Hey All,

was wondering if any of you have made a final decision on the composition of your container "soils"?

I had great success using the Tapla Mix but I found I had to water significantly.  I understand that if I up the turface level, it will retain more moisture, but I dont think it will up it enough.  I may have to "break down" and add some high porosity potting mix just make it hold more water.  I know I will sacrifice some plant health due to less air getting to the roots, but I will just repot those ones more often.  Way better than watering 2 times a day all july and august.  When you have 90+ container plants, its just plain ridiculous.

Any updates on what worked for people this past summer or on what you plan to change?

thanks

Nas, I have been using Taplas mix with coarse perlite instead of granite, in black pots, on concrete, in the warmest summer in years and have never had to water twice a day.  I had great success this year and am staying the course.

Last year was my first season on rooting figs from cuttings. I experimented with a few different methods but none worked as well as what I finally settled on.

To start the roots on my cuttings I used slightly damp sphagnum moss in baggies.

I then potted them up in a mix of perlite & small pine chips. The perlite doesn't have to be coarse as long as it doesn't have the very fine "dust" in it. I achieved the correct particle size in both the perlite and pine chips by sifting it in a large pasta strainer (about 1/8" inch mesh).

I got the small pine chips by first sifting pine mulch through a 1/2" hardware cloth. Then I sifted out the smaller particles using the kitchen strainer - just like the perlite.

Once I got my plants growing strong enough & acclimated them to outdoor conditions, I set the pots into freshly tilled soil & pushed a little dirt up around the pots. I kept them partially shaded until they started showing some good growth & then gradually gave them more sunlight.

On most of my new trees the roots had grown through the pots & well into the soil by summers end. This gave them a real boost in growth & strength.

I'm not saying this is how anyone else has to start their cuttings but this is the process (in short) that gave me the best results & I plan to repeat things very much the same way this season with even greater success.

That's the plan anyway. Time will tell if my plan comes together - as planned :-) .    

By the way, when I say I potted up my rooted cuttings.....I put them directly into 1gal black pots. Thus by-passing the commonly used "clear cup method".

Worked for me :) !

Epj3, yes the perlite would hold much more water than the granite, that probably helps with watering.  I also leave my black containers against a south wall sitting directly on the asphalt driveway.  Great for production, terrible for watering.  Adriano keeps most of his pots in the wood frames that he uses to protect them in the winter.  The pots stay shaded by the frame and he uses a heavier soil mix.  When he told me he waters about once per week, I almost fell down. 

Oh well, I guess we learn something every year.

Ed ,
Could you please, if you get a chance ,spell out your Tapla mix,components and amounts and any other ways you may have tweaked it besides the change from granite to coarse perlite ?
Thanks ,
Kerry

Sorry to jump in Ed,

Kerry, its
1 part turface
1 part granite
1 part pine bark

you can play with the %'s- more turface=more water retention, more granite=less water retention

people have been replacing granite with perlite, but two things to consider:
1) perlite holds water, granite doesnt
2) replacing granite with perlite will make your containers more prone to blowing over.  I found most of my trees end up top heavy. 

good luck.