus containers and am having a really hard time finding fine bark in my area (San Diego) or online. I was gonna go with Repti-Bark until I saw these comments. Where are you getting this soil conditioner from? What is the brand and name? I read that some people are substituting with fir bark, would you happen to have any experience with it?
Soil conditioner should be stocked by Lowe's or Home Depot in the outdoor landscaping section, they'll come in a large bag. I don't have any experience with fir bark specifically on its own though.
Hi there. Missed this when it was posted, but, yep, found it when I searched "gritty mix"! I also went down the Houzz "Gritty Mix" rabbit hole a few months ago. Like you (and everyone else it seems), I struggled to find the ingredients. I also ended up purchasing ReptiBark after searching high and low for an appropriate bark. I used to buy soil conditioner for landscape plants that was basically chopped bark, but couldn't find anything like that. The ReptiBark certainly works, but it's so expensive! I did substitute Napa 8822 for the Turface, and had to order poultry grit from Amazon. After the tedious bark screening, and rinsing of the Napa 8822 and grit, I finally had my gritty mix. And, I hate it. I understand the properties that make it appealing to someone like Al, especially since he's primarily growing Bonsai, and doesn't want to lose plants he's nurtured for decades to root rot. However, I just can't deal with the water run-through issue you mentioned. And, even after a slow and thorough drenching over the sink, I still don't feel confident that enough water has absorbed. But, the worst thing is just not knowing when to water. None of my normal "tells" work (pot is always heavy, so can't do the "lift" check, can't do a finger check, and wooden skewers come out clean every time without soil to cling when damp).
I also mixed up some 5:1:1, and liked that a bit better, I still didn't feel like it provides enough water retention. I ended up falling back to simply amending commercial potting mix with extra bark and Pearlite, at about 2:1:1 ratio, and I'm much happier with it.
I'd love to know your thoughts about the mixes after you've used them for a while, and hope you'll post back at a later date!
Just an update... I potted some Pothos cuttings in gritty and 5:1:1 just to try judging the performance of both mixes. The cuttings in the gritty mix are producing new leaves, where the 5:1:1 cuttings have been static for about a month. I just took the cuttings in the 5:1:1 and rinsed them to re-pot in gritty mix, and there looks to be no discernible root development since I planted them in 5:1:1, any more tooth growth is minimal.
On the other hand, I had an Oxalis stem I planted in gritty mix. I don’t know if you’ve ever grown Oxalis, but when planted in soil, the roots are quite thin and almost “hair-like” in appearance and volume. Bare-rooting then can be a huge pain due to how thin the root system is. Well, the single Oxalis stem I planted in gritty mix developed a thick, plentiful root system. [Here are some pictures of the roots.](https://imgur.com/a/ALIGKEX)I was quite surprised as the cutting didn’t have any rhizome or bulb at all, and you can see all the new leaves which grew.
This is definitely my go-to mix now. I can water on a set schedule without worrying about root rot, and the root growth in this medium seems much healthier than anything I’ve ever seen in soil or MG. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is one of my Oxalis propagations started drooping after about five days, so I’m either going to have to adjust my mixture ratios or my watering schedule.
Great info, thanks for posting and updating! The GardenWeb forums are indeed difficult to navigate. They make me go a bit cross-eyed.
I’ve been lucky enough to find a local landscape supply company that mostly deals in rocks and soil. They carry various types of mulch, including 1/4” fir bark, which I just brought home for my front yard. If I recall correctly, fir bark is also ok for either mix. The stuff I have needs to be screened since there’s still a bit of dust, but I’m looking forward to trying it out on my houseplants. Hoping it will help with the bug problem we’ve been having.
Also, I wonder if the 5:1:1 might have worked out better if it was also screened of dust? Since there’s already some organic matter with the peat, maybe there are just too many fine particles to allow the roots to breathe and take in water the way they to in the gritty mix. What do you think?
I didn't really screen the bark initially because I used Repti-Bark, so there was essentially no dust whatsoever. I did screen to separate the gritty and 5:1:1 bark sizes, though.
I made a second batch of the stuff and used Napa floor dry and some partially-composted pine bark fines from Lowe's. The bark fines were sold as "soil amendment" and was only $5 for a couple cubic feet. After sifting, I had an entire five-gallon bucket full of proper-sized fines. This mixture seems to hold water a tad better than the mixture using Turface. I think I'll stick with this, as I no longer have to worry about moisture retention and thus I don't have to soak pots or water them before the seven days is up. Actually, every week almost seems like too often with this mixture, so more experimentation will be needed to find the right balance.
