the whole reason to use perlite or rice hulls is light weight - heavy containers are a pain the ass! I used to buy a mix with sand in it and it worked great. But adding sand to the container makes it heavier and perlite makes it lighter.
in my experience cannabis doesn't like bark or aged bark very much. Holds too much water. Non-aged bark will suck up nitrogen.
High quality coarse peat moss, and/or coir, doesn't need much aeration. Adding compost or worm castings to the mix makes it require perlite to balance out the aeration & drainage. I've reduced the aeration needed by reducing added compost. Right now I'm using a blend of perlite/vermiculite in a 2 to 1 ratio with almost plain peat moss and it's working well w/ about 25% verm/perlite
in my experience cannabis doesn't like bark or aged bark very much. Holds too much water. Non-aged bark will suck up nitrogen.
High quality coarse peat moss, and/or coir, doesn't need much aeration. Adding compost or worm castings to the mix makes it require perlite to balance out the aeration & drainage. I've reduced the aeration needed by reducing added compost. Right now I'm using a blend of perlite/vermiculite in a 2 to 1 ratio with almost plain peat moss and it's working well w/ about 25% verm/perlite