Used to think you needed fancy soil mixes for succulents, but a talk at the community garden in Raleigh changed my mind

I was always buying those expensive cactus blends and adding perlite and sand. Last month at the Raleigh community garden workshop, a master gardener just dumped a bunch of regular potting soil and mixed in some crushed gravel from her driveway. She said the key is drainage, not fancy ingredients. I tried it on my jade plant and it's been fine. Has anyone else found a cheap hack that works better than store bought stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameronf885d ago

Oh man, just a heads up - crushed gravel from a driveway might have a lot of dust and fines in it that can actually hold water instead of draining it. In my experience, you want something more like chicken grit or coarse sand, but hey, if it's working for your jade, roll with it.

victorhill5d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the dust and fines thing is real, I heard somewhere that crushed limestone is especially bad for that because it basically turns into concrete when it gets wet.