Store-bought soil mixes can be full of pests, not actually suited for the plant it says it is; and good soil mixes are mad expensive. Once you understand the three main components of soil, you’ll be able to mix the perfect blend for any plant. It’s super fun, and way cheaper.

The 3 Main Components To Every Soil Mix

Great soil is a balancing act between three things:

1. Aeration — air pockets in the soil so roots can breathe. Roots need oxygen. Compacted, airless soil suffocates them and invites root rot. (Examples: perlite, pumice, bark, vermiculite, grow stones, leca/pon, rice hulls, etc.)
2. Drainage — how fast excess water flows through and out. Good drainage means water passes through instead of sitting and drowning the roots. (Example: coarse sand is natures drainage tool, bark and rice hulls also work well)
3. Water-holding capacity — the soil's ability to hold onto moisture, nutrients, and microbes so plants can access water and food. (Sponge-like ingredients: peat/sphagnum moss, coco coir, compost, etc.

Balancing all three of these is the key.

Ratios by Plant Type

Different plants grow in different soil conditions natively, so their ideal mix is different:

• Succulents & cacti (desert plants that hate wet feet): heavy on drainage — about 60–75% aeration/drainage to 25–40% water-holding. Think heavy rains, and then droughts. Avoid peat here because of the wet/dry cycles that tend to cause hydrophobic soil with peat. I like to do half of the aeration/drainage with sand, and the other half perlite.
• Tropical plants (pothos, monstera, philodendron): a balanced mix, roughly 50/50, or slightly more moisture-holding. Chunky enough to breathe, spongey enough to stay lightly moist. Tropicals are usually found in forest environments so I like to do half the aeration/drainage with bark, and the other half with perlite here. You can incorporate a bit of coarse sand as well.
• Moisture-lovers (ferns, calatheas): lean toward more water-holding, ~60–70% coco/peat with enough perlite to keep it from turning to mud. Incorporate a bit of bark here as well.

📌 For exact recipes on specific plants, check the Plant Care Bible — 700 plants with soil recipe. When in doubt, look up your exact plant there.

These are starting points, not laws — adjust based on your home. If things dry out too fast, add more coco/peat; if they stay soggy, add more perlite. This is cooking not baking so have fun with it.

How to Supercharge Soil with Microbes

Here's where natural growing gets exciting. Soil is a home — but the magic is the living community inside it. Beneficial bacteria, fungi and many others form a symbiotic relationship with roots: they unlock nutrients from organic matter and feed them to the plant, and the plant pays them in food. It's the same partnership that's kept plants alive for millions of years, no synthetics required.

To load your mix with life:

• Water with your plant probiotic, and Liquid Fertilizer. Then sprinkle your dry fertilizer on top of your soil, or mix with your soil blends when repotting — these flood your soil with microbes making it alive and a fertilizer machine.
• Add composts or manures like worm castings, leaf compost, horse manure, etc. these are packed full of different microbial communities.
• Keep feeding them: the sugars in your yucca feed microbes, the wheat bran in the dry fertilizer feed microbes, and the biochar in your liquid fertilizer gives them a safe place to live and store nutrients for your plants.