PROPER SOIL AND FIXING YOUR PLANTS | LIVESTREAM

[@paultoth2916]

You offer excellent info on gardening - for your area!. Here in Georgia, our basic soil is mostly clay and one of the best way to improve our soil is adding compost.

[@yinshah3303]

Gary, I don’t know how you stand it. Every other “expert” on youtube, even commercial growers use and recommend organic growing medium. Interestingly, most plant starter videos that use compost soil don’t have follow up videos.

[@antipunt1]

I wonder if one of added-compost's purposes is efficiency\laziness. It puts the plants at a higher risk of root rot, but sandy soil is infamous for not holding onto nutrients or moisture. You covered this by saying an ideal situation is a constant nutritional flow from the surface, but I imagine this takes more work, time, and money and\or things that can be blown away with wind All in all sounds like compost just makes it so you can fertilize and water less. It sounds like less work and cheaper cost, but playing with fire in that if you do things wrong plants will die 😱 This of course applies to plants\crops that can even play this game. Good luck doing this with succulents and citrus....

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

very important if using sand to put compost on top in organics!

[@Firldnehdldmdbd]

Hi from Minnesota!

[@yinshah3303]

I just bought 2 cubic yards of decomposed granite for growing. Maybe i got too much fines? It doesn’t drain until i added pumice. I started with 1:1 ratio but i can’t afford 2 yard of pumice to keep that ratio! Any suggestions?

[@yinshah3303]

I found my answer. So i take a 5 gallon bucket, fill it 2/3 with my DG. Using my spray nozzle, I inject the water into the DG. The fine clay particles flow out the bucket with the water. You can stop and let things settle overnight to see how much clay there is left and try to get it to sandy loam ratio. I ended with a pretty well draining sand mixture.

[@davedzwilewski5195]

university studies indicate not to use any Organic Matter is the backfill for trees or shrubs. If you planting ground cover or sod tilling in compost at 2 cubic yards per 1000 sq ft till to six inches is beneficial.

[@GarysBestGardening]

please direct all questions to [e-mail]

[@peckerpeter2078]

Pumice is very expensive, where are you buying in Southern California?

[@adrianmercado3161]

Hello Is their a specific sand to buy? do I just go to like home depot, they have various types of sand does it matter?

[@GarysBestGardening]

Sorry for the late reply, your comment was put in the spam section. Any sand is good, we just usually recommend the sand at Home Depot.

[@patrickhiti5900]

Hi there would beach sand work from s beach on Pacific Ocean? Not sure if salt would be an issue?

[@patrickhiti5900]

@@GarysBestGardening Hi Gary, thanks for all the great content! Would beach sand work from a beach on Pacific Ocean? Not sure of salt would be an issue?

[@richardmang2558]

@@patrickhiti5900 Salt will be an issue. Maybe you can soak the beach sand in a large bucket or trash can with holes poked in it , to rinse the salt away before putting it in your garden. A better option would be to get the sand from a local stream bank or river bed, then salt will not be present. Check with your local heavy equipment rental yard (dump trucks, bulldozers, bobcats, etc...) they sometimes sell sand and crushed rock. Then you can rent one of their dump trucks and they will fill it with the sand of your choice.

[@hennesseyme9112]

@@patrickhiti5900 If you want to go to jail for stealing sand from the beach it would work perfectly.

[@tomasrodriquez6259]

What they sell in the standard box stores it is compost and compost is fertilizer.He is right its ok if you what they sell in the box stores on top of the soil which is the native dirt you have in your yard thats is the best growing medium nothing beats nature period

[@hennesseyme9112]

We are told that soil cause plants to rot because of density. I am fed up with this industry. I have so many amendments in my home for houseplants now he is talking about loam or sand being the best medium for plant.

[@hennesseyme9112]

Too late for me! but from now on, I will not. So many of my plants are in compost nutrient soil. I have no idea where to find loam.

