Thank you so much for your information, so many of our systems have become influenced by academics and yes trying to change the thinking is very very hard. The medical industry is a great example! It is actually killing us! This makes it so difficult to trust anything they come out with!
The title is misleading, because at the end he describes his own mix, which is essentially a soil-less mix. Lots of good info, but some questionable comments that I feel come from a place of bias rather than objectivity, like tannins turning chlorophyll orange. Coir and peat are interchangeable in my experience, I've grown healthy plants with both as part of a mix. If your coir is breaking down after a year, you need to find a better supplier. I actually prefer coir due to its stability (it's also much cheaper here). Pumice, perlite and scoria are interchangeable, there are structural and compositional differences but they matter more to the gardener, the plants don't seem too fussed. It's also possible to get aged bark that wont break down for many years, so don't completely right it off.
I listened in frustration, having just finished planting a massive garden with the input of compost into my soil, which hadn’t been able to support life before. Fortunately, my garden is full of mycorrhizae, so enough of that sandy mix on top of the clay must be incorporated. Now you have me planning ways to both mineralize and amend all that added compost. I may seed the entire planted area with strips of sand to help the plants breathe more easily. In future, all compost gets added as top dress. 👍🏻 Thank you. 🙏
@@steelmaster73 that's why the biological components inside create that environment. The bacteria make glues and fungi bind them, it's where soil gets its structure 💛💪🌎
@@taz6122what mixture do you use. I’m trying to grow a mango tree from seed and I’m going to use sand perlite Pete moss with 10% organic material. When I transfer from pot to ground I think I’m pretty good seen as our soil is a very sandy loam and will drain enough for mango. Just trying to dial in a good mixture for potted trees
Yeah idk. We have rows of basically every composition from sandy clay to fully pete and the closer to the pete side does way better. The forest floor naturally becomes loamy which is “soil less” and that’s where most things grow the best.
You statement is confusing. I don't understand how a forest floor is soil less. It has lots of organic matter on top and soil underneath. What am I missing
@nihlink Just because the peat in your situation does better, does that mean it’s THE best way? Have you taken into consideration other things like soil oxygen, hydrogen, plant available calcium, PH, plant available phosphorus, etc? There is only a finate amount of peat available to gardeners so what ya’ll gonna do if everyone starts using peat and supply can’t keep up with demand? That’s an inevitability if more people use it. and/or when enough time elapses.
I swear, it seems like there are as many ways to raise plants as there are to raise children. So many people get great results using different methods.
Can you grow healthy children with very few if any minerals? How about feeding them liquid petroleum based foods? Do deficiencies in humans present themselves rapidly or generally later in life?
This explains why the balloon flowers I planted 6 years ago in peat moss, sand, and vermiculite in a plastic drink bucket I got from Walmart are doing better than just about everything else I've bought and left in potting soil recently. I haven't even changed the 'soil' out. It's probably just sand and rocks in there by now but they come back stronger and fuller each year so I always feel bad for even considering replanting them elsewhere. Something else I've recently come to hate, as much as you detest compost based potting soil: those peat moss seed starter disks. I bought a Nepenthes from a specialty grower at around the same time I planted the balloon flowers. I always take the mesh off before I plant anything I've grown in them but he starts his plants in the disks and then replants them into small pots, and consecutively bigger pots for sale. I've been keeping it in a mix of sphagnum moss and a big chunky charcoal/bark/vermiculite orchid potting medium, that gets changed every 2 years when I repot it, since I brought it home. It's 6 years old now and this past year it's pitchers stopped growing beyond buds even though it looked otherwise healthy. It also stopped getting bigger and just kept putting out the same sized leaves all year. It's been a slow grower since about the second year I had it(currently about 5 inches tall). I had thought it was because I let it produce baby plants and maybe it was just slow to recover. When I repotted it last week I realized what was going on. The mesh bag that's around the peat disks, that they tell you is bio-degradable, is VERY MUCH not. Ripped bits of it were strangling the roots and holding a bunch of rotten peat in right under the plant. I must have not gotten it all off in previous replantings. Wasn't root bound in the pot but the roots were tangled and swollen near the base of the plant where the mesh was tying it all together. I had to spend an hour picking all of the mesh off every root and washing the glob of peat out pretty aggressively. Was scared I was going to kill the plant but it seems to have survived the ordeal. Only the future will tell if it'll stay pitcherless and tiny.
I have been using the coco starter plugs for a long time with no issues. I think it is because the soil of a nepenthes is constantly soaked/saturated so the natural decomposition is slowed down and that is why the mesh didn't decay. It is also the same reason why nepenthes is a carnivore - there is very little decomposition in its natural swampy habitat. This decomposition process is probably also the reason why your balloon flowers keep coming back, there is probably a whole little eco system going on in that bucket by now.
If someone has 5ft of dead leaves, their system is failing. That is a truly horrendous system and needs immediate repairs. Leaves feed our plants the next season, due to being broken back down. If that isn't occuring, they have dysbiosis.
Supposedly, a DEEP layer of forest floor duff used to be the norm in North America before invasive earthworms radically reshaped the decomposer ecosystem.
He's talking about the jungle, the forrest is so productive that leaves collect that deep before it fully decomposes. Its that productive because of the continuous leaf drop
You've obviously never heard of terra pretta. The five foot of "leaves" he is speaking of is just pile of old broken down foliage but the average depth was 5 inches.
This coincides with my hearing recently from an avocado grower that DG was the best soil for them and appear to love it. Sorry Dad for all that manure you hauled for back in Duluth 50 years ago, RIP.
