mistakes

I have been recognizing some errors, lately, with stuff I do with plants. Seems every day or so I learn something new, whether from a book, or another garden blog, or searching for answers online. So. I did my Curry Plant cuttings wrong. Half of them have died. Here's what's left:

They were way too large; should be just a short little thing because the stem has trouble supporting all that foliage on top until the new roots grow! Secondly, they should have just been taken from soft material, not woody stems. I think mine were semi-woody though (still rather flexible) so a few of these still might make it?

Next, I have been buying the wrong kind of sand to mix into my potting soil. I was using play sand (easy to find and cheap) but should have used a coarse, sharp sand or horticulture sand. Will have to look more carefully for that next time. Or just switch back to using perlite. The play sand has very small, fine grains which actually make the soil more dense, don't open up air pockets or drainage at all. So the roots can drown and rot.

Once I realized this I went through several days of upending pots and remixing to lighten the soil once again. Most of the Palms got this treatment, also the established Curry Plant and my entire planter of Green Onions. I had noticed the soil was staying damp an awful long time, so figure this was a good move. I busted up that pink ceramic pot that had no drainage holes for shards

covered the bottom of the planter with them

and settled the onions back in.

I'm trying to remember what other plants I mixed the sand into. I know all the Crassulas have sandy soil, but they actually seem quite happy so I'm going to leave them be. I'll just remember when they need to get potted up to mix their new soil with coarse sand or perlite.