Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

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Bonsai2
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Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by Bonsai2 »

I am in the process of making my own soil mix as I have found the 'Cati & Succulent mix' purchased from Garden Centres to be a lot less gritty than I would like.

I have seen on YouTube various videos where Builder's sand or Horticultural sand is recommended to be part of the mix.

In the latest BCCS magazine, in one of the articles, it stated that sand should not be used as it tends to pack down and therefore, I take it that it could cause drainage problems.

Advice will be gratefully received.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by iann »

You would rarely want to add sand, and very rarely the very fine builder's sand. Sand is heavy and does not provide sufficient drainage for most of the plants that we try to grow. That said, a base soil such as JI does include sand to form a sandy loam but you'll struggle to replicate this yourself so probably best to start with the JI and go from there. Most commonly, you'll want to add coarser ingredients like grit or clay granules to whatever base soil type you choose. In particular, peat plus sand is a horrible combination and the more sand you add the worse it gets - something very light such as perlite works better with fluffy peat, although expanded clay granules are far more pleasant to work with.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by ralphrmartin »

In my experience, sand particles are too fine, with too much surface area, which water adheres to by surface tension, keeping the compost too wet. I use coarse grit, not sand.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by Terry S. »

A 2:1 mixture of Clover John Innes No. 3 and coarse grit that I have bought under the Bowers, Silvaperl and Westland labels. This grit is an average of about 4mm particle size. Seedlings can be grown using a finer grit of about 1mm particle size. For winter-growers and trickier plants, I up the grit to 1:1. Shop around to find good quality John Innes. Don't make things complicated.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by jhb »

Just a thought but for those that liked the Tesco cat litter I found my local branch had 4 bags of it yesterday. I quite like this in my mix so I bought all 4.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by daniel82 »

Just to add to the peat/sand mentioned above, that is the mix I grow my venus flytraps in and they love it being bog plants :grin:

My cactus/succulent mix is similar to most peoples, JI mixed with cat litter.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by Bonsai2 »

Terry S. wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:35 am A 2:1 mixture of Clover John Innes No. 3 and coarse grit that I have bought under the Bowers, Silvaperl and Westland labels. This grit is an average of about 4mm particle size. Seedlings can be grown using a finer grit of about 1mm particle size. For winter-growers and trickier plants, I up the grit to 1:1. Shop around to find good quality John Innes. Don't make things complicated.
Thank you for the advice.

Would Perlite be appropriate to use in place of coarse grit?
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by Paul in Essex »

I've always used sharp sand in my potting mixes and outside beds. I believe there is a lot of confusion over terminology as I have sometimes seen sharp sand sold as builders sand - which is a name more usually used for fine or bricklaying sand, used for mortar mixes. That is the stuff to avoid. Sharp sand is the coarse gritty stuff used for making concrete along with ballast and IMO is absolutely fine to use, especially if you do need a little bit of weight in the mix to offset a tall specimen.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by Jim_Mercer »

jhb wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:29 am Just a thought but for those that liked the Tesco cat litter I found my local branch had 4 bags of it yesterday. I quite like this in my mix so I bought all 4.
Just looked online and they have it listed again - will have to look in local shop tomorrow as I have almost finished the last bag I bought (not much potting done over winter)

Edit

Found it - bought it
tesco cat litter.jpg
Last edited by Jim_Mercer on Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Own soil mix for Cacti and Succulents

Post by agavedave »

I quite like the Meadowview Ego Agg potting grit. A garden center near us only has it in the small bags though and hides at away near their alpines rather than with all of their other bagged aggregates.

https://www.meadowviewstone.co.uk/produ ... eco-1-4mm/

Usually mix it with sterilised top soil, cat litter, coir and a helping of VitaxQ4+ base fertiliser

3 parts sterilised loam or top soil
1 part coir fibre pith
1 part LECA or Danish Molar Clay (Tesco Premium Lightweight Cat Litter)
2 parts potting grit (Eco Aggs)

Then adjust depending on final use, large outdoor plants get an extra helping of the larger molar clay granules, seedlings get a bit more coir. Just squeeze a handfull and see how it compacts and crumbles apart again.

Regarding the cat litter, I went to Eurocarparts at the weekend and got a big bag for under £8 with the offer code.


Regards
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