Well Drained Soil Mix

Sulfur helps lower soil ph by reducing excess alkalinity.

Well drained soil mix.

This soil is usually just as good as or better than garden soil. Sphagnum peat moss comes from sphagnum bogs. Just add the peat and perlite for aeration. Limestone is added to peat based potting mixes to help balance the ph.

Your cherry will be dead in a year if you plant it on. For cactus plants or succulents you may wish to add a little sand to this potting mix. The best soil is about half air space and half solid mineral with 2 5 percent organic matter. When soil drains too quickly the plants do not have enough time to absorb the water and can die.

Lime increases the ph of a potting mix to around 6 0 and is ideal for plant growth in containers. How to create well draining soil. Sphagnum peat moss is well draining and well aerated but it s very low in available nutrients and it has an acidic ph typically ranging between 3 5 and 4 5. It bulks up potting mixes without adding a lot of weight and once wet it holds water fairly well.

When added to potting soil and the soil is watered the flakes help hold water. There are few things a gardener can do that will improve a garden more than creating well draining soil. Vermiculite also helps aerate the soil so it doesn t pack down. An alternative to using garden soil is to use a cheap bag of all purpose potting soil.

Potting soils with vermiculite are good for plants that like a lot of water and for starting seeds. When vermiculite is dry it looks like spongy flakes. Soil drainage is a very important factor to consider when planting salvia agastache lavender penstemon and other perennials that like well drained soil. I was explaining to someone recently that flowering cherry trees absolutely require well drained soil to succeed.

These soils do not drain too quickly or too slowly. Well drained soil is a soil where water infiltrates at a medium rate somewhere between running off and draining as though someone pulled a plug. Compacted clay soils are notorious for encouraging. It provides plants with iron for lush green growth and enhanced water filtration.

Well that s not a problem they responded i m planting on a slope so water drains right past it sloping soil is usually poorly drained i replied. Soil that is water logged does not drain well and is anaerobic oxygen deficient resulting in drowned and rotted roots.