Potting Soil - Buy or Make Your Own ❓❓❓ You will be surprised at the answer!

Is it worth mixing your own potting soil? It is sometimes.
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Potting Soil - Buy or Make Your Own ❓❓❓ You will be surprised at the answer!
Potting soil and potting mix can be purchased as pre-made material or you can make your own. Which option is best?
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[@TheAADempsey]

Volume is important too. I mixed my own because I needed to fill over 600 gallons of containers and it was definitely cheaper. I bought the large nursery sized bags of peat moss from the store. The rest was delivered (bulk leaf compost, perlite, vermiculite). I wish it was cheaper to just buy the premixed. Promix and Sunshine have good products.

[@emptynestgardens9057]

Thanks for this because I did the math and I just couldn't agree with the "save 50%" everyone seems to be putting up on their channels of late. In my neck of the woods and/or sourcing online it ended up being MORE expensive. Unless you have the money on hand to buy in bulk it just didn't compute. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@paullanders]

Robert, I completely agree that a hybrid solution is best. However, I would quibble a bit with your assertion that it cost the same to mix your own. I purchase my base locally, but I order Perlite and Coir in bulk sizes online from one of the big box stores and have it shipped directly to my home. It is considerably less expensive this way.

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

Post the sources, and costs so we can see the numbers.

[@rbthegardennannyllc4219]

I will always buy my own. Thanks for sharing.

[@racebiketuner]

Thanks for another excellent vid, Robert. I'm in my fourth year of soil science study and am just beginning to experiment with custom mixes. Primarily starter mixes than provide benefit to my native soil when the plants go into the ground. Where I live, the soil is really, really nasty! Mostly rocks of all sizes and the rest is primarily clay with PH of 5.5 to 5.6. I got serious about remediation about 3-1/2 years ago and am just beginning to observe significant improvement :-)

[@Rocketman0407]

So a potting mix from the store is usually peat or coco and some perlite + fertilizer. I just wonder since peat and coco do not contain any nutrients that deficiencies in micronutrients might be a problem? Maybe add compost to the mix?

[@JH-lr8cl]

Excellent video.

[@juusoblomqvist363]

I would recommend substituting at least some of the sand in a cactus mix with pumice, perlite, or crushed leca only to reduce overall weight. Especially with big succulents with big pots the weight gets pretty unmanageable...

[@cantseetheforestforthetree9673]

You can use biochar also.

[@AMonikaD]

I make my own compost (horse manure, rabbit, chicken and kitchen scraps mixed with pine shavings). I find it very rich, grows plants super well, but it compacts easly - what can I add to fluff it up?

[@shawnsg]

Bark or perlite

[@racebiketuner]

As Robert cautioned in this vid, there's a lot to know about before you go mucking around with custom mixes! Generally speaking, it's best to vary your inputs. In other words, use more than one ingredient to "fluff it up." I like to add rice hulls, but the good stuff is hard to find and expensive. Organic Mechanics is one of the better commercial brands and the price goes down a bit when you buy four bags at a time on eBay. Avoid rice hulls from Indonesia. They're almost certain to contain rat poison! I am currently experimenting with adding ground oak leaves (fallen, not green) to finished compost to improve drainage. I run the leaves through my Toro until their maximum dimension is 1/4 inch. Oak leaves take a long time to break down so they don't compete too much for nitrogen if used sparingly. Biochar is not the magic bullet than many people claim and can be harmful in some cases. But it's a pretty good "fluffer" for compost. You won't get into much trouble adding 2-1/2% by volume to your compost while it's breaking down. I recommend letting it age at least two months before using in your garden. Else it will compete for nutrients. My native soil is low on sand and silt. When making starter mix for plants that will be going into the ground, I add one tablespoon each 30 mesh silica sand, 60 mesh silica sand, greensand and "glacial" rock dusk or basalt dust to each gallon of mix. You need to be careful about sourcing these products, as there's a lot of industrial waste posing as garden amendments. I hope this helps and good luck in the garden!

[@rickysekhon5706]

I watch few videos and made worst decisions bought few soils and cost me around 80$ .Didn’t even fill 3gal 5pots😢

[@ericalagrasta7657]

I have lots of compost, but how can I tell how much I should add to each bed?

[@Gardenfundamentals1]

1-2" depth

[@ericalagrasta7657]

@@Gardenfundamentals1 oh awesome, thank you so much! ✌🏼