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OfflineRourkeAnderson
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Registered: 03/18/11
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Tropical Soil for you Psychotria, Salvia, Caapi Growers
    #14271841 - 04/11/11 11:47 AM (12 years, 11 months ago)

I'm posting a quick semi-tek on putting together a good soil for tropical plants that like well draining soil. It's fairly easy to mix up, and the plants have been putting off huge growth so I'd assume they like it too.

So, what do we want for our tropicals?

Well draining soil, something that will hold moisture enough that the roots will stay moist, but not so much that fungus gnats or other nasties will have a chance to party.


2 parts Indoor potting soil  (Makes a good base)
1 part Perlite (Aerates the soil and can hold nutes after fertilizing)
.5 part Charcoal bits (Improves water bioavailability and helps with nutrition)
1 part Coconut Coir (Lots of drainage, Coir is a substitute for peat moss, but renewable)
1 part Sand (More drainage, I like to add a thin layer of sand on top of the plant's soil as well, it also helps with fungus gnats and mold)


Everything here is variable, and if you have a plant who needs alot of Nutes, then add parts as needed, but for most tropical plants love semi-crappy soil, this one works great!

As a side note, this is something I whipped together with minimal knowledge, and its been working great. If you have any suggestions or improvements PLEAAAAASE, add them, throw them, or drown me in them.

Happy Growing ^_^.

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Invisiblecc2
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Registered: 05/15/10
Posts: 2,611
Re: Tropical Soil for you Psychotria, Salvia, Caapi Growers [Re: RourkeAnderson]
    #14271995 - 04/11/11 12:09 PM (12 years, 11 months ago)

I appreciate your tek efforts, but have to disagree about a few things:

while there may be some tropical plants which like draining soil, other literally thrive in damp soil. in particular I can't imagine psychotria being attacked by fungus gnats and other pests which instead attack plants not accustomed by such humid environments. just take a look at this pic I took to see what I mean:
a psychotria leaf with a fruiting coprinus :rolleyes:

also I can't see how a soil designed for psychotria and caapi could be the same used for salvia too. what's similiar in those species, beside that they have psychoactive properties?

the charcoal addition to soil surely doesn't hurt, but it doesn't give nutrition as you've written. plants uptake carbon from gaseous carbon dioxide, not anthracite or charcoal.

Quote:

RourkeAnderson said:
Everything here is variable, and if you have a plant who needs alot of Nutes, then add parts as needed, but for most tropical plants love semi-crappy soil, this one works great!




I'd like to see a list of such plants, as IMHO most of them love rich soil, not crappy ones.

other than that, have fun hanging around here.

BTW, shouldn't it be jiu jitsu instead of jui?

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OfflineRourkeAnderson
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Re: Tropical Soil for you Psychotria, Salvia, Caapi Growers [Re: cc2]
    #14272131 - 04/11/11 12:32 PM (12 years, 11 months ago)

I suppose I was meaning to avoid fungus gnats as an annoyance, rather than a threat to the plants. I've noticed that in the past they LOVE caapi, but don't seem to do any measurable damage. You're totally right about the draining part, this soil is an in-between mix that works pretty well for both Virdis/caapi and Salvia, but isn't a perfect composition for either.

When it comes to the charcoal, I was looking around on the net and came across a number of sources that cited it as a great way to improve soil quality, provide oxygen, and supply nutrition long term, and recommended it for tropical plants.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89562594

I suppose my judgement of nutrition for plants and soil is a skewed due to my lack of experience in the matter, the things I've been using to grow have worked extremely well, so I assumed they would work for others. Which is a weak argument when put under a logical or technical lens. Also, lumping Salvia with Caapi/Psychotria is a near criminal offense, so I'll refrain from EVER doing it again.

I very much appreciate the post, and will work in the future to have much more concrete evidence and knowledge before using the term "Tek".

Funny story about Jui-Jitsu, Its a semi-bastardization between Jujutsu and Jiu-Jitsu. To me it means the culmination of both the Brazilian and Japanese forms. Of course to anyone that isn't me, it looks like a semi-retarded misspelling >_>. I'll change it for clarity ^_^.

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Invisiblecc2
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Registered: 05/15/10
Posts: 2,611
Re: Tropical Soil for you Psychotria, Salvia, Caapi Growers [Re: RourkeAnderson]
    #14272192 - 04/11/11 12:43 PM (12 years, 11 months ago)

you really cornered on that charcoal as nutrient suggestion, didn't you? :lol:

if we're talking about it as a sponge absorbing material which keeps water along with minerals then I'd agree :pipesmoke:

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OfflineRourkeAnderson
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Re: Tropical Soil for you Psychotria, Salvia, Caapi Growers [Re: cc2]
    #14272212 - 04/11/11 12:49 PM (12 years, 11 months ago)

I'd say the results of having it in the mix are almost negligible, I'm probably just enamoured with the idea of putting charcoal in there. :rolleyes:

There are a TON of cheaper alternatives to buying charcoal as a soil additive. Perhaps I just wanted to add something that most people wouldn't think to use.

Oh god. I'm a soil hipster.  :craven:

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Invisiblecc2
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Re: Tropical Soil for you Psychotria, Salvia, Caapi Growers [Re: RourkeAnderson]
    #14272239 - 04/11/11 12:56 PM (12 years, 11 months ago)

Quote:

RourkeAnderson said:
I'd say the results of having it in the mix are almost negligible, I'm probably just enamoured with the idea of putting charcoal in there. :rolleyes:

There are a TON of cheaper alternatives to buying charcoal as a soil additive. Perhaps I just wanted to add something that most people wouldn't think to use.

Oh god. I'm a soil hipster.  :craven:




the idea of having handfuls of pure carbon was tempting, wasn't it? :tongue2: unfortunately plants can't beef up biomass by munching whole chunks of it as bodybuilders do with proteins... maybe one day :wink: :mspoil:

have fun experimenting :thumbup:

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