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Today we will look into Making your own All Purpose or the Universal Soil Mix for Succulents and Cacti. This Recipe or the Formula works best in all seasons throughout the year including rainy season.
Before I start with the ingredients to make our All purpose Cactus Mix or Succulent Potting Mix, You need to remember one simple basic concept. Succulents need to be planted in a soil that holds enough water for them to absorb what they need but for a short duration of time and it should drain out quickly so the roots won’t rot. Hence Soil with the best drainage is crucial for succulent survival.
Now coming to the ingredients and proportions to make the best Potting Mixture for Succulents and cacti. You can use this mix for growing both indoor as well as outdoor succulents.
- Any Good quality Garden Soil – This still forms the main bulk of the growing medium in this formula. You can take about 30 to 40 Percent of good garden soil.
- Sand: You can use River sand / Construction Sand and not the sea or beach sand for this which is high in sodium chloride that’s salt. The proportion to use is 30 to 40 Percent. That’s equal part of garden soil and sand. One important point to note here is about cocopeat: Coco peat is not recommended specially for indoor succulents, because it retains moisture and some succulents have a risk of Rot.
- Gravel chips or pebbles or even Small Marble or granite Chips. This can be roughly about 10 percent.
- Compost: This is actually not required for succulents, because the natural habitats of most succulents and cacti is a desert. But still adding 10 percent of compost like vermicompost/leaf compost/cowdung powder and also some bone meal powder is beneficial for flowering succulents. You can also optionally add about 5 – 10 percent of Neem Cake Powder, that really effective in preventing rot from fungus and other harmful pathogens.
- Perlite + horticultural charcoal like Wood Charcoal pieces or biochar pieces: These ingredients keep the soil very loose and well aerated. In addition Charcoal can absorb soil nutrition, store and release whenever the nutrient level goes down. Charcoal also has some antifungal properties and hence can help in preventing root rot.
You can use Perlite alone or Charcoal pieces alone or a combination of both if you have both – that’s really beneficial. About 10 percent of this can be added to the recipe.Related videos:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfmpzEDoV3g
