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[JMZ]

Just looking for some suggestions for a good cactus mix. I live in the southeast, so cacti are foreign to me My bridgesii seem to develop rot, but my other trichs don't. I placed them under the eave of the house out of the rain. I'm thinking less water and a better mix should do the trich. In the past I used Fafard #3 (70%) some sand and small rocks (20%) and usually some kind of organic matter (10%) from a big box store. Lately I've been going heavier on the sand and rocks.

[plantlight]

Can hardly wait to hear the answer myself.  I'm a novice at cacti so I don't know what to say for sure but I create my own soil mixes and I love to read soil mix theories. 

[MadPlanter]

I get issues with bridgesii rot as well. Many types I grow don't have issues such as TBMs, Antonino, KK, and SS. But all the others I've received have such a hard time. At least most still live but I lost Sherman. I liked that clone too.

My mix is half a rich but sandy potting soil plus half added sand and a ton of extra perlite. Works great for everything including starting seeds but those few bridgesii just hate it. It is rather thick and in general gets dense over time but Pedro's and such love it. Idk...

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[Psylocke]

I'm currently using a mix  with about 40% raised bed mix from the local feed store. It's a coir based mix with added compost, and worm castings. The remainder is equal parts washed paving sand, washed decomposed granite, perlite, and a handful of granular dolimitic limestone.

[Skuitarman]

I have had the luck with just perlite and watering it with fish pond water. Most growth I have ever seen!

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[plantlight]

I have had the luck with just perlite and watering it with fish pond water. Most growth I have ever seen!

So only inorganic matter?  Wouldn't have guessed this would work but I suppose the fish pond water is loaded with nutes.

[Skuitarman]

I have had the luck with just perlite and watering it with fish pond water. Most growth I have ever seen!

So only inorganic matter?  Wouldn't have guessed this would work but I suppose the fish pond water is loaded with nutes.

Yeah, any other way I have grown them in actual soil they rotted. So I Tried straight perlite and have not had any rot. I water most my plants with pond water and yes it's full of nitrogen and other nutes. I have not tried san pedro this way though but I rarely have rotting problems with it.

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[Hummingbird]

My Bridgesii is a bit more finicky (funny word) then Pachanoi/Peruvianus/Cuzcos,
but it's resistant to almost anything. Expect maybe over/under watering. It doesn't like it as much in my experience.

But for the soil mix I used cactus potting mix (quite sandy) when I started it from seed,
then last year transplanted to some cheap potting mix with no problems. It grew the tallest of all my cacti.
In my opinion it's best using organic fertilizer for cacti, also any other plant. I have my home made nettle fertilizer which works better than commercial fertilizer I was using before.

P.S: One thing that popped into my mind: My Bridgesii shriveled over a 5 cm area last summer, that part died, looked like rot, and it just calloused over. for no reason. rest of the plant was normal. who knows why