No dig gardening in native soils has always served me better than any potting mix or raised bed method. The only exception is when I make my own soil mix using the native soils and my own compost for my greenhouse raised beds. Besides that, the only plants I’ve found that actually likes potting mix is cannabis 😂
I don't make compost...isn't Black Kow or similar composted manure and worm casting ok? Peat is much too acidic only add a small amt of peat plus it's not sustainable.
@@beverlycharles6534 add wollastine to the peat or flowable silicon. to reduce ph, . its july 4 my plants are 10 feet tall. peat is a blank slate that needs to be added to. you should not give advise
Yup, welcome to Texas! Lol Growing in clay is difficult! Amending the soil to get stuff to grow is a challenge! At this point I plant sunflowers first to break it up.
I feel like this is neglecting soil biota entirely. The things supposedly aerating high-compost and wood-chip-only techniques are fungus, continual infiltration by roots, and continual soil-dwelling animal action.
I think the main point was that you don't want to grow most plants in plain soilless mixtures because it fails in many situations at the specific things that soils perform. He does mention soil life later and actually uses them in his main argument pointing out that many plants get much of their nutrition through the relationships with other organisms in the rhiosphere. He made a good number of oversimplifications but they are all generally true and he was seemingly making them for the purposes of teaching (because reality is actually pretty complicated/intimidating). From a deeper point of view different plants, plants in different environments, and plants at different phases of their life have difference balances of priorities. The best solution for a plant will be the one that provides for its needs the best (of course considering the support of the wider ecosystem that it relies on as part of that). The general truth that sterile organic based soilless mixtures are generally bad for plants to continually grow in is good. As he points out later on in the video it is good for rapid growth in the early phases but it is not a good fit for the plant's needs as they mature. Ultimate point is true nutrition is (for the vast majority of plants and situations) not the most important thing a plant gets from the soil and even that it can only get from the soil through other life which can only do well if the other conditions are met. Sacrificing all those things in pursuit of 'more nutrition' or 'more SOC' is a bad mindset.
Ya that is what Dr Ingham taught me. However growing in containers with soilless media has taught me other lessons. Potting soilless mixes are crap, but until I saw this video I didn't have the confidence to ditch them. I also wrongly blamed the peat and never questioned my high quality compost and vermicompost integrated into all areas of the pot.
I just use whatever I can get most of the time, the soil is about 6 inches deep of clay, solid rock underneath, about an inch of topsoil on top, so I just go up, I pile whatever I can get on top, I get ok results for growing tomatoes, peppers, herbs, potatoes, flowers too, but I think I get it, there is ideal conditions, I just don’t have them.
@@hanzketchup859 If you listened to Gary he explained back in the day clay soil was gold, because before irrigation its the only soil that grew crops in hot areas without them dying. All you have to do is add SAND on TOP then compost on TOP of the SAND.
@@slickdaddy_tv4499 hey! Thanks alot! I will try that, do you think about an inch of sand will be enough? What kind of sand should it be? I looked at sand for sale and most of it is for concrete but they have fine, medium and coarse. What do you think? Thanks!
where I live on the coast in the Pacific North West the soils are dark and heavy and adding sand is a must. Lots of work. When I visit the interior I am blown away by the growth in my friends' gardens...no "brown" what so ever .. just native sands . Their produce is mind boggling!
Rot is the lack of oxygen which is what happens when earth absorbs too much water and compacts, leaving no room for oxygen which is essential for roots. That’s why people are going away from soil to more airy kind of potting mix and providing nutrients and fertilizer. Personally I think the best alternative to soil is coco chips. It’s not the same to grow plants outside than indoors… indoors you can grow practically any plant in sphagnum moss. I have my avocado tree growing in moss indoors in a glass container and is doing great so far.
I can understand your point somewhat with the soil less mix but your statement that compost is bad for plants goes against everything everybody says I've found that claim very hard to believe. But I did enjoy your video and we'll watch some more.
Interesting, and this info falls un line with what I've been doing for some of my plants. I'll actually dig up soil from outside and amend it as needed. My Gardenias, Citrus and fruit/veggies grown in pots are on cruise control. My houseplants i use the cheapest topsoil I can find because it actually has sand in it and amend that.
First I would like to say thank you for this information that only you talk about. I’m new to this channel and I have already subscribed. I can’t wait to try it out. Second, do you use ph and ec meter when using sand? And three, I was looking for your products on google, can’t find a product or website. Could you tell me where I could purchase your products. Thank you!
I'm fairly knowledgeable about plants. Not a novice. And wow this video changes everything! I'm subscribed and thank you for this video. It all made sense!
Just found the channel and I’m binge watching, this is without a doubt one of the most concentrated collections of great plant knowledge I have found on RUclips!
@@sirgrowsmoor4772 because the root was the same diameter of the tree at its thickest point tapered all the way down, the tree I’m referring to was a ponderosa pine that was 14” in diameter and the tap root broke off at 8 feet deep into the ground
Have you tried Build-a-soil products they have a blend that is literally amazing! Please give us a layman’s break down on their 3.0 soil blend. 🙏please and thank you.
