Free Draining Soil Mix

Use additives to improve soil drainage.

Free draining soil mix.

Dig a hole 30 centimetres deep and wide. If the water takes an hour or more to drain you have poorly draining soil. Perlite is a lightweight sterile addition to bagged and homemade potting mixes. How to mix your own cactus and succulent soil.

This is the most common and well known additive to improve soil drainage. Fill it with water. Check out this earlier post about coir. 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.

This will create concrete. I like it because it loosens up the mix while adding a bit of water retention. One popular brand of perlite is espoma perlite. Bark is added to.

Don t use fine sand. Soilless potting mix starting seeds in soil. Cacti and succulents thrive better in soil that drains easily and doesn t retain a lot of water. Sphagnum moss is also used as a liner for hanging baskets of plants.

1 part commercial potting soil. Dig a hole once the soil and compost are completely combined that is 12 inches square and about 12 inches deep. The essential element in well drained soil is oxygen. It holds three to four times its weight in water increases pore space and improves drainage.

The fifth and final way to improve soil drainage is to use additives in your soil. In contrast to peat coir rewets easily and doesn t compress as readily. 1 besides being free of disease and other contaminants you can. A soilless mix gives you more control.

Fill the hole with water then allow it to drain completely before filling it again. There are a few different ones that will make your soil drain better and perhaps help with nutrition at the same time. You don t know what s coming in with it. If the water drains from the hole in 10 minutes or less you have fast draining soil.

Mix the native clay half and half with coarse sand or crusher fines. Sphagnum peat moss is mixed into sandy soils to help hold moisture and into clay soils to loosen the soil and improve drainage. With a neutral ph perlite is easy to find at nurseries and garden centers. Perlite helps aerate the soil hold water and keep soil from packing down.

Coir is the coarse fiber from the outer husk of coconuts. If your soil is well draining the time the water takes to drain.