Make Cheap Soil for Greenhouse Plants
A greenhouse is a building made with a glass roof and usually glass walls. Plastic is also used---it must be a see-through material. Solar radiation heats up the building as the sun shines through the walls to warm the plants and the soil. Greenhouses are ideal for plants, flowers and even edibles that do not thrive in cold weather. Plants can be grown in the greenhouse and transplanted outside when the weather warms up. Greenhouse soils are rich in trace elements, with balanced pH and EC levels. Cheap soils can be made right at home to accommodate your plant-growing needs. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Mix up 3 parts of organic matter. Choose from peat, humus or sawdust. Add in 1 part sand, vermiculite or perlite. This cheap soil mixture is best for most plant types.
2. Blend together in a wheelbarrow a mixture of 4 parts organic matter and 1 part sand, vermiculite or perlite. For maximum benefit, make sure 1 part of the organic matter is leaf mold. This soil is ideal for acid-loving plants.
3. Use this mixture of soil for cacti, succulents and other greenhouse plants that need good-draining soil. Mix 3 parts of organic matter with 2 parts sand---using fine gravel for 1 part of the sand.
4. Place 2 parts of organic matter and 1 part sand, vermiculite or perlite into small terra-cotta pots for growing newly rooted cuttings of greenhouse plants.
5. Plant tropical cacti, some orchids and most bromeliads in a mixture of 3 parts bark chips, 1 part organic matter and 1 part sand, perlite, or vermiculite.
Tags: organic matter, part sand, parts organic, parts organic matter, matter part, matter part sand