You didn't listen to Gary its simple, LOAM is #1 , Build-a-soil is not LOAM, LOAM is Sand , silt, Clay . The reason the stores are selling you compost potting soil is because its light, like Gary said a #2 pot would weigh 40 pounds, Companys and Nursery's can't make money selling plants in LOAM, so the use ground up " forest product" Will a plant grow in it, yes but only for a short time and they know this. They only need to survive until fall and they made their money off us. They Speed grow plants in compost potting soil , to sell to us Comsumers knowing they will die by fall because of the compost in the soil, but that's ok for them because they made their money already and just repeat the process. Meanwhile our plants slowly die in compost soil and they lie to us and say don't overwater, when there's no such thing, if there's no compost in the soil. Gary grew an Avocado in a glass of water, overwatering is s huge myth its all about your soil.
one bale peat. one big bag perlite . 2 bags vigoro , add humic acid BAC Root Stimulator 511 fish, small amount general hydro micro, kelp, wollastonite , makes about 9 five gallon pots
I just planted 6 silver dream sage in Houston about 3 months ago. Dug the hole 3 times wider than the pot, mixed our clay soil with compost (about 1/2 and 1/2) and filled the hole with sage. Keep the sage above the ground level. Sage don't like a lot of water. I mulched the top with bark mulch and then left it alone. It is growing very well. I am very pleased.
Trying to keep my new avocado tree alive, it's not doing too well but I'm going to move it into a grow bag... Its already been transplanted into a ceramic pot so hopefully another transplant won't kill it. But I think it will die anyway if I don't move it
Best to move in ground .. dig two holes adjacently, fill deeper hole with rocks and connect line rock to the tree hole, so when you water it will move down and over, avocado roots hates standing water
For avocados, plant twin avocados near each other and it will grow fast with robust leaves.This may be a tradition or belief-related but it works for us.
I think this is a ph issue. Bark and peat will become acidic as it decomposes. You need to add sea salt or some kind of lime or oyster shell every other year to buffer the aoil.
No its a Plants don't grow in dead plant's issue, and peat is almost inert its 100's of years old you have no clue what your talking about, and didn't listen to Gary or anyone for that matter. Compost IN THE SOIL causes major problems, Compost goes ON TOP of soil. Do Leaves bury themselves 8 inches into the soil when they fall off a tree??
soil is rocks, gravel, sand, silt, and clay. all rocks. then you put compost with it and you got potting soil. perlite and vermiculite are really close to the soil from the farm. quartz=silica=silicon dioxide, and that is the most common element on the earth's surface. but soil can be colored red by iron, and etc etc. natural soils have less compost but in the rain forest kind of place there is a lot.
I have a LOT of clay soil dug from under the house while replacing all the pipes. Is there ANY WAY of using this clay by mixing with ????. I am tired of buying bags of expensive dirt! I am an 86 1/2 year old widow in a wheelchair and have limited funds and abilities. Any ideas on how to use this clay and make a viable soil out of it will be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!❤️
clay soil is great. just add some organic fertilizers like chicken manure and dehydrated cow manure, or espoma plant tone. i grow a lot of plants in clay soil
Our Top Pot is best for houseplants, which is a mixture of peat moss, pumice, perlite, sand, and charcoal. Fertilizer needs to be added on top, we use osmocote -Brandon
Thanks I’m glad I seen this video early, my wife and I have been noticing something odd about the plants growing like shit with potting mix after a certain point the plants just don’t produce much and are slowly dying off turning yellow and dry even though I water them every evening.
@@reneebaranoski9576I was told that adding sand to clay would make it like cement with even less nutrients for plants. Guess I’m buying some bags of sand
I've mixed bags of gypsum into my clay soil. It does make the soil less dense. As for sand, I've read conflicting advice about mixing sand and clay soil. Garry has suggested it okay to do so. I just don't know anymore, everywhere I look there's conflicting advice
Look to nature. For me, people treat leaves like trash in autumn, so I collect them. Spreading them around in my gardens has been a game changer. And organic hardwood bark mulch.
What I don't agree with is that when something "is saturated" there's no oxygen at all... Water (H2O) exists of oxygen and hydrogen. Plants fungi included) can extract/decompose O and H and transform it together with C intoother things like sugar, so yes there's oxygen in the soil when it's saturated. Maybe not enough to flourish and thrive as should be, but there’s enough to survive.
I'm not convinced. What happens in a wind or when you water. I could be wrong, but plants would tip over in that white sandy soil. There is nothing to hold them in place.
Is amazing how so many people do not get it or pay attention to his common sense science based instructions. I wonder how many of them are from nurseries selling plants in crappy wood compost?
I've tried so many potting mixes, garden soils, compost in bags and by the truckload. ALL of it without exception has been bark mulch and nothing but bark mulch (except for sometimes they add perlite), in various stages of decomposition, but all too chunky to even start seeds in. Here in NW Arkansas the little topsoil is dense clay. I too always thought rich soil had to be dark brown and crumbly. Guess I need a good load of sand!
He is suggesting that using compost is bad for mixing with the soil.But It is fine to lay compost on top(once already planted), and let the nutrients "trickle down" over time --- as opposed to mixing the soil with compost and then using that mixture for planting.
i was meant to find your vid. wow sir, your information makes more common sense than anything i have ever read or heard. it's amazing how dumb down we are to create an industry of soil, commercial nurseries and how to keep your plants thriving so you aren't killing them and buying more. i am done with the commercialism of nature! God Bless and i hope you have workshops coming up so i can attend. i am near pasadena.
