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Hey guys, do any of you mix your own soil :dry: ? Iv'e been trying different soil mixtures, just recently i brought some river sand to try and make a faster draining soil, but the sand is too fine and seems to be doing the complete opposite.

I know i can sieve the sand but i don't know where to buy a sieve. Does anyone know an easy way so make a fast draining soil? :huh: Any help would be appreciated.

use a pasta strainer. I use a plastic one that I got at good will. It works well..

I am using baked cat-litter. THese are small brown clay balls, a few mm across. These I mix with cocos-fibre based potting soild, roughly 30% soil 70% clay. A little mor soil for the bits that come directly on the roots so it dries out less quickly.

Looks like this:

I use oil dry, from napa. It's light and doesn't break down. It's about $8.00 for a giant bag. I sift out the smallest pieces and mix it up.

Oil dry from napa? Im going to have to look that up. The pasta strainer is a good idea tnx Pinkham. Im not sure where i would find baked cat litter, im a bit scared to try it out too. Ive heard of people using it a lot in the UK, but not at all in SA.

If i added small stones to a soil mixture would that help with the drainage? Tnx for the help

I have 2 different soil mixes I use.

For planting in a bonsai pot I use some premixed bonsai soil from my local nursery (blend of sphagnum peat moss, bark pieces, and perlite). Well at lease thats what I can identify in the mix . I then add some red lava pieces to further improve the aeration and drainage.

For planting in large containers to thicken up trunks I mix my own. I use 3/5 potting soil, 1/5 perlite, and 1/5 vermiculite. The perlite has a coarse pebble texture and the vermiculite has a sandy texture. This mix drains very well and stays pretty loose. The perlite and vermiculite also allow the roots to grow more easily. The downside of this mix is it is quite ugly. The bright white perlite pieces look very unnatural :pinch: .

Thats not the only downside, ive used a perlite and vermiculite mix for cuttings and its really hard to stop the mix from being too wet and inviting fungus gnats. Darn pests... (hate em)

I havent noticed any pests since using the perlite.. It also seems to dry extremely quickly for me. It is quite hot where I live though.

That's good, i think it's more the vermiculite that causes a problem, at least it did with me. keep that in mind when it come so winter.