Transcript:
Hello, guys for today’s episode of our lets plant series. I am going to share to you. How I make my Aloe soil mix. There are different formulation of Aloe soil. Mix out there, the one. I’’ll show you is what works for me. I’’ve been using this soil. Mix for around a year now and so far. I am satisfied with the results. It gave me a lot of pups. Flowers and my aloes also grow healthy and beautiful. This is an Aloe Christmas Carol. She is already starting to show her stress color due to colder night. Next are Aloe TCT hybrids I bought from Succulent City. These are my first Aloes and the reason why I fell in love with Aloes? This one is a pup of my Aloe TCT, which I separated last April. You can see that it has already grown quite a lot and that it already has its own pup. By the way for those new in this channel, I’m Kim Jayson and Welcome to the Plant Prince Ph. The Youtube channel that join you on your journey on collecting succulents? For more content, just like this. Make sure you hit the subscribe button so that you’re the first to be notified when there are new videos release. One of the most important thing to keep our aloe. Beautiful is the soil mix. When making an Aloe soil mix, you have to keep mind the following: First: An aloe soil mix should be well draining. It should not stand or hold the water on the surface. Just like other succulents. They don’’t want their roots to sit on a soggy soil mix. This is why we need to make our soil mix gritty and loose so that the water can easily passed through. Second: An aloe soil mix should provide enough air channel to allow the roots to breathe and to penetrate the soil mix easily. Roots respire, too. One of the functions of the soil mix is to serve as a site for air exchange between the root zone and atmosphere. In short roots, breathe oxygen like we do. Third: An aloe soil mix should also support the rosette, promote root growth and anchor the young roots. It needs to be strong enough to hold Aloes as some can grow leggy. And, Lastly, it should not contain excessive nutrients, especially nitrogen. Aloe hybrid are known for their beautiful colors and texture and too much nutrients may lead to large, elongated green leaves, unpleasant, looking aloes or deform shaped. Remember that you don’’t need to worry on giving your aloes less amount of nutrients and water since these plants are native to regions of Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Madagascar. How do I make my Aloe soil mix? First you’’ll need 5 cups of pumice. The size I use is mungo. Size or 4-6mm. In size. ALOE soil mix should be well draining thus. We need to add pumice. Pumice is widely used in gardening since it helps to aerate the soil has beneficial trace elements and acts as storage for nutrients and moisture. Before Using the pumice make sure to wash it a couple of times to remove sand and unwanted waste or debris. After that, dry them under the heat of the sun for at least 5 days, This will kill harmful pathogens that maybe present. Next is 2 cups of perlite. Perlite like pumice also offers drainage capabilities and proper aeration. The reason why I used this Instead of pure pumice is because It’s lighter than pumice. This is great for larger pots to make them lightweight. It also helps the roots pf teh Aloe to move easily. In addition, perlite also acts as a terrific insulator to protect the roots of your Aloes from temperature changes. Next is 1 part vermiculite, Vermiculite, also increase nutrient retention, improves drainage and aerates the soil. It also give quick Anchorage to young roots. It expand when wet, preventing compacted soil and creating air channels to allow the soil mix to breathe. The size I used in the soil. Mix is small grade approximately the same size with the pumice. Next is 2 part coco. Peat with charcoal. Coco Peat is a cheap renewable soil amendment. It increase water retention improves aeration and provides anti-fungal benefits. It has plenty of potassium as well as zinc, Iron, Manganese and copper, which are essential for our plants. It is also sterile and free from pathogens and weeds. On the other hand, Charcoal neutralize toxic substances prevents root rot and enhances beneficial bacteria. For the brand, I use Coco Green’’s Coco. Peat Charcoal, Brick. This coco. Peat brick already has charcoal mixed into it. When added 3 liters of water, it can produce 7-8 liters of cocobpeat medium. You can buy this on online shops or at the garden section of your hardware stores. Next is 3 parts. Ramgo soilless potting mix. If You’’ll notice I never used garden soil, loam soil, animal manure or compost treated with urea. Since we are taking care of expensive plants, we should provide them with pests free medium Garden soil. Loam soil or animal manure may contain microbes or substances that can harm your aloes. Another thing is some animal manure or compost treated with urea contain high amount of nitrogen. High amount of nitrogen will elongate and deform. Your Aloe leaves. For the soilless mix, I used this sterilized soilless potting medium from Ramgo. It allows adequate drainage holds onto moisture and stay open so that delicate root can move easily. It’s free from soil borne disease, pathogen and weeds. You can buy this on online shops or at the garden section of your hardware stores. Just mix all the ingredients together until the components are equally distributed. In some cases wherein I will use the soil mix right away. I add osmocote and starkle G. But if I’’m planning to store the soilmix, I don’’t add right away Since the effectivity of the osmocote and Starkle G may change or lessen. Every passing week As you can see if we try to compress the soilmix, it doesn’t form a clump and it easily breaks down. This is one an indication that the soilmix is good for our Aloes. In a closer look. You could notice that this Aloe soil mix has an almost equally amount of organic and inorganic. This will help the Aloe get the right amount of nutrients, moisture and at the same time doesn’t stay wet for too long. By the way, this soil mix is suitable for those that grow their Aloe under UV plastic sheet and garden net. If you want your Aloe to be rain or shine, you have to add more pumice to make the soil mix more gritty. A piece PF advise. Don’t be afraid to experiment on your soil mix. Remember that each grower will need find the best growing methods for his or her conditions, Hopefully. This episode helps you a lot. If you happen to try my soil mix, please leave a feedback down in the comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts. For our next video, I’’ll be showing you how I pot my Aloes. If you don’’t want to missed it out, be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel and don’’t. Forget to click the notification Bell. Thank you for watching and see you on our next videos.