This guy is like Terrance Howard, confidently stating something that may have a grain of truth (no pun intended) and then go off on a tangent or not finishing the sentence! Or something specific to an arid/ Mediterranean climates. Another thing that annoyed me is as if these potting mixes exist in a vacuum! Like what do you think pill bugs and worms are doing in your pots? And what about FINISHED compost? The simple smell test with compost eliminates the concern of it not being broken down enough.
interesting that this video is giving information that goes against 99.9% of what the current plant nursery business actually uses every single day and everyone here just seems to accept it as fact. If "soil-less" soil really killed your plants then why don't we see the millions of "soil-less" soil plant deaths every year in the nursery trade? And why wouldn't these nurseries who produce literally millions of plants and exist to make a profit realize this and stop using soil-less soil to increase their profitability? This is a perfect example of don't believe everything you read or hear on the internet.
He is going overboard to prove a point in my experience. You can grow with a lot of compost in your potting soil as long as you have other things in that mix that degrades slower like pumice, Perlite and coco or peat. I have many plants in pure wood compost that have been standing for 4-5 years and they do well.
My uncle follows his methods and his garden has been growing for years and I was always confused as to why I always have to restart and re mineralize the soil
He is right. I almost lost all my indoor plants over few months with this soil until I changed it to topsoil and added organic fertiliser to it This mulch like soil caused root rot
Plants absolutely do "eat quartz" and dozens of other minerals. They do so when the biology is there to break it down. This is not new science and discovered decades ago. With the correct biology applied via compost (checked with a microscope, to confirm), you ABSOLUTELY without question have those minerals within our growing substrates used by the plants. Im struggling to understand why you would ever suggest plants don't use Si, which is what quartz is comprised of chemically.
Anyone who calls soil dirt isnt worth a hoot in my opinion. If youre going to make an educational video, dont start it off by referring to potting mix as soil...i get youre trying to help, but compost/nature has 3.5 billion years of experience and DOES NOT NEED YOUR "TAKE". No offense of course, I know youre just trying to help. But at our expense, so thats why you need to be educated. I dont care if you've been farming wrong for 40 years, or what YOU think plants need. Nature knows, and we cater towards it not away from it for success.
I agree. That put me off when he called soil "dirt". Dirt is what you sweep off your floor, along with food bits and cat hair and dust balls. He isn't convincing me. You can't plant a garden in hard clay and rocks.
This is an extremely important lecture where I learned that compost is a scam, so if that's what you mean by soil-less then the title makes sense; however, the soil you are promoting is also largely or entirely inorganic, which is what I used to think of as soil-less. So you do in fact promote soil-less soil, just not compost?
It is not a scam, jfc. You top dress it to feed your plants, you don't mix it into the soil for most plants. Some plants like tomatoes and cannabis thrive in it. The top layer is the feed layer in nature, just like wood chips, don't bury them. Use them as a mulch layer for trees and shrubs. There is nuance to everything.
@@GuacamoleyNacho I have only used compost as part of a commercial soil mix and now I realize it's a scam because it only lasts a year and then you can't use it again for new plants. Imagine if all the soil in nature had to be replaced every year -- nothing would grow. So we are fooled into using inferior soil while thinking we get something better than just digging it up from the ground. Reality is just the opposite.
Accidently hit Trump 'Donate now' (AS IF) and it went straight to my banking info cards. Didn't even stop to figure out who I was, just cards? Greed. DJT burn in H.......
I love this guy. He talks in a way that I do too!! :)
Thank you so much for your information, so many of our systems have become influenced by academics and yes trying to change the thinking is very very hard. The medical industry is a great example! It is actually killing us! This makes it so difficult to trust anything they come out with!
The title is misleading, because at the end he describes his own mix, which is essentially a soil-less mix.
Lots of good info, but some questionable comments that I feel come from a place of bias rather than objectivity, like tannins turning chlorophyll orange.
Coir and peat are interchangeable in my experience, I've grown healthy plants with both as part of a mix. If your coir is breaking down after a year, you need to find a better supplier. I actually prefer coir due to its stability (it's also much cheaper here).
Pumice, perlite and scoria are interchangeable, there are structural and compositional differences but they matter more to the gardener, the plants don't seem too fussed.
It's also possible to get aged bark that wont break down for many years, so don't completely right it off.
I listened in frustration, having just finished planting a massive garden with the input of compost into my soil, which hadn’t been able to support life before. Fortunately, my garden is full of mycorrhizae, so enough of that sandy mix on top of the clay must be incorporated.
Now you have me planning ways to both mineralize and amend all that added compost. I may seed the entire planted area with strips of sand to help the plants breathe more easily. In future, all compost gets added as top dress. 👍🏻
Thank you. 🙏
Compost isn't the enemy...lack of oxygen is.
Trichoderma and Bacillus subtillus
@@steelmaster73 that's why the biological components inside create that environment. The bacteria make glues and fungi bind them, it's where soil gets its structure 💛💪🌎
@@steelmaster73 I understand that, and thanks for the reinforcement. Right now, everything’s happy. My challenge is to keep it that way.
Love you taking your time to do this!!! I knew most of it but love garden talk 😃
Soulless soil has not killed my plants. There are many interesting ways to grow house plants.
I make my own after many years of failures from store bought
@@taz6122 The weirdest alternative to soil I've heard of (not tried yet) is acrylic yarn on the channel that I think is called Paul the Plant Parent.
@@taz6122what mixture do you use. I’m trying to grow a mango tree from seed and I’m going to use sand perlite Pete moss with 10% organic material.
When I transfer from pot to ground I think I’m pretty good seen as our soil is a very sandy loam and will drain enough for mango. Just trying to dial in a good mixture for potted trees
I’m so glad I found this video. Know I know I can grow plants. In my soil.
Yeah idk. We have rows of basically every composition from sandy clay to fully pete and the closer to the pete side does way better. The forest floor naturally becomes loamy which is “soil less” and that’s where most things grow the best.
