Which one of these soils?

[sillysyban]

Hey all,

im about to pot up some cuts and I had these two bags of soil lying around. I plan to use 50% soil, 25% sand and 25% perlite with a bit of blood and bone thrown in.

which of the two (see pictures) would be better? Maybe a mix of the two?

any advice on the ratios or extra ingredients would be helpful too. 

Cheers.

 

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[nothinghead]

I haven't used either brand, but I'm guessing they are both mostly woodchips. I like the look of the organic one, if it has some kind of certification. Good to have a look what's in them.

 

There's a post where theuserformallyknownasd00d talks about re-composting those woody mixes to get a lot more out of them, and better quality out of them, which is pretty interesting. Can't find it now but you can do a search for it if you're interested.

 

This thread has, afaik, the bible on soil for cacti

 

This has some good soil discussion

 

 

And another

 

I'd love to see a concise summary of soil knowledge in this forum since a lot of what we grow is much more limited in scope than in the Ethno board. But I don't know enough to write it up myself.

 

[godless]

whichever you choose sift it through 1/4 inch sieve, it will remove any big chunks of wood and break up the soil allowing more oxygen to the root zone. I just use a 50/50 mix of soil (I use mushroom compost but most store bought bags of potting mix will be fine for trichs) and 7-10mm rock, a mineral rock like scoria would be best, not sure about availability of scoria in WA, in vic there is a quarry in bachus marsh for the bright red scoria and one in Hamilton with a darker colour.

I don't use perlite for any trichs, only tbms and even then once they are a decent size its not necessary.

I don't use sand because of the tendency for it to cake up over time and hinder drainage.

each to their own though, im positive there are people who use sand an perlite and have great success.

Cant really give you a proper answer...just tell you what I do.

 

Edited February 3, 2017 by godless
spelling error

[sillysyban]

Cheers guys, much appreciated. I ended up mixing them together and sieving. I mixed in some mushroom compost, then some zeoclor, rock dust, blood and bone and perlite. Hopefully they will be very happy. The zeoclor looks the bomb. Thanks for the tip on that one Oatis.

[Micromegas]

gravity defying soil mixture, well done!

[sillysyban]

Yeah I figure they will grow faster too cause gravity will just pull them down

[godless]

ive actually thought about trying to rig a system to plant some 6ft cacti upside down so they do the snake thing and turn upwards.

[MountainGoat]

@sillysyban I've you've put sonics effort into your soil, I'd highly recommend using terracotta pots. They are way better for cacti, I notice significantly better root development in terracotta...

 

 

[sillysyban]

That's really interesting MountainGoat. What do you think is the difference? I plan on putting them in the ground in the next few months so hopefully they will charge from there. 

My wife is a potter as well and we are just setting up her workshop now so I will get her to throw me a heap of pots for specimens I want to move around. Cheers for the advice.

Edited February 6, 2017 by sillysyban

[MountainGoat]

As long as they are not glazed, the soil can breath much better then in plastic. The roots and soil can dry out completely too, which induces the roots to grow to search for water and nutrients. Bigger roots equals bigger and better growth...

[sillysyban]

Ok cool. Thanks. Does this include glazing on the outside of the pot as well. Can the outside be glazed and the inside be raw or does the air get through the walls of the pot?

[nothinghead]

Yeah, doesn't matter if the glaze is on one or both sides of the pot. With any side glazed the pot is no longer porous in the way you want it to be. Go with non-glazed.

[sillysyban]

Awesome. Thanks heaps