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Potting & Soil Mixes
- African Violet Potting Mix: What to Look For
An African violet potting mix should be light, well-aerated and slightly acidic, holding some moisture without staying soggy around the crown.
- All Purpose Potting Mix: What It's Good For (and Not)
An all purpose potting mix is a balanced blend that suits most common houseplants, but it's too moisture-retentive for succulents and cacti.
- Black Gold Potting Soil: What's in It and What It's For
Black Gold potting soil is a Sun Gro Horticulture line of soilless potting mixes made from peat moss or coir, perlite, and other natural ingredients.
- Cacti and Succulent Potting Mix: A Complete Guide
Cacti and succulent potting mix is a fast-draining blend of potting soil with perlite, pumice, or coarse sand that keeps roots from sitting in water.
- Cactus Potting Mix for Snake Plant: Does It Work?
A cactus potting mix for snake plant care works well, since snake plants store water in their leaves and need fast-draining soil to avoid root rot.
- Cactus Potting Soil: What to Look for Before You Buy
Good cactus potting soil drains fast, resists compaction, and contains enough mineral material like perlite, pumice, or sand to keep roots dry.
- Can Potting Soil Go Bad? Yes, Here's How
Can potting soil go bad? Yes — it can develop mold, lose nutrients, compact, harbor pests, or dry out and repel water over time.
- Cheap Potting Soil: What You Give Up (and When It's Fine)
Cheap potting soil can work for casual growing, but it often means finer texture, less aeration, and a smaller fertilizer charge than premium mixes.
- Chunky Perlite: What It's For and When to Use It
Chunky perlite is a coarser grade of expanded perlite used to boost drainage and aeration in mixes for aroids, succulents, and chunky orchid blends.
- Coco Coir Bricks: How They Work and How to Use Them
Coco coir bricks are compressed, dehydrated coconut fiber that expand several times in size once soaked in water before use as a growing medium.
- Coco Coir Hydroponics: How It Works
Coco coir hydroponics uses coconut fiber as a soilless growing medium, paired with a nutrient solution since coir holds little nutrition on its own.
- Coco Coir Potting Mix: What It Is and How to Use It
Coco coir potting mix uses coconut fiber as its base instead of peat moss, offering similar water retention with faster rewetting and less compaction.
- Coco Coir: A Complete Guide to This Growing Medium
Coco coir is a coconut husk fiber growing medium that holds water well, resists compaction, and needs added fertilizer since it has few nutrients itself.
- DIY Potting Soil: How to Make Your Own Mix at Home
Learn how to make diy potting soil with simple ingredients like compost, perlite, and coco coir for healthy, well-draining container plants.
- Garden Soil vs Potting Soil: What's the Real Difference?
Garden soil vs potting soil: garden soil compacts and drains poorly in pots, while potting soil is built for containers. See the key differences.
- Leca Balls: What They Are and How to Choose the Right Size
Leca balls are small, round clay pebbles used for growing plants in water. Learn what they look like, sizing options, and how to clean them.
- LECA: What It Is and When to Use It Instead of Soil
LECA is lightweight expanded clay aggregate, a reusable growing medium that works with a reservoir instead of regular potting soil.
- Lightweight Potting Soil: What It Is and When to Use It
Lightweight potting soil uses perlite, coir, and bark instead of dense field soil, making it easier to move and less prone to compaction.
- Live Sphagnum Moss: What It Is and How to Use It
Live sphagnum moss is a living, growing moss used for terrariums, orchids, and moss poles. See how it differs from dried sphagnum and peat moss.
- Mixing Perlite with Potting Soil: Ratios and How-To
Mixing perlite with potting soil improves drainage. See the right ratios for different plants and when it's fine to skip perlite.
- Monstera Potting Mix: What to Use and How to Mix It
The right monstera potting mix is chunky and fast-draining, built from bark, perlite, and some organic matter. Here's how to build one.
- Orchiata Orchid Bark: What It Is and How It's Used
Orchiata orchid bark is a graded New Zealand pine bark product used as an orchid growing substrate. Here's what makes it different.
- Orchid Bark: The Complete Guide to Choosing and Using It
Orchid bark is a chunky, fast-draining substrate for growing orchids. Learn what it's made from, how to choose a grade, and how to use it.
- Organic Potting Soil: What It Means and When to Choose It
Organic potting soil is made without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. See what the label means and how to pick a good organic mix.
- Peat Moss Potting Soil Mix: Ratios and How to Use It
A peat moss potting soil mix blends peat moss with perlite and compost for moisture retention. Learn ratios and when to use one.
