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A good all purpose Cactus soil mix?

I'm starting a little cacti shelf and I was wondering what would be the best all around cactus soil mix I could make up that should work fine for just about every thing? I sprouted Trichocereus seed in about 60-70% peat & 30-40% perlite but I hear that small pumice "is better" for growing cactus than perlite. Why is that? I am planning on sprouting/growing a bunch of small weird looking cacti so I'm curious about something that "should" work for most everything.

What is your preferred cactus mix and where do you find obscure stuff like small pumice, large grit sand, etc?

Other than off Ebay where the shipping is more expensive than the product. :(


Thanks for any primers you guys can give me!
 
My Lithops ssp., Schulumberga (or however you spell it), Crassula, Cerus, and Cephalocerus cactus just love the mix I've formulated from various amounts of:
Peat [not an awful lot]
Fine Orchid bark
Sand
Charcoal
Perlite
Pumice
Red lava rock
Home-made Compost
 
I mostly grow Echeveria, Aloe, and Optunia species. For all of them I use a mix of one part perlite and one part Miracle-Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus Soil.

Of course, different species of cacti/succulents may require different soil mixtures.



Good luck! :)
 
Thanks guys, I made up a batch of soil today when my shipment of Gymocalyciums came in today from Evilbay.

My soil is approximately: 25% peat, 25% perlite, 25% orchid bark and 25% 1/4" pumice. I broke down and ordered some. I figure this 13lb box should last me ages.
 
I usually just buy a cactus potting mix and cut it with sand, pumice and sometime perlite or vermiculite. As far as I can tell, the typical premixed cactus mix is roughly equal parts compost, peat moss, cedar mulch and fine-grain perlite. I think what you have there should work out, in my totally non-expert opinion. You might want to try watering in some sand if it drains too fast - with something chunky like orchid bark the water may not stay in the soil long enough to be absorbed. On the other hand, the peat moss may take care of that by itself.
~Joe
 
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