You statement is confusing. I don't understand how a forest floor is soil less. It has lots of organic matter on top and soil underneath. What am I missing
No idea what your talking about, Pete is a person, Peat is 100's of years old compost, The forest floor does Not change to loam...
nah, lots of plants cant grow in compost. some grow great in it but a lot dont
@nihlink Just because the peat in your situation does better, does that mean it’s THE best way? Have you taken into consideration other things like soil oxygen, hydrogen, plant available calcium, PH, plant available phosphorus, etc? There is only a finate amount of peat available to gardeners so what ya’ll gonna do if everyone starts using peat and supply can’t keep up with demand? That’s an inevitability if more people use it. and/or when enough time elapses.
I swear, it seems like there are as many ways to raise plants as there are to raise children. So many people get great results using different methods.
Can you grow healthy children with very few if any minerals? How about feeding them liquid petroleum based foods? Do deficiencies in humans present themselves rapidly or generally later in life?
This explains why the balloon flowers I planted 6 years ago in peat moss, sand, and vermiculite in a plastic drink bucket I got from Walmart are doing better than just about everything else I've bought and left in potting soil recently. I haven't even changed the 'soil' out. It's probably just sand and rocks in there by now but they come back stronger and fuller each year so I always feel bad for even considering replanting them elsewhere.
Something else I've recently come to hate, as much as you detest compost based potting soil: those peat moss seed starter disks. I bought a Nepenthes from a specialty grower at around the same time I planted the balloon flowers. I always take the mesh off before I plant anything I've grown in them but he starts his plants in the disks and then replants them into small pots, and consecutively bigger pots for sale. I've been keeping it in a mix of sphagnum moss and a big chunky charcoal/bark/vermiculite orchid potting medium, that gets changed every 2 years when I repot it, since I brought it home.
It's 6 years old now and this past year it's pitchers stopped growing beyond buds even though it looked otherwise healthy. It also stopped getting bigger and just kept putting out the same sized leaves all year. It's been a slow grower since about the second year I had it(currently about 5 inches tall). I had thought it was because I let it produce baby plants and maybe it was just slow to recover.
When I repotted it last week I realized what was going on. The mesh bag that's around the peat disks, that they tell you is bio-degradable, is VERY MUCH not. Ripped bits of it were strangling the roots and holding a bunch of rotten peat in right under the plant. I must have not gotten it all off in previous replantings. Wasn't root bound in the pot but the roots were tangled and swollen near the base of the plant where the mesh was tying it all together. I had to spend an hour picking all of the mesh off every root and washing the glob of peat out pretty aggressively. Was scared I was going to kill the plant but it seems to have survived the ordeal. Only the future will tell if it'll stay pitcherless and tiny.
I have been using the coco starter plugs for a long time with no issues. I think it is because the soil of a nepenthes is constantly soaked/saturated so the natural decomposition is slowed down and that is why the mesh didn't decay. It is also the same reason why nepenthes is a carnivore - there is very little decomposition in its natural swampy habitat. This decomposition process is probably also the reason why your balloon flowers keep coming back, there is probably a whole little eco system going on in that bucket by now.
If someone has 5ft of dead leaves, their system is failing. That is a truly horrendous system and needs immediate repairs. Leaves feed our plants the next season, due to being broken back down. If that isn't occuring, they have dysbiosis.
Supposedly, a DEEP layer of forest floor duff used to be the norm in North America before invasive earthworms radically reshaped the decomposer ecosystem.
He's talking about the jungle, the forrest is so productive that leaves collect that deep before it fully decomposes. Its that productive because of the continuous leaf drop
@@openbooknutrition🙏 The circle of life
You've obviously never heard of terra pretta. The five foot of "leaves" he is speaking of is just pile of old broken down foliage but the average depth was 5 inches.
Hahahaha, when he tore the paper out of the tablet, I was not looking and I thought it was a big ripper lol
This explains a lot. Thank you.
This coincides with my hearing recently from an avocado grower that DG was the best soil for them and appear to love it. Sorry Dad for all that manure you hauled for back in Duluth 50 years ago, RIP.
No dig gardening in native soils has always served me better than any potting mix or raised bed method. The only exception is when I make my own soil mix using the native soils and my own compost for my greenhouse raised beds. Besides that, the only plants I’ve found that actually likes potting mix is cannabis 😂
I don't make compost...isn't Black Kow or similar composted manure and worm casting ok? Peat is much too acidic only add a small amt of peat plus it's not sustainable.
@beverlycharles6534 no they are not created equal at all
All flowers pretty much, all vegetables and fruits. Actually there's allot that like it. Try again
@@dmo848that’s cool, go ahead and buy a bunch of soil mix then. Have fun with that 👍🏻
@@beverlycharles6534 add wollastine to the peat or flowable silicon. to reduce ph, . its july 4 my plants are 10 feet tall. peat is a blank slate that needs to be added to. you should not give advise
"The plants are commiting suicide in the clay" 😂😂😂 classic
Yup, welcome to Texas! Lol Growing in clay is difficult! Amending the soil to get stuff to grow is a challenge! At this point I plant sunflowers first to break it up.
Thank you so much sir .
Im a young grower and will pass down this knowledge once I implement it. So 🔥🔥
Just don't pass down the "so 🔥🔥"
@@FullmoonEffects89 shut up boomer
I feel like this is neglecting soil biota entirely. The things supposedly aerating high-compost and wood-chip-only techniques are fungus, continual infiltration by roots, and continual soil-dwelling animal action.