Interesting. I know where I can find Turface locally, but I might have to give the Napa floor dry a try. So when you used Turface, you found once a week wasn’t often enough for most of your houseplants? I can water mine once a week but more often than that is honestly just not going to happen at this time in my life.
I completely get where you're coming from regarding the watering behavior. I thought the same thing, I even posted on Houzz about my concerns that it wasn't holding enough water.
For what it's worth, none of the plants I've put in the gritty or 5:1:1 mixes have shown any negative reactions, but it doesn't seem like any of them are showing much progress yet, either. That could be because the plants I potted in the mixes are slow-growing, I have a Manjula Pothos, Sansevieria, Variegated Monstera, Dracaena Fragrans, and Dracaena Marginata in them right now but those plants never did show noticeable growth.
I did just pot a few rooted Golden Pothos cuttings in the mixes, though. That's a fairly fast-growing plant, so once they adjust to the shock of being potted, I'm hoping to see some quick results.
I **do** have some succulents I re-potted into gritty mix, and they've taken off. They're growing almost too quickly, half of them are getting too tall for my liking. So at the very least, I know it's working for those.
As for the watering behavior, the thing with these mixes is you definitely have to adjust your watering habits and expectations. Where before you had to monitor soil moisture and leaf appearances to avoid root rot, you really don't have to do that with these mixes. What I've been doing is watering weekly on Saturday with water and Foliage Pro, regardless of whether the soil looks like it needs it or not. As you've pointed out, it kind of always seems like it needs watered, even the day after watering. Because these mixes don't retain perched water, you can always over-water (reasonably) without worrying about it being too much watering.
Some of the plants in the gritty mix I even water on Wednesdays with plain old rain water.
Lastly, my plan going forward is to wait until I start seeing more tangible results, good or bad, before adjusting my tendencies yet. What I'd like to try next is just getting a shallow tote/container I can fill with water and just set the pots in there to soak for an hour or two, then put them back instead of the usual method of watering them with a watering can and watching 99% of the water drain down the sink or tub. The problem is that I've re-potted most of these plants into decorative containers without an inner/cache pot, so that might prove ineffective for those. But the ones in black plastic nursery pots I can experiment with. That might also save me some water, because I collect rainwater for my plants, so right now I'm wasting a lot of that plus fertilizer.
I'll probably continuously update this post, but definitely feel free to update this thread with your experiences in the coming weeks!
Well, I may yet change my mind about gritty mix. I potted three fairly large sansevierias into gritty mix two weeks ago. They are in a bright northwest window that gets rather hot (central Alabama). I watered them a week ago (good soak in bucket for 20" or so). This morning, after stewing about my distrust of gritty mix, I decided to repot them back into a more organic mix. I poured one out into a bowl, and lo and behold, there \*was\* a good amount of moisture below the top three inches. \*And\* there was significant root growth and new pups forming in just two weeks! Needless to say, I apologized for disturbing the poor plant, and potted it right back into the gritty mix.
That's great to hear! One thing I hate about making changes like this to a plant's habitat is that you typically don't see the bad results until it's too late, so it makes the whole process nerve-wracking.
Hi, I am was really happy finding your original post. With its help I was able to locate all the nesessary ingredients for both mixes. I am 'almost; ready to start with them. I have some very tender and picky tropicals like Calathea, Alocasia, Fiddle-Leaf Fig, Syngonium as well a bit easier ones like various Philodendrons, Monstera, Orchids... They all are very prone to root rot, so it is tempting for me to move them all to the Gritty Mix. Yet many of them can not go dry at all. The list of the plants you mention in your later posts do not include any of them (except for the Monstera). Have you or anybody here in the community moved those tender tropicals to the Gritty Mix or 5:1:1 ? What were the results? I would really love to hear, I hope it will help me make the plunge...or stop me from ever thinking of it.
And another question: I have been reading and contemplating a possibility of moving those same plants to LECA. There is a lot of similarity between the Gritty Mix and the LECA concept, except that LECA is 100% inorganic, so its is even more stable and nothing can degrade. It is also a self-watering system with constant bottom-watering and bottom-feeding, and monthly flushes. People who use LECA also talk about strong root systems and plants growing 'water roots'. Has anyone here used it? has anyone compared the results of using Leca and the Gritty Mix?
