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[reds]

I'm just about to get started on my collection, and was wondering what everyone's favorite soil mix was..

For cacti, I was planning on 1/3 oil dri (a bentonite clay gravel), 1/3 play sand (used from my aqarium, sterilized) and 1/3 commercial mix.
I may add a bit of crushed dolomite to applicable species.

For cacti seeds, should i use seed starting mix or the above cacti mix?

I also plan on growing acacias, datura, passiflora, phalaris, hbwr, and caapi.
Is commercial mix okay for these?

[Chicsa]

i make individual soil mixes depending on the plant. Sometimes i use really good soil like Foxfarm mixed with worm castings and vermiculite and perlite. The ratios will depend on what it is.

Since I live in a rainy area [as much as Seattle] for cacti I use a very perlite heavy mix for them. Something like 50-60%.  And I DO NOT use vermiculite in cacti soil mixes. I also do 50-50 mix of Fox Farm to Cacti Garden Soil.

For psychotrias and caapi I do a fox farm/worm castings/verm/perlite 40/20/20/20

Passaflora, phalaris, and hbwr are in a mix of vegetable garden soil and top soil and seem to do just fine.

I'm interested in doing some composting too (good soil is expensive for me so I have to try and stretch it lol cant wait to have a job), so ive started collecting plant matter and will look into how to turn it into good soil to use.

[BubbleCat]

I usually focus on two things, how acidic does the plant want it to be and how fast must the medium dry, must it dry on one day after watering or does the plant like it wet. Then I try to source suitable things to go in, try to make a good mix and put the lot in a pot to cook it, so most funghus and stuff will be gone as soon as I use it, wich IMO reduces the risk for mold attacks. I really like sourcing from my gardens and my area, but sometimes it is not possible, then I obviously go buy whats needed. I recommend to do some research and ask people who are sucessfull with a plant what they use.

[Frog Pajamas]

It definitely varies from species to species. Ime, if you have 1) good potting soil, 2) perlite, 3) vermiculite, and 4) sand you can make a mix that will suit most things you want to grow. There's a good deal of germination and propagation information for most of the popular entheogens on this site, and otherwise trying to recreate native habitat is a good go-to.

Some of the cacto-philes probably can give you a good answer on the cacti seeds, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to do seed starting mix for them. This thread or this thread may have the information you're looking for. 

1 Like happyconcacti likes this.

[BubbleCat]

Good to know we have a soil thread Albeit the original question will never be answered, as it always depends on the exact species I think its a great place to evaluate different mixes. I found a rather interesting one from a study, the study didn't focus on growth or germination (the plant was grown and germinated in the mix in question) so the following receipt is understandably far from optimal but nevertheless it worked:
4 parts of Sphagnum 1 part of perlite and 1 part of vermiculite.
I have the following questions:
Can anyone guess if these ratios are by weight or volume ? and would the sphagnum be dry or moist ?
Does a plant find any nutrients in this mix, or basically in Sphagnum, as I am sure it will not feed from perlite or vermiculite ? Or would the researcher feed the plant ?
How would the acidity be ? Neutral ? How would one determine the acidity of a mix, I have read 1 part (vol) of soil and 1 part of water must be combined and sit, then the water is used for a typical ph-test, is that correct ?

Thanks gotta learn about soil

[XDX]

I measure my mix "parts" in dry volume, then hydrate as needed.
I would think a mix like that would be best suited for maybe some carnivorous plants like nepenthes. I would also use something like that for certain clones or seeds. I personally (in most scenarios at least) would leave out the verm, it's primary purpose would be to retain moisture, which the sphagnum does as well. Vermiculite tends to clog up my soil mixes, I uaually reserve it for top-layers when starting seeds, to keep humity high while under dome. In tht mix, the sphagnum holds moisture but is fluffy, and the perlite add more structure and air. Sphagnum is usually a lil acidic, if I remember correctly. Aside from that, no, that mix doesn't have much for nutes, it more about moisture and structure (which is why I'd use it temporarily, for seeds or clones, or carnivorous planta which don't  want nutes in the soil)
I actually do not know how to get an accurate ph readin for soil... I know there's probes you can buy, but the cheap ones don't seem to read anything for me, and I haven't had te need to invest in anything spendy. I imagine you could test some runnoff water with litmus, but idk if that's really accurate.
I do know, where I used to live, if you had a plot of land you wanted to have tested, you could go out and dig up about a pints worth of earth (total) from like 10 different areas on that plot, mix it all together, and the university would analyze it for you tell you all about it- ph, loam:clay:ratios, mineral/metal content, probly a bunch more. And I don'teven think it cost, or if it did it wasn't much, maybe 100 bucks or something. Worth it if you're farming...

[BubbleCat]

I have once read you would mix Soil and Water (some say 1:1 1:2 or even 2:5), shake, let it sit and test. I think the ratio of soil and water would greatly affect the reading, but thinking about it the readings would give someone a way to compare different soils and it would definately say acidic or alkaline

Sending soil somewhere is a bit fancy for me, I have looked up the soil in some places where I have plants and read about its properties, also Im planning to make a more exact analysis like the one shown in the attached pictures, it basically aims at determining the ratio of sand silt and clay so then one can look up the properties the determinded type of soil does most likely have.

I dont like the idea of buying potting mixes, especially not peat based ones so all theese thoughts aim at finding how to make a mix suitable for each plant I can think of only from things I can source sustainably myself. Theres still alot to read about soil ...

Regarding the Sphagnum mix, the study was neither about best germination or growth but about alkaloid presence, so I could imagine Sphagnum was chosen because there is less unknown variables than in potting mix and so the study has more validity

[SoulGrower]

For the most part, I make my own soil mix.  Two reasons 1)much better drainage than 'most' commercial mixes 2)MUCH cheaper than commercial mixes.  My base mix is very simple and works extremely well for almost everything.  Here it is:
1 part peat
1 part perlite
5 parts pine bark fines (these are the chips. No pieces bigger than about a nickel.  Not the big nuggets)

I can't recommend this mix enough.  Sometimes I add a bit of lime to offset the acidity of the peat.  You can either add fertilizer to the mix or water with fertilizer.  If it drys to quick, you can add more peat.  Sometimes I add a touch of worm castings too (usually just a bit of top dressing).

I also like Fox Farms when I'm feeling lazy.  Its actually the only readily available commercial mix that looks a lot like mine.  Only theirs looks to be composted a bit and maybe richer in some organics.  But I can make about 5 bags of my mix for the cost of one bag of FF.  And if I really wanted, I could make mine 6 months in advance and let it compost a bit   

[Bach]

Many agricultural extension offices offer soil testing, often for just a nominal fee or even free. Every county should have one. Check it out.