Free Draining Soil Mix

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Free draining soil mix.

The fifth and final way to improve soil drainage is to use additives in your soil. Mix the native clay half and half with coarse sand or crusher fines. Fill it with water. How to mix your own cactus and succulent soil.

One popular brand of perlite is espoma perlite. Dig a hole once the soil and compost are completely combined that is 12 inches square and about 12 inches deep. Use additives to improve soil drainage. Sphagnum peat moss is mixed into sandy soils to help hold moisture and into clay soils to loosen the soil and improve drainage.

Fill the hole with water then allow it to drain completely before filling it again. With a neutral ph perlite is easy to find at nurseries and garden centers. Coir is the coarse fiber from the outer husk of coconuts. You don t know what s coming in with it.

When planting perennial plants that like well drained soils in clay the best thing to do is to create a raised bed or berm mounded pile of soil. Disease spores bacteria plant eating insects weed. Sphagnum moss is also used as a liner for hanging baskets of plants. This is the most common and well known additive to improve soil drainage.

1 part commercial potting soil. Cacti and succulents thrive better in soil that drains easily and doesn t retain a lot of water. If your soil is well draining the time the water takes to drain. Perlite is a lightweight sterile addition to bagged and homemade potting mixes.

This will create concrete. Check out this earlier post about coir. Soilless potting mix starting seeds in soil. Perlite helps aerate the soil hold water and keep soil from packing down.

Commercial nurseries often sell pre mixed bags of special soil but this is often at a premium. If the water drains from the hole in 10 minutes or less you have fast draining soil. I like it because it loosens up the mix while adding a bit of water retention. The essential element in well drained soil is oxygen.

A soilless mix gives you more control. It holds three to four times its weight in water increases pore space and improves drainage. Don t use fine sand. If the water takes an hour or more to drain you have poorly draining soil.

1 besides being free of disease and other contaminants you can. A simple test to find out if your soil is well draining.