Substrate

I think before I continue to talk more about plants in my blog, it's better that I tell you first about the different kinds of substrate you can use for your plants. It's one of the most important things to choose the right substrate for your lovely plants. 

Generally, you can use green plant soil for all your houseplants. However, some plants need special substrate, like cacti and succulents. Furthermore, you don't want to see fungus gnats in your apartment flying around. But sometimes, we didn't think so far. 

Wait a moment! Substrate is a growth medium for plants. Sometimes, we are confused about the difference between substrate and soil. They are the same, so, if we talk about the substrate, it includes soil, grow stones, coconut coir, sand, expanded clay aggregate, and so on.

When I was doing gardening for the first time, I just bought some soil without thinking about the future. So, what happened after repotting plants into the soil?! I saw so many fungus gnats flying around the plant pots and everywhere in my apartment. That was a terrible time. The gnats are not dangerous to us, but sometimes they can destroy your plant roots or seedlings. So, before you buy some substrates, I will share with you some tips:

Identifying and Handling Fungus Gnats

yellow sticky trap

Fungus gnats look like mosquitos, but their size is smaller and they are very dark. They belong to the family of Sciaridae. Their larvae grow in the soil. People who have houseplants will encounter the problem very often. Even plant pros have this problem, because in the apartment we can't create a complete ecosystem. That's why there is no food chain. It makes fungus gnats produce larvae without anything that can stop them. 

If the fungus gnats already attacked your apartment, don't worry! Here are some solutions: 
First, handle it with yellow sticky traps. They just kill the adult fungus gnats, though. At least, it keeps the adults from producing larvae. I tried to put some garlic or matches in the soil, but it didn't work well. I think the yellow sticky traps are the best way.

this was from summer last year

To destroy the larvae, I got a recommendation from my friend to water plants with nematodes (a worm which eats larvae). If you want to do this method, please keep the soil moist to keep the nematodes alive. It isn't dangerous for your plants or yourself. It's better to do it in spring or summer because you water your plants a bit more. 

In the future to avoid fungus gnats you should not overwater your plants. Never let the top of the soil wet.

An Environment-Friendly Substrate

coconut coir

An environmentally friendly and cheap substrates is coconut coir. If you use coconut coir, there will be no fungus gnats because coconut coir is pest free. If you buy it, it's also easy to transport, not heavy. Before you use it, you should put it in a bucket that can load ten liters of water. Then for 600gr coconut coir, you put four liters of warm water into the bucket. coconut coir doesn't contain nutrients. If you choose this substrate, you need fertilizer to give your plants nutrients. 

Almost all plants can grow in coconut coir in my experience. Unfortunately, cacti and succulents need other substrates like soil mixed with quartz gravel or sand and perlite. 

open and put it in a bucket 

add 4 liters of warm water 

5 minutes later, ready to be used

Mix the Substrate Yourself

different substrates

Mixing the substrate yourself is another good way to avoid pests. However, this method is more expensive than using only one substrate because you have to buy different substrates. But it is worth it and has worked very well for me so far. Normally, I mix together almost all my substrates out of 50% coconut coir, 15% perlite, 15% plant granulate, 10% quartz gravel or sand, and 10% sphagnum moss. These mixed substrates provide good drainage. However, wether I use sphagnum moss depends on which plant I want to put in. Its purpose is to keep plants moist. sphagnum moss is very good for getting plant cuttings to develope roots. Just stick the cuttings into the moss and generously spray them with water. The moss will help retaining the moisture.
Usually, I use quartz sand(very small), when I mixed the substrate used in the picture it was not available. So, I replaced it with quartz gravel. It looks bigger, as you can see in the picture.

*Subtrates in the above picture from top left to bottom: plant
granulate, sphagnum moss, perlite, quartz gravel and coconut coir. I just want to show you what they look like, disregarding the correct amounts relative to each other.

I hope, these tips help you to get a good overview about substrates and aids you in choosing the right one, before you plant. 

See you in the next article where I will share my avocado plant experiences. I am excited to write about it. 

Stay healthy!

Xoxo, Rita

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links to products on amazon Germany. If you use the links to navigate to amazon and buy something (even if it is not the item the link leads to) I will receive a percentage of the purchasing cost. It doesn't cost you any extra but really helps me. So, feel free to use these links for any purchases you might want to make. Thank you guys! 

Here again the list of products in this article:

coconut coir
sand
quartz gravel
perlite
yellow sticky traps
plant granulate