So it’s the time of year, soil mixes are on the mind! Either you got home with a haul or your succulents are starting to grow. In either case, you’re currently in need of soil but you don’t even know where to start. Well, let’s start at the root of the problem (quite literally) and find out how to blend up some potting mixture for our succulents because great soil is a great starting point. This guide will help you throughout the principles of creating a balanced soil mix for any succulent.
The Important Elements of Soil Mix
Let’s start with the principles of what a succulent potting mix needs to be. Succulents come in an environment that doesn’t even have lots of water or nutrients. That’s why they’re succulent and have evolved to store inside their leaves, stems, or their roots in several cases. We need to recreate this environment whenever we make our potting mix.
Here are the qualities that help make a great succulent mixture and what we need to think about when we’re making our soil combination up.
The Soil Mix Needs:
-Free draining
-non-compacting
-not too nutrient-rich
Wait not too nutrient-rich? Yes, too many nutrients such as nitrogen might cause your succulents to develop too fast and be brittle or some succulents will get leaf and root burn from excess nutrients.
The Ingredients in Soil Mix
We’re going to use perlite, black soil and sand to meet the perfect combination. These supplies are available here.
Perlite is perfect for enhancing drainage and helps prevent the compaction of the ground distance filler” and will help make sure your succulent soil doesn’t hold too much water. You may also use vermiculite if they’ve some on hand but we find perlite is more of a type of neutral additive whereas vermiculite has a lot of minerals inside which could be excess for your succulents.
Coarse sand can be purchased here. It’s all sorts of sized particles and small stones inside, such as the perlite, assist in preventing compaction and improve drainage in your succulent mixture. It helps mimic the types of soils that are sandy and rocky many succulents develop in.
The last component of our mixture today is soil, also known as topsoil. This brings the organic component to the soil mixture as well as the nutrients required for the plant to grow well. Additionally, it is somewhat acidic that makes the perfect environment for the roots to grow and take up nutrients. If you’re concerned about weeds growing in your succulent combination ensure you buy quality soil from G&L Bark!