I think the main point was that you don't want to grow most plants in plain soilless mixtures because it fails in many situations at the specific things that soils perform.
He does mention soil life later and actually uses them in his main argument pointing out that many plants get much of their nutrition through the relationships with other organisms in the rhiosphere.
He made a good number of oversimplifications but they are all generally true and he was seemingly making them for the purposes of teaching (because reality is actually pretty complicated/intimidating). From a deeper point of view different plants, plants in different environments, and plants at different phases of their life have difference balances of priorities. The best solution for a plant will be the one that provides for its needs the best (of course considering the support of the wider ecosystem that it relies on as part of that).
The general truth that sterile organic based soilless mixtures are generally bad for plants to continually grow in is good. As he points out later on in the video it is good for rapid growth in the early phases but it is not a good fit for the plant's needs as they mature.
Ultimate point is true nutrition is (for the vast majority of plants and situations) not the most important thing a plant gets from the soil and even that it can only get from the soil through other life which can only do well if the other conditions are met. Sacrificing all those things in pursuit of 'more nutrition' or 'more SOC' is a bad mindset.
Ya that is what Dr Ingham taught me. However growing in containers with soilless media has taught me other lessons. Potting soilless mixes are crap, but until I saw this video I didn't have the confidence to ditch them. I also wrongly blamed the peat and never questioned my high quality compost and vermicompost integrated into all areas of the pot.
I just use whatever I can get most of the time, the soil is about 6 inches deep of clay, solid rock underneath, about an inch of topsoil on top, so I just go up, I pile whatever I can get on top, I get ok results for growing tomatoes, peppers, herbs, potatoes, flowers too, but I think I get it, there is ideal conditions, I just don’t have them.
@@hanzketchup859 If you listened to Gary he explained back in the day clay soil was gold, because before irrigation its the only soil that grew crops in hot areas without them dying. All you have to do is add SAND on TOP then compost on TOP of the SAND.
@@slickdaddy_tv4499 hey! Thanks alot! I will try that, do you think about an inch of sand will be enough? What kind of sand should it be? I looked at sand for sale and most of it is for concrete but they have fine, medium and coarse. What do you think? Thanks!
where I live on the coast in the Pacific North West the soils are dark and heavy and adding sand is a must. Lots of work. When I visit the interior I am blown away by the growth in my friends' gardens...no "brown" what so ever .. just native sands . Their produce is mind boggling!
Driving through Lithuania. Many deep green fields, and the soil looked like gray sand
Thank you for sharing!!!
Rot is the lack of oxygen which is what happens when earth absorbs too much water and compacts, leaving no room for oxygen which is essential for roots. That’s why people are going away from soil to more airy kind of potting mix and providing nutrients and fertilizer. Personally I think the best alternative to soil is coco chips. It’s not the same to grow plants outside than indoors… indoors you can grow practically any plant in sphagnum moss. I have my avocado tree growing in moss indoors in a glass container and is doing great so far.
I can understand your point somewhat with the soil less mix but your statement that compost is bad for plants goes against everything everybody says I've found that claim very hard to believe. But I did enjoy your video and we'll watch some more.
He is the man.
You can grow in woodchips with plain water but in topsoil compost tea is a must.
Does the nutritional value of edible plants change between soiless and compost based.
Interesting, and this info falls un line with what I've been doing for some of my plants. I'll actually dig up soil from outside and amend it as needed. My Gardenias, Citrus and fruit/veggies grown in pots are on cruise control. My houseplants i use the cheapest topsoil I can find because it actually has sand in it and amend that.
How to use or mix sandy loam for peppers ?
Great info! stay away from 5-1-1 soil or people that recommend it
First I would like to say thank you for this information that only you talk about. I’m new to this channel and I have already subscribed. I can’t wait to try it out. Second, do you use ph and ec meter when using sand? And three, I was looking for your products on google, can’t find a product or website. Could you tell me where I could purchase your products. Thank you!
I think overwatering can rot if trying to grow cuttings. The roots probably need to be more mature. But I agree with the concept.
I'm fairly knowledgeable about plants. Not a novice. And wow this video changes everything! I'm subscribed and thank you for this video. It all made sense!
Just found the channel and I’m binge watching, this is without a doubt one of the most concentrated collections of great plant knowledge I have found on RUclips!
I have personally found tap roots in nature, tap roots going 8-12 feet into the ground. you are pretty arrogant to think otherwise.
Ya I questioned this point as well.
I think uncommon would have been a better choice of words
How do you know that's a tap root and not just a long root?
@@sirgrowsmoor4772 because the root was the same diameter of the tree at its thickest point tapered all the way down, the tree I’m referring to was a ponderosa pine that was 14” in diameter and the tap root broke off at 8 feet deep into the ground
Have you tried Build-a-soil products they have a blend that is literally amazing! Please give us a layman’s break down on their 3.0 soil blend. 🙏please and thank you.
opposite of his idea of a premium soil
@@lootbird it’s not a big box brand and is made with actual science behind it so it’s not full of chemicals and marketing.
You didn't listen to Gary its simple, LOAM is #1 , Build-a-soil is not LOAM, LOAM is Sand , silt, Clay . The reason the stores are selling you compost potting soil is because its light, like Gary said a #2 pot would weigh 40 pounds, Companys and Nursery's can't make money selling plants in LOAM, so the use ground up " forest product"
Will a plant grow in it, yes but only for a short time and they know this. They only need to survive until fall and they made their money off us. They Speed grow plants in compost potting soil , to sell to us Comsumers knowing they will die by fall because of the compost in the soil, but that's ok for them because they made their money already and just repeat the process. Meanwhile our plants slowly die in compost soil and they lie to us and say don't overwater, when there's no such thing, if there's no compost in the soil. Gary grew an Avocado in a glass of water, overwatering is s huge myth its all about your soil.
