hi there my name is memo this is my channel house planty goodness and essentially it's a place where
i like to geek out about my big passion you might be able to see some of it around me it's tropical
past class and the topic i want to focus on today is being a bit extra with your soil amendments so
this is specifically for everybody who is growing in organic media in terms of whether it's soil
whether it's all of these things these are extra things this goes above and beyond the traditional
add a bit of perlite add some orchid bark and essentially help with the draining and narration
these are things that you can do if you just want to be that little bit extra and if you want to
maybe step up your soil game by no stretch of the imagination do you have to use these things
these are things that i've already used quite a bit in my airy aroid soil mix and there is a video
on my specific mix that i do on my channel so do check that out if you want but yeah
let's dive into it shall we so starting off with something a bit simple and straightforward with
some people might have lying around because you might be already propagating in this
it's sphagnum moss now with the sphagnum moss and if i kind of hide my face you might be able
to get that in focus hopefully with sphagnum moss there's a few things that you need to bear in mind
so it's not an easily renewable resource if at all renewable i think it is but i think it just
takes a very long time to kind of get more of it in nature so if you're gonna use it try reusing it
as often as possible and that is something that a lot of people already do when they're using
it in propagation they might then let it dry out and rehydrate it for future propagations as well
and the one time that you might not be able to reuse it as much is if it's starting to grow algae
on it it can be quite tricky to clean and this i'm thinking of if you're putting sphagnum moss
on poles or on planks and all of these things but if we look at it as a soil amendment because it
is something you can put into your soil as well it is going to be something that is still going
to essentially help with that aeration and that fluffiness of the soil but it's going to be a bit
more moisture retaining this is quite a nice supplement that i use for a lot of my mixers
barring my usual mix i will add maybe a bit more of this if i'm dealing with allocations
because allocations as a whole they like to have their soil moist for a bit longer
same thing goes if i'm doing this for calatheas and also another interesting thing is i use this
with a soil mix that i might be using for some of my rarer on theriums now in theoriums it's
a bit of an oxymoron because they want very very very airy soil almost think of just using
straight orchid bark but they need a bit more to bind it together and a bit more to kind of
keep that moisture in for a bit longer so they like it moist but airy
so you might up the perlite and up the orchid bark in a mix that you might be doing for an aetherium
but you might also add a bit of sphagnum moss or the other thing that you could also
do there which will help again with both the aeration and the moisture retention is using
vermiculite so vermiculite is very similar to perlite it's another mineral
but it retains moisture a bit more and again it helps with that aeration moving
on to the next supplement the next supplement or amendment that you could have to soil and i'll
bring it in a bit closer you might be able to see it without me dropping it everywhere
this is microrizal fungi or it's the granules in the way that you can usually buy it at least the
one that i've usually bought from amazon and there is a link to it down below in the description
of the one that i use specifically and this is a really interesting supplement
so there's not been necessarily any studies that have been done any scientific studies
that have been done specifically or at least not many that i could find if any
on tropical plants but this is something that if you've got a garden and you're growing roses
in it this might be something that you might have already used because essentially what this is is
spores from a fungi essentially the way that i understand it and essentially it's something
that most plants would usually find in the soil in their roots when they're growing and
essentially it could take a very long time for them to find this in nature but when it does
what it does is this fungus creates long spindles which attach to the roots of a plant which then
means that it helps it absorb more water so it's a symbiotic relationship it doesn't kill
the plant it doesn't harm the roots necessarily but it helps it to absorb more water and also it
helps it at periods of long or prolonged drought so this might be something for the people that
tend to do a bit more of the benign neglect or the underwater is out there this will help ensure
that the plant is absorbing water more efficiently and it can survive with a bit less water for a bit
longer at least that is the theory as i said this is something that you would probably find people
that grow rose bushes or grow other plants in their garden again this is something that
doesn't have to be just for your indoor plants if you get this you could also use it in the soil
when you're gardening so in the soil when you're gathering after you dig a hole to put the plant in
you would sprinkle some of this in the hole and then put the plant in what you want to be doing
with this specific supplement and i usually will mix this in the soil but i will also add it again
is you want to make sure that these granules have got contact with the roots so just mixing it into
the soil there's still going to be a chance that until that root grows to the point where these
little granules are suspended in the soil it could take some time so just making sure that
for instance if you're repotting at home and you've got pot you usually put a layer of soil
maybe sprinkle some of this on top of that layer and then put the plant with its roots and possibly
some of the soil from the previous part directly above that so that those roots have actually got
direct contact with the mycorrhizal fungi and i'm pretty sure i have butchered that name mycorrhizal
mycorrhizal i'm not entirely sure i've only ever read it so i don't know how it's exactly
pronounced but a very very cool soil amendment that maybe not a lot of people are aware of now
