#philodendron Is it big enough for me to chop it?
I want to restart my philodendron pink princess to make it grow more leaves and to make it fuller since the lower leaves don't have a lot of them I want to put them in a chunky soil mix the three ingredients that i have are coco husk chips, biochar, and perlite which i want to mix with the indoor soil that i have and the pot that i got for it is not too big for it also how many cups should i mix into the soil?
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Best Answer
@UpfrontDisphyma so as far as chopping and propagating your plant you can cut between any two leaf nodes on the main stem of the plant and if you stick that new node in water, it should grow roots. Of course, probably let the fresh cut and dry for a couple hours before you stick it in water to prevent root rot. οΏΌπ
as far as the chunky soil mix goes I think you are on the right track with the ingredients that you have. I am big fan of the Coco husk chips and the biochar. A friend here on Greg recommended that I try the large size chunky perlite for my chunky soil mix and I ordered it on Amazon and it has been absolutely wonderful. The Perlite that you have is not bad either, but you might use it more and other situations at least thatβs what I found so that might be something to experiment with whether you like the small pear light in the chunky soil mix or the big stuff or maybe even both mixed together. Over the years Iβve tried several times to make chunky soil mixes mixed with regular potting soil. And I really thought I was making a great mix and several times I have killed those repotted plants. I will say itβs probably partly just from all the stresses of repotting and other errors that I probably made along the way. I also think that maybe some of the potting mixes I was making up or too dense because of the amount of regular potting soil. I was putting in like I think it was just packing around all those chunky ingredients and be just as dense, if not more than potting soil alone if that makes sense. What I have found works best for me. Lately is making a chunky soil mix that is almost exclusively the chunky ingredients with only a little sprinkle of any sort of potting soil. So I do the Coco husk chips. Letβs say like 2 to 3 cups of that, then a slightly smaller amount of orchid bark maybe 2 cups, roughly 2 cups of the large size perlite, and then like a quarter cup of the biochar. Then to that whole mix, I might add a half cup of potting soil, but itβs really not even necessary at that point for most plants. Water will run straight through that mix quickly put the Coco House chips do retain their moisture for probably about the same amount of time that the potting soil wood so you may still be able to water on a regular one to two week basis, even with the chunky soil mix just have to kind of check it periodically and check what your plant looks like to get used to it.
as far as the chunky soil mix goes I think you are on the right track with the ingredients that you have. I am big fan of the Coco husk chips and the biochar. A friend here on Greg recommended that I try the large size chunky perlite for my chunky soil mix and I ordered it on Amazon and it has been absolutely wonderful. The Perlite that you have is not bad either, but you might use it more and other situations at least thatβs what I found so that might be something to experiment with whether you like the small pear light in the chunky soil mix or the big stuff or maybe even both mixed together. Over the years Iβve tried several times to make chunky soil mixes mixed with regular potting soil. And I really thought I was making a great mix and several times I have killed those repotted plants. I will say itβs probably partly just from all the stresses of repotting and other errors that I probably made along the way. I also think that maybe some of the potting mixes I was making up or too dense because of the amount of regular potting soil. I was putting in like I think it was just packing around all those chunky ingredients and be just as dense, if not more than potting soil alone if that makes sense. What I have found works best for me. Lately is making a chunky soil mix that is almost exclusively the chunky ingredients with only a little sprinkle of any sort of potting soil. So I do the Coco husk chips. Letβs say like 2 to 3 cups of that, then a slightly smaller amount of orchid bark maybe 2 cups, roughly 2 cups of the large size perlite, and then like a quarter cup of the biochar. Then to that whole mix, I might add a half cup of potting soil, but itβs really not even necessary at that point for most plants. Water will run straight through that mix quickly put the Coco House chips do retain their moisture for probably about the same amount of time that the potting soil wood so you may still be able to water on a regular one to two week basis, even with the chunky soil mix just have to kind of check it periodically and check what your plant looks like to get used to it.
I use a go to which is close to what u say , and my plants love it. Other than my Cacti I use Cacti Mix. But I use Moisture Control Soil, with liberal amounts of perlite, orchid bark, which seems to work for 28 tropical plants 5 on Moss Poles