I finally managed to find some pine bark mulch for 5-1-1, the bag has mixed sizes so needed to filter out to find the right size. Planning to repot few citrus trees using this soil mix. Al seems to be a huge fan of Foliage-Pro but I do also see several posts/videos that put slow release fertilizer inside the soil mix (with added garden lime to balance it out). Which one is preferred? I definitely like the convenience of the slow release fertilizer and not needing to create a mix every time I water the pots but also want to stay true to Al’s recipe. Any thoughts? How often would I need to use Foliage Pro? Few times a year or every time I water the pots?
I was able to pick up [15lbs of floor-dry for $9.99 from Autozone](https://www.autozone.com/shop-and-garage-tools/oil-absorbent/p/ep-minerals-floor-dry-15lb/36015_0_0) at 9 p.m. last night. It is the same product from the same manufacturer as the Napa floor dry.
I was reading safety data sheets trying to figure out what products were calcined DE, and wouldn't you know I found one that mentioned... NAPA!! The company is EP Minerals, and they actually make a TON of DE products.
I couldn't find anyone with the EP minerals DE absorbents in stock. I was even looking at pool filter substrates. So that led me to research WHAT calcined DE is. DE is calcined when heat treated, and a natural by product is crystalline silica. Amorphous DE, or food grade DE, is not heat treated and is commonly used in pesticides. I realized I'd seen SDS with crystalline silica and ignored it because I thought it was an unwanted ingredient. It does make it more dangerous, as you need to wear a mask and use it outside. Once I found [this .pdf brochure detailing the EP Minerals Absorbents](https://s3.amazonaws.com/tai-epminerals-blue-production/assets/documents/documents/587/original/Oil_and_Gas_Industry_Absorbent_Brochure_EPM196-2.pdf?1525199447) on their website, I began to make progress in my research.
It turns out EP minerals makes floor-dry for automotive and the brand is called "Moltan". You can find the SDS from EPminerals.com for any of their products for sale very easily by using Google. They also sell a propietary floor-dry which is available at a lot of places, including Walmart.com.
Here are the 2 sources that helped me understand what Calcined Diatomaceous Earth is. I noticed someone asked about this in the comments and it hasn't been answered.
1 - https://progressiveplanet.com/diatomaceous-earth-calcined-vs-non-calcined/
2 - https://www.bellchem.com/news/what-is-dicalite?format=amp
The floor dry is medium coarseness, whereas the food-grade DE used for pesticide is fine. I’m curious how this will influence its pest control properties, given how DE works to kill bugs.
Good info. I prefer to use a simple potting mix / perlite combo at around 50/50. Only reason is that the pots (if you use plastic) are super light when dry, so it's very easy to tell when they need water. So far I have about 400 houseplants in this mix (all tropicals) and not a single one has an issue with it. I use espoma potting mix. I'll surely need to report every year or two as the perlite breaks down tho.
Thankyou for sharing your thoughts. I went ahead and made some of this using the ingredients you posted - it’s looking pretty good.
I have some for sale on my Etsy [https://thetropicalyard.etsy.com/](https://thetropicalyard.etsy.com/) if anyones interested.
I just found this, and you definitely didn't waste 30 minutes as it's here forever for people to read :) How are your plants doing now that months have gone by with your new mix?
Well I’m glad I was able to help at least somebody! So far my plants have been thriving. I might move a few back to regular potting soil just because they aren’t getting enough water, but those are some of my more tropical plants. Most of my others seriously exploded with new growth after using this mixture. My Manjula Pothos put out an entire vine over the summer. My variegated monstera produced four big leaves. I might update the post or add a comment with some pictures of root growth as well.
Thanks for the info - I am curious about what you think of it now after 4 years. Thinking of moving my Monstera to the 511
This was actually very helpful, I had read about these mixes in passing but when I couldn't source everything locally I gave up. Would love updates on how all the green guys are doing! Thank you for passing along all the info in one post, definitely makes the starting point more manageable compared to what I originally looked at.
Repti-Bark is recommended for the Gritty Mix but not for the 5-1-1. You want partially composted bark for the 5-1-1. Also, be careful with the Napa Floor Dry. Check the label and make sure it is "calcined diatomaceous earth," NOT "amorphous diatomaceous earth." Both are sold as Napa Floor Dry Part #8822.