the next supplement that i want to talk about is using charcoal or activated charcoal or
horticultural charcoal depends on how you could find it the one that i'm using i've also linked
in the description down below in case you wanted to see but the thing with charcoal is and i think
i remember seeing this on a youtube video a few years back now and people were doing some of their
own soul amendments and i'm just like oh i'll give that a try and i've actually had some good success
so one of the main benefits and what some of the older growers used to say is that it sweetens up
the soil and it has an effect on the ph of the soil i'm pretty sure it raises the ph of the
soil rather than lowers the ph of the soil but if i'm wrong i will put it up here but if i'm not it
probably just raises the ph of the soil it also helps with drainage because again it creates that
kind of level of grit within the soil and it also because of the surface of what charcoal usually is
it's quite a porous substance it will help attach some of that moisture as well so it does have some
moisture retaining properties not to the same level as you would get with sphagnum but still
it does help retain some of that moisture essentially because it has all these little
hollows in the actual structure of the charcoal as far as i'm aware you can't just use barbecue
charcoal i would also suggest that you probably don't use barbecue charcoal some people in some
places of the world when they know that the bbq charcoal is entirely clean maybe if it's kind of
chopped up into smaller bits i think people have had some good success with that the reason why
i would essentially not suggest that you use barbecue charcoal is because sometimes
with barbecue charcoal it's also doused in lighter fluid or something to help it
ignite in the barbecue and you really don't want to be putting that into your soil but
the thing that i have found works quite well you can buy in bulk loose activated charcoal
which is maybe used for aquariums for filters and aquariums so that's usually a good place you can
get it you don't always necessarily have to find horticultural charcoal because it can be quite
tricky to find it can be a bit more expensive i found activated charcoal in small form that they
might that might be used for aquariums is fine and it's worked really well for me so the last
couple of amendments i haven't got examples to show you because they're either tricky to film or
you probably don't want to see it in close-up if that makes sense so i'll start with the one that
you probably don't want to see in close-up and the first one is something that you could use again
this is something that would naturally happen in nature essentially and that is worm poop or
i will for some reason i'm blocking on the actual term for it now i'll put it up here essentially
but it is a very good source of natural in soil fertilizer i know you can go the chemical route
and you can get slow release fertilizer and you can add that to your soil instead and i know
that and one of the common terms for worm poop essentially is black gold because it is that good
in the soil essentially that it's as good as gold essentially that it will help the plant get some
of the nutrients and some of the micronutrients and again i don't know why i'm blocking on the
name but hopefully i've remembered it and i will put it up here but that's a really good thing to
add to the soil especially if you want to go more down the organic root if you want to go down the
inorganic root or the more chemical route you can go for slow release fertilizer and it's usually
these little pebbles in different colors that you can usually buy i think i might also have a
link down in the description down below now the last thing and i have kept the best for last so
hopefully people who have actually watched all the way to the end will get this this is a bit of an
interesting one that i've discovered i think some people already aware of this but using beneficial
insects within the soil and i don't and this is the one that's tricky to film hopefully i might
find a video of it somewhere or even a close-up and i'll put it here this isn't necessarily for
the squeamish because you're essentially purposely bringing in bugs into your soil
but i'm talking about springtails and anybody who's had a lot of experience with terrariums or
bioactive vivariums especially if you've got some form of reptile i've got a bearded
dragon and a crested gecko and the crested gecko does have a bioactive terrarium and essentially
these springtails are usually called caretakers and the reason why they're called caretakers
is they live off rotting matter so if you purposely put springtails into your soil mix
at least i have found a they do multiply quite easily so depending on how you're watering
eventually most of your plants with soil will get it you can buy um springtail cultures usually from
reptile stores or terrarium stores have a look online and just look for springtail culture and
it's very very cool because what it will help it won't obliterate it entirely is if there's
any form of root rot that is happening in the soil guess what the springtails eat yep you got it
they will eat the rot that's happening on the roots and it could i find help you gain
a few extra days to be able to if you've missed something if you've missed the rot
or the cyanoblot you can kind of get to it a bit better and not have to rush to it before it
really destroys the plant because they're actively maintaining that balance of not having a lot of
rotting matter in the actual soil so springtails are a very cool one but as i said it might not
be for everybody because you're actively putting bugs into your soil but if you're okay with the
concept of using beneficial insects or predatory insects to kill the bugs that you might have as
a pest issue on your plant then it's not a big leap to add something to the soil to help with
the soil health essentially but yeah i've probably prattled on a bit too much already hopefully this
has been useful and interesting for some of you and yeah i'd love it if you would like to share
some of your extra soil amendments or being a bit extra essentially with your soil drop it in the
comments down below let's have that conversation if i've missed anything that you usually use
do let me know i'm always trying to learn as well and yeah hopefully you've enjoyed hopefully
i shall see you here soon and i truly truly hope that you have a great rest of your day thanks bye