The right substrate for your plant can make a huge difference to how they grow, how fast they grow, and how big they grow. Different substrates provide different amounts of nutrients, water retention, and drainage. It's important to know if your plant originates from a desert, jungle, cloud forest, or other - this will give you a hint on if they'd prefer a more sandy soil, something that holds more moisture, or something more akin to sphagnum moss. In this article, I'll cover some of the best substrates I've found that I use everyday for my plants.
Soil
Soil is a common substrate, but not all soils are created equal. The type of soil used can significantly impact plant growth and health. For the best growth, it's essential to choose a high-quality soil that provides adequate drainage, aeration, and nutrients. Many plants require well-draining soil that allows excess water to drain away from the roots. Soil that retains too much moisture can lead to root rot and other diseases. That's why it's essential to ensure that the soil provides adequate aeration to the plant's roots. Compacted soil can limit oxygen availability and inhibit root growth. Adding things like coco coir, perlite or leca to the soil can help improve aeration and may provide additional nutrients. When using soil as a substrate, it's important to ensure that the soil is sterile to prevent soil-borne diseases. If you reuse old soil, you should look into sterilizing it before using it for valuable houseplants.
Sphagnum Moss
Sphagnum moss is a great substrate to use for many plants, as it helps increase the humidity around your plant, and it will help your plant to grow roots that can be easily transferred to soil in the future if desired. I use sphagnum moss personally for propagating, and some plants I leave in moss even as they grow older. Keep in mind that plants in moss can dry out quickly if you are not keeping an eye on them. You may want to put a layer of leca down first, and then the moss on top of that. This will allow you to keep a small reservoir of water at the bottom, and the leca will transfer it to the moss as the moss begins to dry out.
Make sure when purchasing sphagnum moss that you are purchasing a high quality, non-poached product. Typically, you'll want to choose moss that originated in New Zealand.
Leca
Leca is a natural substrate made of lightweight expanded clay pellets. They are porous which allows them to pull water up as the plants' roots need them, but won't 'overwater' the plant. I find leca is a great way to propagate something that has had trouble in moss.
Leca can be boiled in water and reused, so it is a great longterm option for a substrate. Do keep in mind that leca does not provide any nutrients, so you may need to fertilize plants growing in leca more often than other plants.
There are many other options for substrates to grow your plants in, but these are the ones I have personally use, and can recommend. Let me know if you've found great successes with other substrates - I'd love to hear your experiences!