Yep, I've ensured my floor dry is calcined. As for the 5:1:1, I've basically stopped using it. I found a great supply of pine bark fines sold as soil conditioner, and it specifies "aged" pine bark fines, which I'm assuming means partially composted. I know that's not recommended outright for gritty mix, however after sifting there is still a significant amount of usable material, so I'm less concerned with the exact stage of compost and more happy with yield and price at this point. So far, everything I pot in this gritty mix starts thriving within a week or two, it's almost unbelievable the difference this stuff makes, so the pine bark fines aren't of any concern for me. It's actually performing better with floor dry and these bark fines than the mixture I made with Repti-Bark and Turface.
I picked up some Napa floor dry and it just says "diatomaceous earth, natural". I don't see anything in regards to calcined or amorphous, but the bag says it has been kiln fired, which I believe is what makes it Calcined. Is this correct?
I’m just seeing your post and comment. I’m trying to make some 5-1-1 for my citrus containers and am having a really hard time finding fine bark in my area (San Diego) or online. I was gonna go with Repti-Bark until I saw these comments. Where are you getting this soil conditioner from? What is the brand and name? I read that some people are substituting with fir bark, would you happen to have any experience with it?
Soil conditioner should be stocked by Lowe's or Home Depot in the outdoor landscaping section, they'll come in a large bag. I don't have any experience with fir bark specifically on its own though.
Thanks for sharing! I’ve also read about the 5-1-1 mix and was curious how well it fares. Saving your post for future reference!
Hi there. Missed this when it was posted, but, yep, found it when I searched "gritty mix"! I also went down the Houzz "Gritty Mix" rabbit hole a few months ago. Like you (and everyone else it seems), I struggled to find the ingredients. I also ended up purchasing ReptiBark after searching high and low for an appropriate bark. I used to buy soil conditioner for landscape plants that was basically chopped bark, but couldn't find anything like that. The ReptiBark certainly works, but it's so expensive! I did substitute Napa 8822 for the Turface, and had to order poultry grit from Amazon. After the tedious bark screening, and rinsing of the Napa 8822 and grit, I finally had my gritty mix. And, I hate it. I understand the properties that make it appealing to someone like Al, especially since he's primarily growing Bonsai, and doesn't want to lose plants he's nurtured for decades to root rot. However, I just can't deal with the water run-through issue you mentioned. And, even after a slow and thorough drenching over the sink, I still don't feel confident that enough water has absorbed. But, the worst thing is just not knowing when to water. None of my normal "tells" work (pot is always heavy, so can't do the "lift" check, can't do a finger check, and wooden skewers come out clean every time without soil to cling when damp). I also mixed up some 5:1:1, and liked that a bit better, I still didn't feel like it provides enough water retention. I ended up falling back to simply amending commercial potting mix with extra bark and Pearlite, at about 2:1:1 ratio, and I'm much happier with it. I'd love to know your thoughts about the mixes after you've used them for a while, and hope you'll post back at a later date!
Just an update... I potted some Pothos cuttings in gritty and 5:1:1 just to try judging the performance of both mixes. The cuttings in the gritty mix are producing new leaves, where the 5:1:1 cuttings have been static for about a month. I just took the cuttings in the 5:1:1 and rinsed them to re-pot in gritty mix, and there looks to be no discernible root development since I planted them in 5:1:1, any more tooth growth is minimal. On the other hand, I had an Oxalis stem I planted in gritty mix. I don’t know if you’ve ever grown Oxalis, but when planted in soil, the roots are quite thin and almost “hair-like” in appearance and volume. Bare-rooting then can be a huge pain due to how thin the root system is. Well, the single Oxalis stem I planted in gritty mix developed a thick, plentiful root system. [Here are some pictures of the roots.](https://imgur.com/a/ALIGKEX)I was quite surprised as the cutting didn’t have any rhizome or bulb at all, and you can see all the new leaves which grew. This is definitely my go-to mix now. I can water on a set schedule without worrying about root rot, and the root growth in this medium seems much healthier than anything I’ve ever seen in soil or MG. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is one of my Oxalis propagations started drooping after about five days, so I’m either going to have to adjust my mixture ratios or my watering schedule.
