varig8

Its not so much that I "like perlite", put it is the ONE potting medium which will not retain so much water and drains easily. If you dont like it in your pond, then dont put the potted AeAe corm any where near your pond. You do not understand that this is of utmost importance especially at this stage of trying to re-root out a damaged AeAe corm. It is difficult enough trying to establish a newly removed AeAe corm with no other problems! They WILL rot very easily. I have been rooting out and establishing rare banana corms for decades and also transitioning air-layers into potting medium from extremely rare variegated plants and I ALWAYS use almost 100% perlite to do this. I lost way too much money in the early days trying to re establish expensive delicate plants in potting soils, dirts, and mixes that cake up when dry, dont allow any oxygen to the roots, or hold too much water. Even a few days in a potting mix that is not suitable and not properly cared for will spell disaster, not to mention a couple of weeks! Even when things seem like all is well, AeAe can be more finicky and delicate than any other banana, so why would you want to take a chance?