[@papirojo4228]

So my raised beds are filled with about 75% sandy loam from my property with about 8-12 inches of compost on top (I know now that is a big mistake), I also have a full 50L bag of the hydroton clay balls. Can I mix that into my beds?

[@GarysBestGardening]

Yes you can add clay balls. They are one of the better options for soil additives since they can retain more moisture because of the clay, but still maintain air and water permeability within the soil. Clay pellets are widely used as an effective medium, however, they are more expensive.

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

Gary, do you think it might be annuals that are designed to grow in duff and perennials are designed for mineral soil? do you think thats how its meant to be in nature? ive figured out the way to grow in compost is to not fertilise it and rarely water it and the plants look amazing and grow fast but i understand in a nursery its alot easier to water everything at once, but you could always just try only watering the plants that show u they need water, maybe you could give it a go and then teach everyone how to grow in compost aswel haha :p as im running out of rain water before summers even hit im leaning towards the compost, but i know i cant plant the compost into the ground and that id have to plant it above the soil, but im going to try adding more compost to the top of my loam pots bfore i go making any more crazy decisions lol i brought a perennial recently and the peat was all broken down and soaked and the plant was yellow, in loam now and recovering :) but i have a citrus seedling in fly screen sifted compost in a tiny pot that i watered all winter and its the best looking seedling so theres somethin else goin on here, that plant would blow over like a piece of paper outside tho lol, i just so happen to be finally growing out of overwatering tho as ive learnt i can over water my loam soil in pots when plants arent growing lol, just not half as bad as compost, but now ive learned to do less i think it might be A way afterall, i no some1 has grown the same annual over and over again in straight compost and worms for over 13 years and they love it and there plants are optimal, i think theres no right way its just different ways suit different people and situations, doing a mango comparison atm one in loam 1 in compost with added course sand for aeration in both mediums so far the compost one is winning but im repotting tomorow so with more compost mulch the soil may do better, this comparrison is for the long run i no how to not kill now that ive realised compost is enough fertiliser and only water in the warmer half of the year and only when the plants need it, no more salt damage and drowning from me lol compost is not moron friendly tho user beware minimalist experienced gardeners only, if your anything like i was a year ago its impossible to grow anything in compost lol you really have to learn to leave it alone and then your good in sifted home made compost for annuals atleast, ill have to get back to you on the citrus and mango in non fertilised rarely watered compost and also in soil comparrison in a few years time, i do like the idea of max production with least input, the sand mixed with the compost deffinatly helps with the light weight toppling and aeration issue aswel

[@chickentender4037]

I would love an update on how your plants are doing, especially the mango. Do please let us know when you get a chance. Thanks

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

@@chickentender4037 the experiments are on going ask me again in 6 months as im going through a funny stage with papaya in soil where i cant figure out if im over watering or under feeding but once i figure this out ill know exactly how to grow plants perfectly ,all my plants are alive in soil, but they do need fertilizer and its hard to tell what needs what when im growing so many different species crammed together in pots especially when i dont even know what the plants are supposed to look like lol and some plants like papaya, lychee and black sapote do still seem to hate it when soil doesnt dry out between waterings, garys soil mix apparently makes that not an issue as its obviously an oxygen issue but i prefer to use sandy loam because its dirt cheap, i think the best thing to do is use small pots and only up pot when they are going limp every day from soil drying out, and as for growing in compost i think its totally possible.. its just that once it breaks down into a sludgey texture its REALLY not gonna want to dry out and plants will and do tend to lean over without a stable medium as compost is constantly decomposing, even sand doesnt want to dry out in winter here, basically im trying to figure out if im over watering or underfeeding, and sometimes i over feed 2 lol thats where im at atm, definitely understand plants more than ever before tho and thats a great feeling, gotta thank Gary for setting me up on the right track he really helped me understand alot! i make it difficult for myself only because im trying to do it my way yano, if i used slow release ferts fertilizer probably wouldnt be an issue but i use my own urine and liquid ferts obviously make it a risky difficult game lol

[@chickentender4037]

Sounds like you're doing a lot! I will definitely check back with you. Much luck on all your work and experiments!