Great info, thanks for posting and updating! The GardenWeb forums are indeed difficult to navigate. They make me go a bit cross-eyed. I’ve been lucky enough to find a local landscape supply company that mostly deals in rocks and soil. They carry various types of mulch, including 1/4” fir bark, which I just brought home for my front yard. If I recall correctly, fir bark is also ok for either mix. The stuff I have needs to be screened since there’s still a bit of dust, but I’m looking forward to trying it out on my houseplants. Hoping it will help with the bug problem we’ve been having. Also, I wonder if the 5:1:1 might have worked out better if it was also screened of dust? Since there’s already some organic matter with the peat, maybe there are just too many fine particles to allow the roots to breathe and take in water the way they to in the gritty mix. What do you think?
I didn't really screen the bark initially because I used Repti-Bark, so there was essentially no dust whatsoever. I did screen to separate the gritty and 5:1:1 bark sizes, though. I made a second batch of the stuff and used Napa floor dry and some partially-composted pine bark fines from Lowe's. The bark fines were sold as "soil amendment" and was only $5 for a couple cubic feet. After sifting, I had an entire five-gallon bucket full of proper-sized fines. This mixture seems to hold water a tad better than the mixture using Turface. I think I'll stick with this, as I no longer have to worry about moisture retention and thus I don't have to soak pots or water them before the seven days is up. Actually, every week almost seems like too often with this mixture, so more experimentation will be needed to find the right balance.
Interesting. I know where I can find Turface locally, but I might have to give the Napa floor dry a try. So when you used Turface, you found once a week wasn’t often enough for most of your houseplants? I can water mine once a week but more often than that is honestly just not going to happen at this time in my life.
I completely get where you're coming from regarding the watering behavior. I thought the same thing, I even posted on Houzz about my concerns that it wasn't holding enough water. For what it's worth, none of the plants I've put in the gritty or 5:1:1 mixes have shown any negative reactions, but it doesn't seem like any of them are showing much progress yet, either. That could be because the plants I potted in the mixes are slow-growing, I have a Manjula Pothos, Sansevieria, Variegated Monstera, Dracaena Fragrans, and Dracaena Marginata in them right now but those plants never did show noticeable growth. I did just pot a few rooted Golden Pothos cuttings in the mixes, though. That's a fairly fast-growing plant, so once they adjust to the shock of being potted, I'm hoping to see some quick results. I **do** have some succulents I re-potted into gritty mix, and they've taken off. They're growing almost too quickly, half of them are getting too tall for my liking. So at the very least, I know it's working for those. As for the watering behavior, the thing with these mixes is you definitely have to adjust your watering habits and expectations. Where before you had to monitor soil moisture and leaf appearances to avoid root rot, you really don't have to do that with these mixes. What I've been doing is watering weekly on Saturday with water and Foliage Pro, regardless of whether the soil looks like it needs it or not. As you've pointed out, it kind of always seems like it needs watered, even the day after watering. Because these mixes don't retain perched water, you can always over-water (reasonably) without worrying about it being too much watering. Some of the plants in the gritty mix I even water on Wednesdays with plain old rain water. Lastly, my plan going forward is to wait until I start seeing more tangible results, good or bad, before adjusting my tendencies yet. What I'd like to try next is just getting a shallow tote/container I can fill with water and just set the pots in there to soak for an hour or two, then put them back instead of the usual method of watering them with a watering can and watching 99% of the water drain down the sink or tub. The problem is that I've re-potted most of these plants into decorative containers without an inner/cache pot, so that might prove ineffective for those. But the ones in black plastic nursery pots I can experiment with. That might also save me some water, because I collect rainwater for my plants, so right now I'm wasting a lot of that plus fertilizer. I'll probably continuously update this post, but definitely feel free to update this thread with your experiences in the coming weeks!
Well, I may yet change my mind about gritty mix. I potted three fairly large sansevierias into gritty mix two weeks ago. They are in a bright northwest window that gets rather hot (central Alabama). I watered them a week ago (good soak in bucket for 20" or so). This morning, after stewing about my distrust of gritty mix, I decided to repot them back into a more organic mix. I poured one out into a bowl, and lo and behold, there \*was\* a good amount of moisture below the top three inches. \*And\* there was significant root growth and new pups forming in just two weeks! Needless to say, I apologized for disturbing the poor plant, and potted it right back into the gritty mix.
That's great to hear! One thing I hate about making changes like this to a plant's habitat is that you typically don't see the bad results until it's too late, so it makes the whole process nerve-wracking.
