For potted plants, the best soil to use is not always simple agricultural soil: due to the reduced space, it is useful to have soil with better fertility and water retention characteristics than the garden.
There are many types of potting soil on the market, we have already explained how to find suitable soil for growing pots. Sellers often speculate by offering thousands of specific soils for different crops, in fact, apart from acidophilic plants (berries, citrus fruits), most crops are satisfied with a universal soil.
Independently prepare good soil suitable for plants growing on the balcony and excellent for seedlings is not difficult. The ingredient that can definitely make a difference is worm humus.
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How to make fertile soil
To make the soil fertile it will be necessary to mix different materials, here are the most used:
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Peat
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river sand
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cultivation soil
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earthworm humus
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vermiculite
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wheat bale
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pumice
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dried beech leaves
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dried pine needles
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Mature manure or compost
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lime and clay
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river pebbles
The elements to be used and their dosage remain variable depending on the use of the soil, to obtain the appropriate degree of fertility, heaviness, water retention, pH, creating the right soil for each crop. Certainly, worm humus is one of the key elements that must be included in any mix. There are many applications of humus in soils and for each of them you need to vary the doses and the instructions to follow, you can read more about individual cases (garden, orchard, culture in pots, transplants, …) in this folder dedicated to humus.
The importance of humus
Worm humus is not just a fertilizer: it has a soil-improving function that is not limited to supplying useful elements to plants. Here are the main advantages of this material:
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It makes the soil lighter and softer, so plant roots can grow with less effort.
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It increases the soil’s ability to retain moisture, so less irrigation is needed.
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Increases soil’s ability to hold fertilizers, reducing nutrient leaching.
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It provides ready-to-use nutrients for plants (ie elements that have already undergone the chemical and microbiological transformations necessary to be assimilated).
These characteristics make humus very important not only in the balcony garden, but especially in the sowing soil and when transplanting: it is an ideal habitat for seeds and young plants. The roots of a newly born or transplanted plant are more delicate, a soil with a good humus content facilitates rooting. Also, the retention of agua del suelo avoids that éste seque por completo, con el riesgo de que el espino recién salido, mientras que los nutrients contenidos en el humus son los mjores para el cultivo de plantas jóvenes, ya que están maduras para its use. Worm humus is very useful in potted plants: those who garden on the balcony should consider both the possibility of using humus when preparing the soil and adding it periodically as a fertilizer to restore the nutrients to the plant.