plant pot soil add sand to the clay soil ?
Hi, I need some more soil for plant pots. that compost stuff you buy and that the pot plants first come in never seems to be any good for plants after a while, guess it does not have enough nutrients in it ?? I have acess to a heap of ordinary garden soil which seems alright, although it does seem to have quite a lot of little 'clay' lumps in it. (London area), Coming back from abroad recently i noticed that the soil was very sandy but everything seems to grow very well in it. what i am now proposing is to make up my plant pot soil with 50% of this garden soil plus 25% garden centre compost and also 25% sand. Does this sound like a reasonable proportion ? and if so what kind of sand should i use please ( sharp sand or smooth sand ?) thanks for any advice you can give a novice. |
ghbt wrote:
[...] what i am now proposing is to make up my plant pot soil with 50% of this garden soil plus 25% garden centre compost and also 25% sand. Does this sound like a reasonable proportion ? and if so what kind of sand should i use please ( sharp sand or smooth sand ?) It should be OK, as it isn't usually critical; but I'd up the "compost" proportion a bit, as you want good water absorbency in pots. You may find that in use your topsoil makes the mixture turn to concrete when it's dry: worth trying some out in pots without plants until you get a mix which stays crumbly when dry and doesn't stick together like dough when wet. Use gardener's sharp sand, not builder's: biggest bits an eighth of an inch across. But your mixture will still get exhausted in pots, and you'll still need to feed in a year or so. I generally use the stuff out of growbags -- sometimes even used ones. -- Mike. |
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
... ghbt wrote: [...] what i am now proposing is to make up my plant pot soil with 50% of this garden soil plus 25% garden centre compost and also 25% sand. Does this sound like a reasonable proportion ? and if so what kind of sand should i use please ( sharp sand or smooth sand ?) It should be OK, as it isn't usually critical; but I'd up the "compost" proportion a bit, as you want good water absorbency in pots. You may find that in use your topsoil makes the mixture turn to concrete when it's dry: worth trying some out in pots without plants until you get a mix which stays crumbly when dry and doesn't stick together like dough when wet. Use gardener's sharp sand, not builder's: biggest bits an eighth of an inch across. But your mixture will still get exhausted in pots, and you'll still need to feed in a year or so. I generally use the stuff out of growbags -- sometimes even used ones. Mike. thanks for your response. but i remember being told some time ago that grow bags and shop compost are ok for a short time; but do not contain the 'essential minerals' that are found in ordinary garden soil. Which are apparently necessary for long term use in a pot. |
But your mixture will still get exhausted in pots, and you'll still
need to feed in a year or so. I generally use the stuff out of growbags -- sometimes even used ones. Mike. thanks for your response. but i remember being told some time ago that grow bags and shop compost are ok for a short time; but do not contain the 'essential minerals' that are found in ordinary garden soil. Which are apparently necessary for long term use in a pot. By essential minerals my understanding is that it means other things than are found in ordinary plant feed. |
ghbt wrote:
But your mixture will still get exhausted in pots, and you'll still need to feed in a year or so. I generally use the stuff out of growbags -- sometimes even used ones. Mike. thanks for your response. but i remember being told some time ago that grow bags and shop compost are ok for a short time; but do not contain the 'essential minerals' that are found in ordinary garden soil. Which are apparently necessary for long term use in a pot. By essential minerals my understanding is that it means other things than are found in ordinary plant feed. I take the same view; but in practice it doesn't usually matter much. As I said, though, whatever you fill a pot with will become exhausted, so the plant will have to be fed. Your soil-based mixture is roughly like John Innes, and will last much longer than growbag stuff; and in theory should result in healthier plants. I wouldn't use peat-type media for anything like a fruit tree or a flowering tree I wanted to keep in a container for years; and even then I'd expect to have to change the soil regularly _and_ feed. -- Mike. |
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also the stuff in the bags is sterile un-like garden soil. for longer lasting nutrient content add those pellets i forget the name...the slow release things people mistake for slug eggs. |
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