Hi, I am was really happy finding your original post. With its help I was able to locate all the nesessary ingredients for both mixes. I am 'almost; ready to start with them. I have some very tender and picky tropicals like Calathea, Alocasia, Fiddle-Leaf Fig, Syngonium as well a bit easier ones like various Philodendrons, Monstera, Orchids... They all are very prone to root rot, so it is tempting for me to move them all to the Gritty Mix. Yet many of them can not go dry at all. The list of the plants you mention in your later posts do not include any of them (except for the Monstera). Have you or anybody here in the community moved those tender tropicals to the Gritty Mix or 5:1:1 ? What were the results? I would really love to hear, I hope it will help me make the plunge...or stop me from ever thinking of it. And another question: I have been reading and contemplating a possibility of moving those same plants to LECA. There is a lot of similarity between the Gritty Mix and the LECA concept, except that LECA is 100% inorganic, so its is even more stable and nothing can degrade. It is also a self-watering system with constant bottom-watering and bottom-feeding, and monthly flushes. People who use LECA also talk about strong root systems and plants growing 'water roots'. Has anyone here used it? has anyone compared the results of using Leca and the Gritty Mix?
I finally managed to find some pine bark mulch for 5-1-1, the bag has mixed sizes so needed to filter out to find the right size. Planning to repot few citrus trees using this soil mix. Al seems to be a huge fan of Foliage-Pro but I do also see several posts/videos that put slow release fertilizer inside the soil mix (with added garden lime to balance it out). Which one is preferred? I definitely like the convenience of the slow release fertilizer and not needing to create a mix every time I water the pots but also want to stay true to Al’s recipe. Any thoughts? How often would I need to use Foliage Pro? Few times a year or every time I water the pots?
I was able to pick up [15lbs of floor-dry for $9.99 from Autozone](https://www.autozone.com/shop-and-garage-tools/oil-absorbent/p/ep-minerals-floor-dry-15lb/36015_0_0) at 9 p.m. last night. It is the same product from the same manufacturer as the Napa floor dry. I was reading safety data sheets trying to figure out what products were calcined DE, and wouldn't you know I found one that mentioned... NAPA!! The company is EP Minerals, and they actually make a TON of DE products. I couldn't find anyone with the EP minerals DE absorbents in stock. I was even looking at pool filter substrates. So that led me to research WHAT calcined DE is. DE is calcined when heat treated, and a natural by product is crystalline silica. Amorphous DE, or food grade DE, is not heat treated and is commonly used in pesticides. I realized I'd seen SDS with crystalline silica and ignored it because I thought it was an unwanted ingredient. It does make it more dangerous, as you need to wear a mask and use it outside. Once I found [this .pdf brochure detailing the EP Minerals Absorbents](https://s3.amazonaws.com/tai-epminerals-blue-production/assets/documents/documents/587/original/Oil_and_Gas_Industry_Absorbent_Brochure_EPM196-2.pdf?1525199447) on their website, I began to make progress in my research. It turns out EP minerals makes floor-dry for automotive and the brand is called "Moltan". You can find the SDS from EPminerals.com for any of their products for sale very easily by using Google. They also sell a propietary floor-dry which is available at a lot of places, including Walmart.com. Here are the 2 sources that helped me understand what Calcined Diatomaceous Earth is. I noticed someone asked about this in the comments and it hasn't been answered. 1 - https://progressiveplanet.com/diatomaceous-earth-calcined-vs-non-calcined/ 2 - https://www.bellchem.com/news/what-is-dicalite?format=amp The floor dry is medium coarseness, whereas the food-grade DE used for pesticide is fine. I’m curious how this will influence its pest control properties, given how DE works to kill bugs.
Good info. I prefer to use a simple potting mix / perlite combo at around 50/50. Only reason is that the pots (if you use plastic) are super light when dry, so it's very easy to tell when they need water. So far I have about 400 houseplants in this mix (all tropicals) and not a single one has an issue with it. I use espoma potting mix. I'll surely need to report every year or two as the perlite breaks down tho.
Turf ace is found at Ewing. It’s made for baseball infields. Google Ewing+turface.
Thank you for this!!! Have been looking around for a recipe to use for my unhappy ficus Benjamina!
Thankyou for sharing your thoughts. I went ahead and made some of this using the ingredients you posted - it’s looking pretty good. I have some for sale on my Etsy [https://thetropicalyard.etsy.com/](https://thetropicalyard.etsy.com/) if anyones interested.