Hi I'm a fairly new subscriber and fairly new to indoor plants in u.k. their has been an indoor plant explosion since covid and some weird stuff of purification of air anyway... I've had a few losses in a couple of years due to ignorance and not knowing about substrate to use as I feel that these industrial companies that initially grow these plants use coir or similar for long life and easy maintenance whilst waiting to be picked off the shelf. So I think that the substrate is all wrong that they are packaged into. Making them easy to soak initially but not drain well in order for long shelf lives.
My indoor aloecasia begginer
- Thread starter youngalistairyoung@yahoo.
- Start date
Chuck
Moderator
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2014
- Messages
- 11,646
- Reaction score
- 5,725
- Location
- La Porte Texas
- Hardiness Zone
- 8b
- Country
Coir and peat have no nutritional values and this is why commercial growers use it. They have their plants on a strict feeding and watering schedule that ensures rapid growth. But, when a customer buys a plant this schedule stops and the plant becomes challenged. This is why it is important to repot your new plants before the plant becomes rootbound or suffers nutrient deficiencies and either stunts the plant or enables a disease to affect the plant.
I found the coir/peat mix breaks down fast into a compressed powder that clumps around the roots and stops the plant taking up moisture easily it waterproofs itself. Watering from the top doesn't help much either but even watering from the bottom has mixed results as plant has now water proofed itself. I find large plants particularly difficult to water because the capillary action only seems to go up 4 inches when put overnight in a bucket so then have to water from top also. My fault as I let my plants dry out too much sometimes.