Free Draining Soil Mix

Cacti and succulents thrive better in soil that drains easily and doesn t retain a lot of water.

Free draining soil mix.

This will create concrete. Perlite helps aerate the soil hold water and keep soil from packing down. There are a few different ones that will make your soil drain better and perhaps help with nutrition at the same time. It holds three to four times its weight in water increases pore space and improves drainage.

Coir is the coarse fiber from the outer husk of coconuts. Mix the native clay half and half with coarse sand or crusher fines. The fifth and final way to improve soil drainage is to use additives in your soil. 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.

Fill it with water. If the water takes an hour or more to drain you have poorly draining soil. I like it because it loosens up the mix while adding a bit of water retention. Check out this earlier post about coir.

You don t know what s coming in with it. 1 part commercial potting soil. The essential element in well drained soil is oxygen. This is the most common and well known additive to improve soil drainage.

With a neutral ph perlite is easy to find at nurseries and garden centers. Don t use fine sand. A soilless mix gives you more control. In contrast to peat coir rewets easily and doesn t compress as readily.

Use additives to improve soil drainage. Soilless potting mix starting seeds in soil. Sphagnum moss is also used as a liner for hanging baskets of plants. Sphagnum peat moss is mixed into sandy soils to help hold moisture and into clay soils to loosen the soil and improve drainage.

Commercial nurseries often sell pre mixed bags of special soil but this is often at a premium. Disease spores bacteria plant eating insects weed. Fill the hole with water then allow it to drain completely before filling it again. One popular brand of perlite is espoma perlite.

A simple test to find out if your soil is well draining. Bark is added to. Dig a hole 30 centimetres deep and wide. Perlite is a lightweight sterile addition to bagged and homemade potting mixes.

If the water drains from the hole in 10 minutes or less you have fast draining soil. If your soil is well draining the time the water takes to drain.