Potting Soil Mixture for Indoor Plants | Indoor Plant Soil Mix

Hey, guys. Today, I thought we would talk about the soil mixture I use on all of my plants. I get this question quite a bit, so I hope you find this video helpful. I know there's so many different soils on the market, pre-packaged soils, soils you can mix yourself at home, and I have tried that before. Something to note about mixing your own soil is it is quite a bit more expensive, I have found. So with this many plants in my collection, it's just not very realistic right now. Maybe in the future, if this YouTube CPM picks up, you know what I mean. But for now, I'm just using a pre-packaged soil and my plants have been really liking it. So don't feel bad if you can't use a hand-mixed soil, okay? Don't feel bad. First, I guess let's talk about what I actually use in my soil mixture. And I will link everything in the description because I know a lot of these products aren't available in store. Or even where I live, I have to order a lot of this online. That will all be linked if you're interested in trying any of these products out for your plants. So first, of course, I use my soil base, which I really, really prefer black gold potting soil. I really like black gold compared to a lot of other pre-packaged, pre-mixed soils because it does have a lot of organic material in it. There are two different kinds I recommend. So there is the all-purpose one and then there's also the organic potting mix. And the big difference is the all-purpose one has those slow-release fertilizer balls mixed into it. So I do prefer the organic one, but I waited too long to film this video. So I ended up having to run to my store and they didn't have the organic one available. I usually have to order it online anyway, but I just didn't have time for that. So today I'm going to be using the all-purpose. So what's basically in the soil is peat moss as the soil base. There's pumice mixed in, there's those slow-release fertilizer balls. There's a little bit of perlite, although I do like this one because they use pumice more than perlite like other soil mixtures tend to use. And I do prefer pumice, but we'll get into that in a little bit. There's a little bit of orchid bark and then there's some natural compost. And on the bag, it has like a list of what was composted into the soil mixture. Is it worm castings or worm castings? Whatever it is, we'll call it worm poop, but they mix it into the soil. So it does also have that kind of organic fertilizer in there as well. That's why I like black gold. So then the next thing I use, or the next level of importance, I guess, that I use is perlite, perlite or pumice. I do prefer pumice, although I'm out. So right here, this little handful right here is literally all I have left in the bag, but I do prefer pumice. Like I said, I couldn't order it and they didn't have it available at the store. So this is something you typically have to order online. You may be lucky and have a store that carries it near you, but I have no stores that carry it. The biggest difference in pumice and perlite is pumice is more of a natural stone. The reason I prefer pumice to perlite is over time as you water your plants, the perlite will kind of float to the top of the soil mixture. So that's just kind of annoying. It's not a huge deal, but it just doesn't keep the soil as airy as it could if the perlite would just stay down. And since the pumice is a bit more dense, it doesn't float to the top of the soil mixture. So that's why I prefer pumice, but it's all personal preference. And basically the main way you can tell the difference is perlite, if you pinch it, it just turns into a dust. Whereas pumice, you can fight it as hard as you can and it won't crumble. So I'm going to be using perlite today and I do use perlite quite a bit. There's nothing wrong with it, but if you can, I highly recommend pumice. Although pumice is also a bit more expensive, I do think it's worth the extra money on that. But that is just my opinion. Don't feel bad if you're using perlite because it does its job. The next thing I like to use is orchid bark. Before I'm getting ready to pot, I actually really like to soak my orchid bark in water and then strain it out just so that if there's any large pieces, I can break them up with my hands really easily. This orchid bark does pretty well. Like there's not too many big chunks, but occasionally there'll be a super big chunk. And especially if you're potting a smaller plant, the big chunks don't work very well. I don't use very much of this in my soil mixture for most plants. We'll go over what plants I tweak the soil mixture for. But I do like adding a little bit of this to the soil, which I know seems a little counterproductive if we're trying to keep the soil airy. It helps absorb the water from the surrounding soil. It holds it. So if the soil is completely dry, chances are the orchid bark still has a bit of moisture in there. So yeah, that's why I like adding orchid bark. And like I said, I don't add too much of this. So it's not like anything crazy water retention-wise, although I do not use this when I pot succulents or cacti. And then the last thing I like to use in my soil mix is mosquito bits. I talk about this all the time. Honestly, if you're going to try any of the products I'm talking about, try mosquito bits, especially if you have an issue with fungus gnats. These deal with fungus gnats. They eradicate the problem. I have had really good success with using this. One thing to know about this is it's not an instant fix. Basically how it works, like we'll just really quickly talk about it since we're here and we're not. When I mix it in the soil, it is made of organic matter that the fungus gnat larva likes to feed on and it actually poisons them. If you have adult fungus gnats flying around, then they are going to have to lay eggs in your plant and that larva is going to have to hatch and feed on this before it'll completely get rid of that, the cycle of the problem. You know what I mean? Did that make sense? Wow, my monstera has a really big leaf unfurling. Wow, I did not notice that and it really caught me off guard. It's a beaut. Anyway, yes, definitely recommend mosquito bits. This is number one. Basically the mixture I use for majority of my plants is... It's kind of hard to measure it because I do just eyeball it really. I'm going to fill this up like a third of the way. I was trying not to make a mess today, thinking I'm going to be all good about it, having my little bowls out and using a spoon. Okay, so I filled this up about halfway. I'll add a little teeny bit more. Yeah, a little bit more than halfway. So I mean, just kind of eyeball your ratio compared to how it looks to mine or compared to the type of plant. So for most plants, like I said, I'm going to go ahead and throw in this pumice that I had left in the bag. There's only a few pieces, but I'm also going to add about two scoops of perlite. About that much perlite. You can always add in more at the end if it doesn't look right. And then I am going to add in just a dash of orchid bark. And then I just add in, no, probably about that much mosquito bits. Let me show you up closer. So mosquito bits, pumice or perlite, orchid bark, and then soil. Mix it all up. Okay, so now that I have it mixed, I actually want to add in a little bit more perlite. That's another great thing about like mixing your own soil. Although we are using like a pre-made mixture about adding in stuff like this is you can really tweak it to your plant keeping style. So some of us are over waterers and over carers. I'm one of them. And some people are forgetful and forget to water their plants frequently. Forget who over care. For those of us that tend to over care, I'm going to add in more perlite because I know myself. So I'm just going to add in like a little bit less than one scoop, a little bit more orchid bark. And yeah, this will be a really good mix. So when I'm planting cacti or succulents, I don't add in any orchid bark at all because they like it really dry. And I don't want that soil to hold on the moisture pretty much at all. And I will add more perlite. It's like 60-40. So 60% the black gold potting soil, 40% perlite. So it is a lot more quick drying of a soil. If I'm planting like Hoyas, then I do like to use a lot more orchid bark because they naturally live on trees and the orchid bark kind of mimics that. If I was planting a Hoya right now, I would probably add in all of this orchid bark. They like really chunky, like airy soil. So yeah, this is typically what I like the soil mixture to look like. My plants will be really happy with this once I go to use it. So I think that's everything. I'm pretty sure I hit everything. If you have any further questions, please leave them down below. If you have any soil mixture tips or certain soil mixtures you like to use for certain plant varieties, please leave them down below. That's invaluable for we plant lovers to have more opinions. I say that every video, but it is so true because what works for me may not necessarily work for all of you. A lot of factors play into it, such as our environment, your altitude, humidity, like all of those kinds of things play into it. So the more information shared in the comments, the better. But yeah, like I said, all of these products will be linked in the description box if you want to try this soil mixture out for yourself. Number one, number one though, telling you number one, if you struggle with fungus gnats, I hope this video was helpful. Thank you so much for watching and I will see my next one.