Jade Soil for damp/wet area

[cbrshadow23]

I live in an area (Daly City, CA) that for most of the year is nice, but we have a foggy/wet season where things are damp and stay damp for a while. I'm worried about root rot on my potted jade plants. Lots of people in my area have jades in their yards so I know the climate is good for Jades, but I'd like to make sure I'm not making mistakes with soil selection.

Right now I have a 22" ceramic pot and put about 1-2" of crushed lava rock at the bottom. Then I do a 60/40 mix of "Miracle Grow Cactus and Succulent soil" (60%) / Perrlite (40%). I typically cover the surface with about 1 light layer of crushed lava rock to guard against erosion with large rain droplets.

Does that sound right? Should I increase the perrlite content? Is the purpose of perlite to RETAIN or DRAIN water? I use these (2) soils mainly because I can find them here at a local home depot and they're not super expensive. I found small bags of "bonsai soil" at a local nursery but it would cost $200 in small bags to fill the huge ceramic pots that i'm using.

Thanks for any insight!
-Ryan

 

[MrWunderful]

I use 1:1 lava rock/pumice. No organic at all, no akadama.

 

[cbrshadow23]

I use 1:1 lava rock/pumice. No organic at all, no akadama.

Thanks MrWunderful! Any idea where I can get pumice? Is Perlite a bad idea?
I thought lava rock+pumice would be too harsh for the plant - can the roots find their way through such hard soil?

 

[MrWunderful]

Thanks MrWunderful! Any idea where I can get pumice? Is Perlite a bad idea?
I thought lava rock+pumice would be too harsh for the plant - can the roots find their way through such hard soil?

My father in law owns a landscape supply, so I get horticultural lava from him. You can get hort lava at broadmoor landscape supply on elcamino in SSF. They might actually have pumice too, but I get mine on eBay from general pumice products as its a little bit better and I can get it in specific sizes.

For my Portulacarias, I go with 1:1:1 lava, pumice and napa 8822 and whatever is left over from my deciduous (which is 1:1:1 lava, pumice, akadama- with pine bark and 8822 added to whatever feels “right”)

As far as if they are tough on the roots, thats what you want in bonsai, to make the roots subdivide and get finer. The sharp edges in the substrate do that.

I have never used perlite so I cant speak to it.