Thank you so much!
I was so disappointed in my potting mix from miracle grow I have used it and loved it. Not this year.
one bale peat. one big bag perlite . 2 bags vigoro , add humic acid BAC Root Stimulator 511 fish, small amount general hydro micro, kelp, wollastonite , makes about 9 five gallon pots
What’s your opinion of
“Mel’s Mix”. Should I add sand?
Mind boggling..
What type of soil mix would you recommend for Texas Sage shrub ? I want to put in ground , but I have heavy clay in southeast TX.
I just planted 6 silver dream sage in Houston about 3 months ago. Dug the hole 3 times wider than the pot, mixed our clay soil with compost (about 1/2 and 1/2) and filled the hole with sage. Keep the sage above the ground level. Sage don't like a lot of water. I mulched the top with bark mulch and then left it alone. It is growing very well. I am very pleased.
ship me some of your clay soil! a lot of plants like clay in the soil
So, seems compost should be nearby or thin layer above, but not blended into the soil, except by earthworms?
Hummm, so adding sand and native soil to pots would be your best bet for pot's and containers
heavy
I wondered why some plants I buy act like they are dry even after watering.
root rot or bound. transplant immediately after buying
Trying to keep my new avocado tree alive, it's not doing too well but I'm going to move it into a grow bag... Its already been transplanted into a ceramic pot so hopefully another transplant won't kill it. But I think it will die anyway if I don't move it
Best to move in ground .. dig two holes adjacently, fill deeper hole with rocks and connect line rock to the tree hole, so when you water it will move down and over, avocado roots hates standing water
Avocado hates hard water, I gave up because our tap water is too salty.
Just get another tree. Start over.
ruclips.net/user/liveUEIKUVHdfjc?si=rZZLNiI14AMf32lv
For avocados, plant twin avocados near each other and it will grow fast with robust leaves.This may be a tradition or belief-related but it works for us.
I think this is a ph issue. Bark and peat will become acidic as it decomposes. You need to add sea salt or some kind of lime or oyster shell every other year to buffer the aoil.
No its a Plants don't grow in dead plant's issue, and peat is almost inert its 100's of years old you have no clue what your talking about, and didn't listen to Gary or anyone for that matter. Compost IN THE SOIL causes major problems, Compost goes ON TOP of soil. Do Leaves bury themselves 8 inches into the soil when they fall off a tree??
What is duct tape doing on a bag of Miracle Grow?
soil is rocks, gravel, sand, silt, and clay. all rocks. then you put compost with it and you got potting soil. perlite and vermiculite are really close to the soil from the farm. quartz=silica=silicon dioxide, and that is the most common element on the earth's surface. but soil can be colored red by iron, and etc etc. natural soils have less compost but in the rain forest kind of place there is a lot.
what about the amazon??
well, the industry wants us to buy new plants every now and then
That's for certain!
I have a LOT of clay soil dug from under the house while replacing all the pipes. Is there ANY WAY of using this clay by mixing with ????. I am tired of buying bags of expensive dirt! I am an 86 1/2 year old widow in a wheelchair and have limited funds and abilities. Any ideas on how to use this clay and make a viable soil out of it will be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU!❤️
clay soil is great. just add some organic fertilizers like chicken manure and dehydrated cow manure, or espoma plant tone. i grow a lot of plants in clay soil
Thank you.. great observations and conclusion.
So what in the world should i grow my houseplants in? I just want to know, that's all. And will my plants need fertilizer? I'm so confused.
Our Top Pot is best for houseplants, which is a mixture of peat moss, pumice, perlite, sand, and charcoal. Fertilizer needs to be added on top, we use osmocote -Brandon
Thanks I’m glad I seen this video early, my wife and I have been noticing something odd about the plants growing like shit with potting mix after a certain point the plants just don’t produce much and are slowly dying off turning yellow and dry even though I water them every evening.
In Texas our roots are quite deep because we have wind😂
Dude. You are freaking amazing. I love you so much. Thank you for this. You are a total bad ass.
How do you fix a very clay soil?
Put a lot of sand in it and then top it with organic matter.
@@reneebaranoski9576I was told that adding sand to clay would make it like cement with even less nutrients for plants. Guess I’m buying some bags of sand
I've mixed bags of gypsum into my clay soil. It does make the soil less dense. As for sand, I've read conflicting advice about mixing sand and clay soil. Garry has suggested it okay to do so. I just don't know anymore, everywhere I look there's conflicting advice
Look to nature. For me, people treat leaves like trash in autumn, so I collect them. Spreading them around in my gardens has been a game changer. And organic hardwood bark mulch.
What I don't agree with is that when something "is saturated" there's no oxygen at all... Water (H2O) exists of oxygen and hydrogen. Plants fungi included) can extract/decompose O and H and transform it together with C intoother things like sugar, so yes there's oxygen in the soil when it's saturated. Maybe not enough to flourish and thrive as should be, but there’s enough to survive.
It doesn't kill your plants. Neglect and not feeding and taking care of them is what kills them.
I'm not convinced. What happens in a wind or when you water. I could be wrong, but plants would tip over in that white sandy soil. There is nothing to hold them in place.
Hmmm, isn't sand super heavy though?
