Next time Katrina, Soak the bark mix before you pot. Then the
mix will be contributing to the humidity rather than trying to
pull moisture out of the plant.

Thanks! I had thought that leaving potentially damaged roots in direct
contact with wet or damp medium would be a bad thing. Shows you what I
know!
I will do this next time.
--Katrina

The problem is not the moisture in the mix. It is that some mix
is very difficult to get conditioned to accept wet. It wants to
stay dry to the extent that it will later not accept moisture.
So to be sure we soak it so there is moisture in it and it is
conditioned to continue to accept moisture.
SuE

OK, thanks! That makes a lot of sense. I grew up doing all kinds of *other*
gardening, like corn and sunflowers and gladioli and tropical terraria with
lizards in them, and basic houseplants like fici and a big schefflera,but
this medium and these plants are new to me. That's why for now I'm sticking
to ones that either a vendor says are hardy in this climate and tolerate
occaional care mistakes or that badly need rescuing from a market stall or
junk shop. I appreciate this information, and I will soak the medium next
time. I assume I should also drain it well, so that the plant is sitting in
well-saturated medium but not in trapped pockets of free water.
Thank you for your help,
Katrina


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