I know a lot has been asked and written about good potting soil for citrus.

Here in Belgium I recently found a potting soil that is supposed to be good for mediterranian plants, including citrus. I'm not sure this product is available in the States though.

See this link via Google Translate:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbe.dcm-info.com%2FBENL%2Fhobby%2Fproduct.asp%3Flid%3D%26id%3D06965


When I got my buddha's hand plant, I immediately replaced the potting soil by this DCM product because the original soil had an unpleasant smell.

After replanting the plant, I soaked the soil with water (without fertiliser, the soil is said to contain fertiliser for 100 days). I really poured a lot of water in, but to my surprise, all the water stayed in the pot!

Now I'm a little bit scared that this soil may not be as suitable as they claim (also, the fertiliser in the soil does not match the 5-1-3 ratio at all).

What do you citrus gurus think of this?

The link does not provide enough information about the make up of the potting soil to know whether it a good medium or not. However, remember the important thing is not the amount of water that a medium contains, but the amount of aeration that the medium provides the root system. In overly wet soils it is the lack of air that kills the tree, not the amount of water. - Millet (977-)

I will see if a detailed composition is on the bag and post it tomorrow. I hope I can make a good translation...

This is the composition as printed on the bag (automatic translation from Dutch by Google...)

Peat-based potting soil, peat, lava (1-8 mm), lava (0-3 mm), clay, grape seed cake, fertilizer based on calcium and magnesium, and fertilizers.

Intended for the most common plants.

Dry matter: 35%
Organic matter: 20%
pH (water) area: 5.0 to 6.5
Electrical conductivity: 500 μS / cm
compound fertilizer NPK 12-14-24 0.5 kg / m³
compound organic fertilizer NPK 7-7-10 3.5 kg / m³


This is what the soil looks like...



That's all I can tell about it...

I am not sure, but it possibly could be OK, but it looks to contain a lot of peat moss. Most every type of formulation, using whatever ingredients, is normally good for a short period of time. The problem begins when the medium begins to compact. Compaction by it very nature, drives out most all of the air porosity, and increases the water content. Looking at the mix that you have in your hand, the mix seems to contain a high percentage of peat moss. Mixes containing high levels of peat moss are generally not good for citrus, because the quickly compact. If you blend in some 1/2 inch pine bark chips, or coconut chips on a 1:1 ratio, I think it would make a suitable medium. NOTE: when adding wood chips, do not use hard woods, as most hard woods contain too much manganese. - Millet (986-)

OK, thanks for the info.

I saw a question from someone on this forum about using orchid potting soil (phalaenopsis) for citrus. This question remained unanswered though. What is your opinion on this?

I did a search for orchid potting mix and came up with this:

http://seagroveorchids.com/Culture/Phalaenopsiscare.htm

that link says:

Quote:

Two Phalaenopsis mixes we have used with success are: A sphagnum moss-based mix consisting of 50% sphagnum, 25% medium charcoal, and 25% medium perlite A coconut husk-based mix containing 50% coconut husks, 25% medium charcoal, 20% perlite, and 5% redwood chips.

If your mix is 50%+ more of coconut husk or pine bark, it would be a good mix to use.