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Years back, as a novice gardener, I brought home a dozen flower saplings from a nursery. All of them were in plastic pots of various sizes. The seller advised me to water them once every day. I kept them in semi-shade and followed the instructions diligently. For the first few days, the flowers were fresh. Slowly, one after another, plants wilted. The leaves started to turn yellow. Since we were at the peak of summer, I thought I wasn’t watering them enough and started watering twice a day. Within two months, all plants died. I was heartbroken.
A week later, wondering what could have gone wrong, I decided to empty the pots and store them for future use. I removed the dead plants and noticed that one of the pots had coco peat mixed with soil, another had some white granules mixed along with coco peat and soil. The combination got repeated in the other pots too.
My curiosity got kindled, and I decided to understand what goes into a pot. I bought a few more plants and unboxed them. I noted down the soil composition in the packaging as a reference. Before transferring them to new containers, I sifted through books and browsed blogs to know more about their needs. I repotted the plant in a soil that was appropriate for it. Few months into this experiment, I understood what had gone wrong initially.
Saplings in plant nurseries are grown in coco peat mixed with soil because of coco peat’s ability to retain moisture; it thus helps save water. The best practice is to transfer saplings to a suitable soil medium when you bring them home, which I did not do when I bought my first batch of plants. I overwatered, not understanding the purpose of coco peat. But now, I do. From my notes, I’ve summarised a list of elements added to the soil for you.
Ready reckoner
In the earlier days, no one would sweep away dry leaves from the garden. They would be mixed and turned into the soil regularly with a shovel. The leaves would decompose naturally and a handful of this would be added to the base soil along with sand to grow plants. Base soil is the soil of the region where we live in.
Leaves take years to decay and form humus. To speed this up, we compost our kitchen waste and garden leaves into a fertiliser, which is popularly called Black Gold.
The most common is vermicompost. Here, the organic waste is aerobically converted into fertilisers using worms. The other method is anaerobic, using bacteria. Compost is rich with mineral and nutrients and can be periodically added to the soil for sustainable growth. It is ideal for outdoor plants in full sun.
Coco peat is finely shredded coconut fibre. It is available as a condensed block. It expands four times in volume when soaked in water. It has the fantastic property of retaining moisture and aerating the soil.
Furthermore, it prevents soil compaction, thereby making it an ideal add-on for indoor plants and soil-less cultivation. It does not have any nutrients on its own. Fertilisers need to be added regularly to the soil for growth. It is ideal for plants that grow in semi-shade and indoor.
Vermiculite and Perlite are both moisture-retaining and aerating agents. They are popular in soil-less cultivation along with coco peat. Perlite is white, porous, and has sharp edges. Vermiculite is beige, soft with a spongy texture.
Vermiculite retains more moisture than perlite. (Vermi means worm. Vermiculite is a silicate. On heating, it expands to look like a worm. Hence the name.) It is therefore used for plants that require moist soil. Perlite has low water retention capacity and higher aerating capacity. It is ideal for succulents, orchids, and plants that need moist soil.
Coconut chips: These are chunks of coconut fibre in a potting mix that helps in retaining moisture. It is ideal for succulents, orchids, layering the topsoil for indoor plants and soil-less cultivation.
Mulch is a mix of dry leaves and other gardening elements such as twigs and barks that are spread on the topsoil. They can be whole dry leaves or shredded ones. Grass clippings and straw also are good mulching agents. They are useful in summer and prevent water from evaporating. They also help in preventing weeds from springing up. It is ideal for outdoor plants that grow in soil.
Each one of the above elements have unique properties. All of them need not be added to the base soil to grow a plant. Most plants do well with equal amounts of soil and compost mixed with sand.
Adding sand and perlite helps a plant that requires a well-drained soil. Coco peat and vermiculite help in retaining moisture.
We will look at plants and different soil compositions in future columns. Until then, happy gardening! Cheers from the Galphemia flowers.
Motley Garden is your monthly potpourri of observations and lessons from gardening and nature.
The author is a botanical artist from Bengaluru. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram as @neelavanam