@prettybrwneyez7757
I plant all my plants in soil with a cactus mix. Works beautifully! Lots of drainage.
@Mia-bu5hw
Not sure if it can help anyone but sprinkling a little cinnamon powder on top of the soil helped kill the fungi and get rid of gnats for me
@jackrice2770
I don't know, maybe I'm 'special', but I don't really have any of these issues. I use the lowest price potting mix from my local supermarket and mix it with perlite, varying the ratio according to the plant's preference. Botanists will tell you that soil fungus is necessary for plants to uptake nutrients. The fungi act as a sort of chemical interface that works with the roots. Recent studies have shown that in a forest, trees literally 'communicate' with one another (even among different species). (To quote Gimli: "What do trees have to talk about besides the consistency of squirrel droppings?") Yeah, sure, you can grow plants in other ways, but most of them involve a lot of fooling around that I'm too lazy to get into. The only time I had a major issue with fungus gnats was when I purchased some potting soil from one of those 'dollar' stores. I was inundated with them. First went for the sticky traps, but that wasn't getting them all. I used a 50/50 watering solution of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for about three watering cycles and committed fungus gnat genocide! Never bought that soil again (I'm not THAT stupid) and never had a single gnat since. (Safety note: peroxide is extremely toxic. Keep it away from anything too ignorant to know better, like animals and kids.) Air circulation is very important. We're trying to 'fool Mother Nature' (anyone remember that advert?) and that means keeping the air moving in your home, which is does in the 'real' world all the time. This is more of problem in winter or summer, when you're running heat or AC. Otherwise, open a damned window! I keep a fan running during those times when it's too hot or cold and I don't want that expensively heated/cooled air escaping. In fact, although it was chilly this morning, it's warmed up a bit and I"m getting up to open a window now! I think a lot of people make keeping house plants a lot bigger deal than it needs to be. One must have some patience, your little rooted cutting you got from the big box store isn't going to grow six feet tall in one season. I have a rather small flat and frankly I don't want giant plants taking up all my living space....need room for the human too. If you've branched out into trying some of the fussier green buddies, you need to know you've got the right conditions for them or know you can create those conditions without turning your house into a conservatory. Unless, of course, you happen to have a conservatory, in which case, God bless you and can I come live with you?
@annebovelett
You give me courage to buy plants again. I gave up, but I see now I was doing everything wrong. Thank you so much for this wonderful video!
@marilyngandhi8571
Fifty years ago I went to bonsai classes with Len Weber who taught us to boil the soil before planting our bonsai trees. Len Weber was teaching in Ryde Horticultural College, Sydney, Australia.
@lexielaughs365
Thank you for creating videos and sharing your knowledge and experience so I can be a better plant mom! ❤🌱
@PinkUrbanOasis
I had a few gnats so I sprayed the top of the soil on all my plants in the bedroom with oxigen peroxide added to water every couple of days for about a week and they're all gone now. Try it! My mortal enemy are the fruit flies in the summer (without leaving any fruit outside they just appear every year) but I started using the yellow sticky tapes around the kitchen this year and it worked like magic - so thank you!😊
@berendhordijk2433
Just a small heads up about perlite; It'a vulcanic rock/glass, be wary of handling it without a mask ! (to protect your airways from inhaling small glass particles)
@stan8832
To battle the gnats and fruit flies, you can use diatomaceous earth, it’s micronised fossils, that when you sprinkle a bit on the top of the soil it will kill the larvae. You can remove the layer again when it did it’s job. 8:06
@CK-solutions
My work colleague has sinus issues, so when I wanted to introduce plants into the office, I knew soil was out! So used lycha and water. No ferts. The clay balls have nutrients. It will deplete eventually, so plan to add worm wee from my farm @ home.
@TajmToCook
I grow all my plants and props in semi hydro. When I buy a new one, it goes straight out of soil into nutrition solution and once I see the roots are happy to live in water, I will transfer the plant into perlite, pon or leca. My alocasia frydek arrived a month ago, well rooted in soil. As soon as she entered my home, I moved her from soil to nutrition solution. No signs of root rot and she is currently growing 6 corms at the same time. Busy girl ❤ I wanted to move her to leca after few months but maybe I will just keep her this way and enjoy watching growing new babies from my front row seat. In the last two-three days, some of the corms started to put out green stuff which I guess will be the petioles. I love watching plants to grow 😍
@chrisi3246
Exactly the point he mentioned gnats one flew past my screen.😀
@surgeinc1
Yes, we learned the hard way that compost decays, using up the oxygen but also creates methane killing the plant even faster. Most of the plants in our greenhouse have now been converted to a soilless mix and are thriving. We do add a bit of charcoal as well.
@AmsNl2BcnEs
Totally accept what you are saying, just confused about nutrition - 6 mins in you mention fertiliser but would be good to have elaborated on this. Thanks for a useful video 😊
@ithacacomments4811
I use coconut coir in my 3×3 ft raised bed planter outside. I mix it in the soil. Great for keeping the soil loose and moist. I shred brown paper bags and use the shreds as mulch on top around my plantings. I rarely need to water.
@irmar
Of course it also depends on where one lives. Some climates are more forgiving. For instance, I live in Greece, so sunlight is plenty and windows are open for quite a bit every day for most of the year. And in the summer there are fans working. Despite that, I'm too lazy to have indoor plants. I have a beautiful large terrace facing south-east (morning sun) and two small balconies facing north-west (afternoon sun), so I do all my gardening outside. I think twice in twenty years it was so freezing cold that I took some of the small pots inside. But there are few small pots. Most are huge pots: jasmine, bougainvillaeas, super-tall yukkas and the like. Not to mention the herbs and vegetables. On the back balcony there's Cestrum nocturnum, honeysuckle, passifloras and wisteria, although they don't often flower, the sun is not enough - only this year they did, but this year was a pervert. I believe in keeping mostly local species, or at least those that belong to the same parallel as you and can happily adapt to your climate. I'm not a botanical garden and I don't feel the need for exotic, high-maintenance species, no matter how beautiful.
@T216-n3h
Compost isn't soil. In nature, plants don't grow in compost. Add compost over the top of soil or go semihydro.
@aralsea5880
Against gnats I now cover the soil, which consists of a mixture 30/70 of ground lava and soil bought at supermarket (I live in a sub-tropical area), with small lava gravel and water the plants using the dishes at the bottom. However, most of my indoor plants are Sanseverias (Snake plant), which are very easy to maintain.
@lauraweiss7875
I have a bunch of large tropicals (musa basjoo, monstera, Christmas palms, dragon trees, arabica, citrus, bird of paradise). They go outside for six months and come back inside for six months). I use soil but amend with LOTS of perlite and desert plant mix. I always use a root wash right before I haul all those planters indoors. I’m on year three and haven’t lost a plant yet. Also, keeping them a bit drier when inside has meant I have t had any mold.
@SheffieldMadePlants