Hello Friends!
In Today’s episode we will learn how to test your soil for drainage and list out 10
things you should add into your garden soil to make it a perfect well draining potting
mix favourable for healthy plant growth.
We will also include some cheap alternatives in this list.
Coming up!
Before we start, lets look into: What is a Well Draining Soil?
Well-drained soil is a soil where water drains out at a medium rate – neither too quickly
nor too slowly.
We all know that, If the soil is too wet, plant roots fail to get the oxygen they need
and they tend to rot and the plant dies.
If the soil has too much air pockets and if it drains out too quickly, plant roots dry
out which again is not good for plant growth.
Compacted clay soil is an example of a poorly draining soil, whereas Sandy soil is an example
of a fast draining soil.
So, in order to make the perfect or near perfect well draining soil, you need soil amendment
and adding one or more of certain stuff or ingredients to your garden soil in proper
proportions.
Neither too less nor too much.
We will demonstrate you a Simple Test to check whether your soil is the perfect well draining
soil, at the end of this episode.
Before that, Let’s list out the top 10 things you should add into your potting soil to achieve
this goal.
10.
Peat Moss: Peat moss is organic dead fibrous material which makes your soil well draining.
It has an acidic PH and hence very useful for acid loving plants.
But the problem is it’s bit expensive and may not be suitable for alkaline ph loving
plants.
Its best use is in seed starting mix.
It’s usually mixed with compost and it holds moisture and nutrients for a longer time and
helps seed germination.
Peat pellets like these are available which are great for starting seeds!
9.
Perlite: Perlite is another natural substance - an amorphous volcanic glass and sometimes
called volcanic popcorn.
When you look at perlite under a microscope, you would see that it’s quite porous and
this property aids in making the soil well-draining and well aerated.
Perlite forms a great stuff for making indoor potting mix and seed starting mix.
But you cannot adding perlite alone to garden soil or compact soil because it easily gets
crushed to powder on pressure.
8.
Pumice: This is another natural substance.
The main advantage of this substance is it overcomes the problem of perlite, which gets
crushed into powder on pressure when mixed with garden soil.
So pumice in this case is the best option.
Garden Pumice or horticultural pumice is available in various grades or sizes and a very useful
ingredient in succulent potting mix.
7.
Vermiculite: This is another naturally obtained substance with a neutral PH.
It holds lot of moisture and makes a well draining soil.
It will not rot or degrade or mold and is non-toxic and sterile which makes it a good
option in a seed starting mix.
This is great for water loving plants because it holds lot of moisture.
So be careful or better not use it in a succulent potting mix.
There are different grades of vermiculite available for gardening.
You can use a lower size grade for making your seed starting mix along with other stuff
like peat moss or cocopeat.
If you are using this alone to mix with garden soil, you should mix like 1 part to 3 parts
soil.
6.
Coco peat: It’s the most widely used growing medium which is obtained and processed from
coconut fibres.
This is available as ready to mix powder or in compact bricks which can be easily reconstituted
by mixing with water to expand into lots and lots of volume of cocopeat.
It has a slightly acidic ph of around 6 which is very much favourable for most plants.
Depending on the requirement or the plant you are growing, You can mix 1 part to 2 parts
soil – that’s one third or 2 parts to 2 parts soil – that’s 50 percent, especially
for making indoor potting mix or terrace gardening mix to make it a light weight potting mix.
For seed germination, you can use cocopeat alone or add some 20 to 30 percent compost
in it to support the seedlings until transplant.
5.
Compost: Yes adding compost like decomposed cow dung or horse dung or even leaf compost
and special compost like vermicompost is not only indispensable for plant growth but this
also makes your soil less compact and well draining.
But adding other stuff like perlite, vermiculite, cocopeat or peat moss along with compost makes
the soil more suitable for healthy growth of plants.
4.
Sand: Adding construction or river sand is another option if you do not want to purchase
perlite or vermiculite or peat moss.
Remember not to use sea sand or beach sand for your plants.
The major drawback with sand is it can make your soil drain out too quickly specially
if you add more than 30 percent to soil.
But this type of mix is very much favourable for succulents and cacti but not to other
plants.
Another problem is soil compaction over a period of time which can make it concrete
like and difficult for the plants.
So, generally add no more than 10 percent or max 20 percent sand into potting mix for
most plants.
3.
Brick Powder: Some gardeners suggest adding brick granules or coarse red brick powder
makes soil well draining and well aerated.
2.
Gypsum powder is another alternative to mix with compacted soils which effectively changes
the structure and fertility of heavy clay soils.
1.
Shredded Bark, Twigs and Saw Dust: No doubt, these make your soil well draining!
But at the same time they steal nitrogen from the soil in the process of their decomposition.
So if you are adding these stuff into potting mix or for mulching, make sure you mix lot
of supplements to supply nitrogen to your plant and prevent its deficiency.
Now Finally!
A Simple and a rough Test to check whether your soil is perfectly well draining.
When you add water to your container, I mean after thoroughly watering your plant, it should
drain out from the drainage hole in about 1 to 2 minutes, neither quicker nor too late.
Please watch this video circled right here for the best potting mix recipes using all
these stuff discussed today.
So, there you have it folks.
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Happy Gardening!