- Peat Moss vs Coco Coir: Which Belongs in Your Potting Mix
Peat moss vs coco coir compared on drainage, pH, and sustainability to help you pick the right base for your potting mix.
- Peat Sphagnum Moss: What It Is and How to Use It
Peat sphagnum moss is dried, milled sphagnum peat used in potting mixes for moisture retention — different from live sphagnum moss.
- Perlite Potting: How Much to Use and Why It Helps
Perlite potting mix ratios explained — how much perlite to add and what it does for drainage and root health.
- Perlite Soil: What It Means and When to Use It
Perlite soil refers to potting soil blended with perlite for better drainage — here's what it does and how to mix your own.
- Perlite vs Vermiculite: Which One Your Mix Needs
Perlite vs vermiculite compared — perlite drains and aerates while vermiculite holds water, so the right pick depends on the plant.
- Perlite: What It Is, How It's Made, and What It's For
Perlite is a lightweight volcanic mineral used to improve drainage and aeration in potting mixes — here's how it works.
- Pot Soil Mix: How to Choose the Right One
A pot soil mix should match your plant's drainage needs — here's how to pick or build one for containers.
- Potting Mix and Potting Soil: Are They Different?
Potting mix and potting soil overlap a lot in everyday use — here's what the terms mean and when the distinction matters.
- Potting Mix for Christmas Cactus: What to Use
The best potting mix for Christmas cactus drains well but holds a bit more moisture than a desert cactus mix — here's how to get the balance right.
- Potting Mix for Indoor Plants: A Full Buying Guide
The right potting mix for indoor plants depends on the plant — this guide covers what to look for across common houseplant types.
- Potting Mix for Plants: How to Pick the Right One
The right potting mix for plants depends on their drainage and moisture needs — here's how to choose or build one that fits.
- Potting Soil for Vegetables: What to Look For
The best potting soil for vegetables is loose, well-drained, and rich in organic matter, with enough nutrients to feed heavy-feeding crops like tomatoes.
- Potting Soil Sale: What to Check Before You Buy
Before buying a potting soil sale item, check the ingredient list, bag weight, and intended use so a lower price isn't the wrong mix for your plants.
- Potting Soil: What It Is and How to Choose One
Potting soil is a soilless growing medium for containers, usually a blend of peat or coir, bark, perlite or vermiculite, and sometimes compost.
- Pumice vs Perlite: Which Should You Use?
Pumice vs perlite comes down to durability — pumice is denser rock that lasts longer, perlite is lighter and cheaper but can float or break down.
- Soilless Potting Soil: Why It Has No Actual Soil
Soilless potting soil contains no mineral soil at all — it's a blend of organic and mineral amendments like peat, coir, bark, and perlite instead.
- Sphagnum Moss for Orchids: How to Use It
Sphagnum moss for orchids holds moisture well and suits orchids that like consistent humidity around their roots, like phalaenopsis grown in smaller pots.
- Sphagnum Moss: What It Is and How to Use It
Sphagnum moss is a highly absorbent moss used for orchids, seed starting, and moisture retention, and it's different from peat moss and live sphagnum.
- Succulent Cacti Potting Mix: What to Look For When Buying
A succulent cacti potting mix should drain fast and contain little to no water-retentive material, whether you buy it bagged or build your own.
- Succulent Potting Mix
A good succulent potting mix drains fast and dries out between waterings, usually a blend of potting soil with perlite, pumice or coarse sand.
- Well-Draining Potting Soil: How to Choose or Make One
Well draining potting soil lets water pass through quickly instead of pooling, usually through added perlite, pumice, or coarse sand mixed into the base.
- What Is Coco Coir? A Straight Explainer
What is coco coir? A growing medium made from the fibrous husk of coconuts, processed and washed into a peat-like material used in potting mixes.
- What Is Perlite? How It's Made and Why It's Used
What is perlite? A volcanic glass that's crushed, heated until it expands, and used in potting mixes to improve drainage and aeration.
- What Makes High Quality Potting Soil? A Buying Guide
High quality potting soil drains fast, resists compaction, and has an even, chunky texture. Here's what to look for before you buy.
Self-Watering Planters
- DIY Self-Watering Planter: A Step-by-Step Build
A diy self watering planter uses two nested containers, a wick or tube linking soil to a water reservoir, plus a fill hole and an overflow hole.
- Self-Watering Device for Plants: The Main Types and How to Pick
A self-watering device for plants is a wick, spike, capillary mat or reservoir system that feeds water to soil so you don't have to water by hand.
- Self-Watering Planter
A self-watering planter uses a water reservoir and a wick or capillary mat to keep soil moist for days to weeks without daily watering.