Is amazing how so many people do not get it or pay attention to his common sense science based instructions. I wonder how many of them are from nurseries selling plants in crappy wood compost?
I've tried so many potting mixes, garden soils, compost in bags and by the truckload. ALL of it without exception has been bark mulch and nothing but bark mulch (except for sometimes they add perlite), in various stages of decomposition, but all too chunky to even start seeds in. Here in NW Arkansas the little topsoil is dense clay. I too always thought rich soil had to be dark brown and crumbly. Guess I need a good load of sand!
🤯
So, compost is bad?
He is suggesting that using compost is bad for mixing with the soil.But It is fine to lay compost on top(once already planted), and let the nutrients "trickle down" over time --- as opposed to mixing the soil with compost and then using that mixture for planting.
Is that a Kangaroo Paw bottom left hand of screen?
Yes
i was meant to find your vid. wow sir, your information makes more common sense than anything i have ever read or heard. it's amazing how dumb down we are to create an industry of soil, commercial nurseries and how to keep your plants thriving so you aren't killing them and buying more. i am done with the commercialism of nature! God Bless and i hope you have workshops coming up so i can attend. i am near pasadena.
Where's Gary's rock?
Up ur crack 🤪
This guy is like Terrance Howard, confidently stating something that may have a grain of truth (no pun intended) and then go off on a tangent or not finishing the sentence! Or something specific to an arid/ Mediterranean climates.
Another thing that annoyed me is as if these potting mixes exist in a vacuum! Like what do you think pill bugs and worms are doing in your pots? And what about FINISHED compost? The simple smell test with compost eliminates the concern of it not being broken down enough.
interesting that this video is giving information that goes against 99.9% of what the current plant nursery business actually uses every single day and everyone here just seems to accept it as fact. If "soil-less" soil really killed your plants then why don't we see the millions of "soil-less" soil plant deaths every year in the nursery trade? And why wouldn't these nurseries who produce literally millions of plants and exist to make a profit realize this and stop using soil-less soil to increase their profitability? This is a perfect example of don't believe everything you read or hear on the internet.
He says it's fine for one year but not as a permanent potting soil and it depends on the plant too
He is going overboard to prove a point in my experience. You can grow with a lot of compost in your potting soil as long as you have other things in that mix that degrades slower like pumice, Perlite and coco or peat.
I have many plants in pure wood compost that have been standing for 4-5 years and they do well.
My uncle follows his methods and his garden has been growing for years and I was always confused as to why I always have to restart and re mineralize the soil
You do realize plants actually don’t need soil to live right ?
He is right. I almost lost all my indoor plants over few months with this soil until I changed it to topsoil and added organic fertiliser to it
This mulch like soil caused root rot
AZ we have caliche nothing prospers only natives🤔
I disagree. Water more
Plants absolutely do "eat quartz" and dozens of other minerals. They do so when the biology is there to break it down. This is not new science and discovered decades ago. With the correct biology applied via compost (checked with a microscope, to confirm), you ABSOLUTELY without question have those minerals within our growing substrates used by the plants. Im struggling to understand why you would ever suggest plants don't use Si, which is what quartz is comprised of chemically.
Plants give off oxygen and breathe in carbon dioxide is what I was taught in science in school
Both. They do both
Not in equal amounts so we simplify it by saying they produce oxygen
why does this sound like conspiracy theory?
Because you watch to many movie's
This is the knowledge that we need to grow marijuana. Now do a video on how to grow weed.
Anyone who calls soil dirt isnt worth a hoot in my opinion. If youre going to make an educational video, dont start it off by referring to potting mix as soil...i get youre trying to help, but compost/nature has 3.5 billion years of experience and DOES NOT NEED YOUR "TAKE". No offense of course, I know youre just trying to help. But at our expense, so thats why you need to be educated. I dont care if you've been farming wrong for 40 years, or what YOU think plants need. Nature knows, and we cater towards it not away from it for success.
I agree. That put me off when he called soil "dirt". Dirt is what you sweep off your floor, along with food bits and cat hair and dust balls. He isn't convincing me. You can't plant a garden in hard clay and rocks.
@@debbino4249 yea, and anyone complaining about compost likely has never touched a biological bright field microscope lol
Lol my whole garden is clay and sand only.
Lol not good to start your demonstration with Miracle Gro... and calling dirt, soil. That's just wrong wong!!
This is an extremely important lecture where I learned that compost is a scam, so if that's what you mean by soil-less then the title makes sense; however, the soil you are promoting is also largely or entirely inorganic, which is what I used to think of as soil-less. So you do in fact promote soil-less soil, just not compost?
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
It is not a scam, jfc. You top dress it to feed your plants, you don't mix it into the soil for most plants.
Some plants like tomatoes and cannabis thrive in it. The top layer is the feed layer in nature, just like wood chips, don't bury them. Use them as a mulch layer for trees and shrubs. There is nuance to everything.
why is compost a scam? Do u buy packaged compost or make your own? How your plants do with the compost?
@@GuacamoleyNacho I have only used compost as part of a commercial soil mix and now I realize it's a scam because it only lasts a year and then you can't use it again for new plants. Imagine if all the soil in nature had to be replaced every year -- nothing would grow. So we are fooled into using inferior soil while thinking we get something better than just digging it up from the ground. Reality is just the opposite.
Accidently hit Trump 'Donate now' (AS IF) and it went straight to my banking info cards. Didn't even stop to figure out who I was, just cards? Greed. DJT burn in H.......
Deranged TDS sufferer right here folks.