Why Is My Potting Soil So Hard

Watering Can – This is a must-have tool when you're growing plants in pots or grow bags. It helps to water the potting soil without splashing on the foliage. The Kensington Watering Can is stylish, strong, and can provide precision when watering potted plants. As a commenter noted below, this process will also kill beneficial soil microbes. Most potting soils do not have intentionally added beneficial soil microbes, but some more speciality ones do. Adding beneficial microbes back to your soil is easy.

Hard-packed clay soils and even garden soils can become crusted and resist wetting, letting water run off instead of absorbing it. To re-wet, repeatedly sprinkle the surface lightly, making sure there is no run off. Covering the surface with a mulch such as straw, leaves, wood chips, or compost will also help. Eventually the soil will become moist enough to break up.

I used two bags before the rain started and mixed them into the good soil in my yard where I was building a rose bed. Those areas of the bed do not produce the healthiest roses, but the bad soil is completely mixed with the good soil. I have to add a lot of other good stuff every year to counteract the bad soil.

I never use anything purchased anymore in garden beds, although I do use the expensive potting mixes in outdoor containers. But, I figure if my plants can't grow in 100% home-made compost then I guess they're just gonna have to die. Potting mixes often include aerating materials such as coconut coir, perlite, vermiculite, or peat moss.

These materials not only create air pockets throughout your plant's soil, but they can retain water as well. For many plants, perlite, etc. creates the perfect conditions the houseplant needs to thrive. Many potting soils become hydrophobic—tending to repel water—when they dry out, and are difficult to re-wet. Gardeners may see water draining out the bottom of a pot and assume that means that the soil is saturated. Small seedlings from nurseries are particularly prone to this, especially if they have become rootbound. It's also important to note that topsoil also has a different mix of nutrients then the bag of potting soil you should be using.

During the summer, hard-packed clay soils, soils that were burned and some crusted garden soils can resist wetting, allowing water run-off instead of absorbing it. To re-wet, repeatedly sprinkle the surface lightly, making sure there's no run-off. You may also need to break up the surface of the soil if it's hydrophobic due to exposure to fire.

Your potting soil gets hard because it did not get the required moisture for a long period of time. This makes the potting soil hydrophobic and it does not absorb moisture. Most potting soils contain peat moss that tends to cause this problem.

I use an old knitting needle to 'fluff' the top of the potting soil every so often. I get fungus gnats from pots sometimes but don't want pesticides inside. Letting the surface dry completely before watering helps , or covering the surface with fine sand will keep their numbers in check.

Not sure how sand would react with the crunchy soil. That's why I don't recommend you usegarden soil as potting soil. You want to buy potting soil that is made specifically for growing potted plants. One popular component of commercial potting soils, peat moss, decomposes quickly.

This makes the soil dense and difficult for roots to penetrate, and affects its ability to drain and hold water. If your old potting soil looks and feels dense and compacted, it may be suffering from decomposed peat moss. When it's dead, it's probably not absorbing water, and it may not do much for your soil aeration either.

Vermiculite pellets and coconut coir chunks can be washed right out of the pot's drainage holes with repeated waterings. You might do more than make contact with your plant's roots during aeration, but break a root or two. A plant that's in a healthy environment can regrow roots, but one that's living in compacted soil cannot, at least not easily. Obviously, you can't stop watering your plant, so the above scenario is all but inevitable. You probably can't tell when your potting mix is more dirt than perlite, but your houseplant will certainly notice the difference. I also discourage you from using soil from your backyard, as convenient as that might sound.

Backyard soil is rarely pure soil at all and will also include silt and clay. It too is heavy and won't benefit your houseplants since it's not going to have the nutrients your potted plants need to be healthy and thrive. Soaking potting soil beforehand exposes it to several problems such as breaking down, becoming compact, and makes it a potential carrier of root diseases.

While a wet sandy texture is good for potting soils, an extra addition of actual sand is not. This will only deteriorate the quality of soil because often people use it as a cheap filler. They are often acquired by gardeners due to their great ability to retain moisture. A common ingredient for them is peat which is known to be great for nourishing plants.

To aid you more about soil differences as compared to potting soil. Check my recent article on the differences between potting soil, topsoil and garden soil. It recounts the uses, advantages of each as well as the main ingredients for these soils. If your potted plants are out in the garden where there is a lot of heat, it will cause the soil to dry out and turn hard. You are using the right potting soil to grow your container plant but after some time the soil has turned hard.

And now your plant is not getting the required moisture as the soil is not absorbing the water. I cultivate and spray native soil microbes on my garden plants, both in the soil and in containers, following the JADAM method. It's very simple – you can find instructions for making JADAM Microbe Solution online. If fermenting leaf mould soil isn't your idea of a good time, Organic REV is a product you can buy and use to add beneficial microbes. There are other products available, too, but I have personal experience with both of those.

Your plants are fortunate you actually find and purchase potting soil with beneficial microbes! Most commercially produced soil does not have added beneficial microbes. Yes, sunlight would kill beneficial microbes, too. I should include that information in this post and will update it in the future to reflect this.

Why Is My Dirt So Hard Potting soil is of the utmost importance when it comes to gardening and planting, especially if you're creating a container garden or using raised beds. Whether indoors or outdoors, you need excellent quality potting soil to ensure your plants get the best nurturing possible. I'm a new gardener too and have see this happen when trying out different soils in pots or friends and family give me a new plant.