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

@@chickentender4037 i went through a phase of collecting tropical fruit seeds and fruit trees and now i have to look after them all haha im a slave to the plants its alot of work doing everything organic with all the weeding n stuff but hey growing fruit youve never tasted and pushing zones is always fun and something to look forward 2, plus its always cool to be the first in your state to do something :) thank you im sure ill need it haha and yes ask me anytime, gary spent a lot of time replying to my comments so i like to do the same for others :)

[@chickentender4037]

@@VeganChiefWarrior I was particularly interested in your mango and papaya experience as I'm looking for one that can be grown in a container. I grew up in South-east Asia. My family grows wonderful banana varieties I can't find here. I can't eat bananas here, they aren't properly ripened here, and Cavendish is inedible. I hope you get to go the Thailand, Malaysia or any of the SE Asian countries for the incredible food and fresh fruits. I think you'll love it.

[@matthewkheyfets1309]

If I can't get woodchips from the nursery off my roots and I planted them in Coco coir and vermiculite, will I be ok for blueberries?

[@NMW80]

Yes should be fine. My blue berries are fine and they are still in soil from nursery 🤷‍♀️

[@NMW80]

Did you use some sand and perlite too? I was replying to first part you said about the wood chips still being in roots from nursery. I’m not sure about planting in just coco coir and vermiculite. I personally wouldn’t plant them in just that but hey I’m no expert lol I’m sure they are doing just fine

[@matthewkheyfets1309]

@@NMW80 Well my idea was plant in coco and vermiculite and then organics on top and hope the rotting woods doesn't end up killing the plant too much.

[@NMW80]

@@matthewkheyfets1309 wood chips on top should be fine. It’s ok to have the mulch on top just not the whole pot. Let me know how your blue berries go. Mine are still in nursery pot but planting them in soil like Gary suggest with wood chips etc on top layers.

[@yinshah3303]

Why can’t you get the woodchips off the roots? Maybe you meant you don’t want to? I used water method because I didn’t want to lose my blueberries slamming the rootball on concrete. Mine was 90% woodchips and took about 20 patient minutes resisting the urge to rip the chips out. Replanted in pumice and peat, not a leave yellowed, even the new tips were fine! Now I can water without worry if its too much or too little.

[@muhammadsiddiq2745]

Nice

[@innerjon]

How can I grow potatoes when everyone is growing them in compost?

[@NMW80]

I am just going to grow them in sand and my native soil mixed together with some compost on top layers. I would love to know what the best soil to grow them in is though.

[@VeganChiefWarrior]

@@NMW80 potatoes do seem to prefer growing in mulch and are a lot easyer to harvest that way also, if any potatos are growing in the actual soil im not bothered to dig for them lol

[@adrianmercado3161]

The idea is to plant a plum tree to give it a chance after being in compost for 2 yrs

[@jorgeg922]

Great content..Way too many commercials..

[@khalilhannah4005]

So everyone else is wrong but your right , everyone use compost and since he sells his own soil he tells you that you have been wrong your whole life lmao … yes he has great info but to go to the extreme is very extreme

[@econ0003]

He isn't saying not to use compost. He is saying to put it on top of the mineral based soil, not mixed in. I have seen a lot of people recommending that. The same way trees grow in nature with organic material falling on top of the mineral soil.

[@hennesseyme9112]

He doesn't even ship or I would purchase a bag but to be honest, I am really tired. I cannot tell you how much soil amendments I have in my home and how many people tell you to make a chunky airy aroid mix, not to use soil or it will rot your roots. I am trying to find loam and can't find any.

[@econ0003]

@@hennesseyme9112 he basically tells you what is in his mix. You can make it yourself if you watch his videos.

[@tomasrodriquez6259]

Soil is mineral not organic🧐