Churpee Choozle said:

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Stagger, I love the amount of random goop you've got going on in your pots.

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thanks, but, random goop?....not sure what you mean.



I changed the soil the other day after posting  im a little slow on the curve and just started trying to keep my plants off of the ground and for some it still doesnt matter.

Hobbit GDF said:

All my pots outside have been wet for weeks. Even the peyote.  Its been raining so much this summer idk if they've had dry pots all summer.
Its cannabis soil with a little extra perlite.
I need to repot them with like 50% perlite.

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UnderNose said:

Hobbit GDF said:

All my pots outside have been wet for weeks. Even the peyote.  Its been raining so much this summer idk if they've had dry pots all summer.
Its cannabis soil with a little extra perlite.
I need to repot them with like 50% perlite.

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May I recommend a more mineral dense mix. Instead of just 50% perlite.

Last mix i made was an effort to make a more permanent substrate for large, heavy, long lived cacti that were likely to spend many years in the same pot.

The initial reason was to prevent compaction leading to anaerobic soil that would become wet and never dry, when it did dry would become a hydrophobic lump that wouldn't take in water properly.

I've found that over long time spans, typical organic soil or potting mix will break down and become dead compacted dirt. Adding perlite only creates small air pockets inside which end up being surrounded by the dead dirt or crushed into powder.

I used a mix of scoria(small and medium grade), zeolite (in the form of seasol plant health granules), perlite, agricultural charcoal, gypsum, and some leftover blue metal / basalt I had laying around for slow release silica and extra weight.

It all serves a purpose in my imagination.

It can never stay too wet no matter how much water it gets, but holds lots of moisture and nutrients within the aerated minerals and microsopic pores of the zeolite and charcoal, which also draws in positive ions like ammonium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium and act as slow release fertiliser.

The roots always have oxygenated zone which naturally boosts nitrification via the nitrogen cycle and also with the added assistance of the charcoal preventing bad bacteria and chemicals forming in anaerobic soil.

The blend was slightly by feel at the time. 2 bags of scoria, a bag of perlite, half a bag of zeolite and charcoal, few scoops of gypsum and blue metal.

When re-potting I mixed in the original sad dead dirt from all the pots into the volcanic mineral mix and added more basic potting mix and microbial rich soil from compost bin as a kind of starter culture for live soil.

I aimed for 50/50 soil to mineral by volume, was more about a nice visual consistently tho.

Then finished with a top dressing of scoria.

I feel like they really enjoy the new substrate compared to the regular mix of generic potting mix and perlite.

That's great for seedlings and smaller plant, but I feel that larger more permanent plants need a more permanent home for their roots.

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