Generally, they do just fine but you can add to mulch or compost to the top which will hold in some moisture and break it up. Now it's four days later and the plants look extremely green and healthy as I've been watering lightly every day (not sure if I'm supposed to, but it's been ok so far). The soil also looks really compact and looks like it may be tough for roots to grow. Set the pot in a shallow container of water , allowing the soil to slowly absorb the water. It may take an hour or more to thoroughly re-wet the soil.

Be careful not to leave pots soaking in standing water continuously. Check them after an hour or two and remove them when they are hydrated. I like Pro-Mix and the label said it contained a wetting agent, but I find it very hard to moisten initially. I always moisten well in another container first, keep mixing and adding water until evenly moist. Then I fill the planting container with the moistened mix, plant, and water again and allow to drain. Make sure there are adequate drainage holes and if necessary elevate a little from the ground with pot feet or something similar .

Commercially available potting "soils" will be peat moss, finely ground bark, or finely ground coir, I have never seen a potting "soil" sold that was made from clay. These potting "soils" can dry out, once properly wet, and repel water and peat moss is well noted for being hydrophobic. Ft. bags of Metro-mix 500 potting mix this year for a portion of my contatiner garden. I am shocked at how fast those plants are growing compared to the others.

The plants that are in each pot are not the same, so I can't say for sure that it's the metro mix, but the pots with the metro-mix are all dong great. The other pots are doing just like every other year, which is just OK. You were poking a pair of chopsticks into your plant's soil and you hit something hard. Now you're worried that instead of a clump of compacted soil that it was the plant's roots you struck. When you go to replenish your indoor plant with fertilizer, what do you think will happen? As you probably guessed, the compacted soil will limit the progress of the nutrients.

Some might get through, although it in what quantities, it's impossible to say. Other nutrients can get trapped at the top of the soil far from the plant's roots. You can prevent potting soil from going hard with minimal effort by using a gardening technique known as mulching. This eliminates the need to change the entire potting soil. For mulching, place some mulch or wood chips and mulch to the soil's surface, and this will aid in retaining its moisture. A good layer of mulch in your potted plant, just above the soil, creates a microenvironment that is high in humidity and allows for easy growth for your plants.

There are a lot of plant pots that are not meant to simply have soil in them alone. Different plants require different potting mix to produce healthy growth. Yes, Jeannie, even the bags of potting soils and garden soils have labels. A soil-less potting mix will be primarily peat moss, and an assortment of coarse amendments . Many companies also package their own garden SOILS, which prove to be entirely unsuitable for use in containers. Last year, I bought a bag of potting soil, filled a container, planted a canna bulb and watered it.

The first clue that there was a problem was that the water pooled on top of the soil and was absorbed very slowly. Then, as the soil dried, I noticed it was hard like cement . In fact, not even a weed emerged during the entire summer. Now, you're probably wondering, what about your plant's drainage holes? The drainage holes are still working, but the water isn't getting to the holes since it's stuck within the compacted soil.

You might as well not have the drainage holes at all. In other words, it's a classic case of underwatering, right? You're watering your plant the right amount, but the compacted soil is stopping the water from reaching the plant's roots. This complicates matters for new indoor gardeners considerably. Getting the hang of when to water your houseplant is not easy when you're a green indoor gardener. I always say that instead of using a set schedule, you should put a clean finger into the soil to feel how moist it is.

Dry soil necessitates watering while moist soil does not. Organic matter in the soil helps to soak up and hold moisture. Set the pot in a shallow container of water, allowing the soil to absorb the water slowly. Be careful not to leave pots soaking in standing water for more than a couple of hours. After an hour take the pot out of the tub and place it in a shallow container filled with water. The potting soil will absorb the moisture from the drainage holes at the bottom.

The mulch is organic material such as wood chips, grass clippings, hay, or dried leaves. This layer ensures the moisture stays in the potting soil longer. It also helps regulate the temperature of the potting soil. A couple weeks ago I repotted some houseplants and left about 4 cups of soil sitting in a container. It has now dried out and I was wondering if the microbes could be revived with moisture or if it should be discarded or blended with fresh mix. Potting soil is perfectly fine to use as long as it doesn't show any of these signs of bad potting soil.

If you're new to gardening, it may be hard for you to judge whether or not your potting soil is healthy and safe to use. Potting soils often contains peat moss which is valued because it decomposes slowly, is lightweight, and retains water. Paradoxically though, when peat moss dries out it is very difficult to re-wet.

This is a common part of having potted plants anywhere the wind blows, as wind is usually lower in humidity which sucks up any moisture that may be in the soil. I alway add a bit of lava sand and compost from my compost pile to the potting soil/mix. I also put mulch on top to keep it from drying out quickly. These include using chopsticks, adding perlite or other aerating materials, or even nourishing your plant's soil with vermicompost . Also, consider fertilizers and moisturizers to boost your potting soil.

The methods you can use to loosen the hard potting soil depend on whether the potting soil is just placed in a bag or you are growing plants in it. Months ago I bought some soil for my tomatoes and peppers. I mixed some soil together and repotted my seedings …etc. The next days I noticed the soil had such a strong smell.