On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:17:28 -0500, Stephen Henning
wrote:

wrote:

Yo, Peter!

How come you put an apostrophe in azalia's but not in scotts?
Gentle hint -- it's a plural, not a possessive...

Yo, Persephone!

Why do you put an i in azalea. Gentle hint, you misspelled it

'Zounds! Hoist on my own petard!

Persephone

Now, to business. If you have all that wonderful home-made planting
mix on hand, why would you consider store-bought stuff?

My "formula" is about half & half regular soil and compost,
with a goodly helping of vermiculite or pearlite to lighten the mix.

I also throw in about 1/5 to 1/4 worm castings. Pure gold.

Sounds good. The most important attribute of a soil mix for azaleas is
drainage. The second is the correct pH. So the correct soil mix
depends upon your watering habits. If you water frequently like
commercial nurseries, you need a special mix such as bark dust that
drains quickly. If you are like me and only water when a plant looks
like it needed watering a couple days ago, then the soil mixes are good.
I like a mixture of top soil and composted peat with some vermiculite or
pearlite. I find it is hard to get a plant that has been grown in bark
dust to adapt to soil.