How do I choose the best substrate?

05.01.2021 · 1 min

To enjoy great results with our indoor or outdoor crops, vegetable plots or urban gardens and medicinal, aromatic or garden plants, it is essential to opt for the best substrate to use in our containers and plant pots. The substrate serves the purpose of sustaining and nourishing the plants as a natural substitute for the soil.

What we call soil covers only approximately 30% of the earth's surface. Not much, right? Nonetheless, it's easy to observe how plants of all species and latitudes compete for the minimum available space in order to put down roots there. But as small and limited as it may be, the soil needs to fulfil a series of basic characteristics or properties in order for the plant to be able to fully develop. These characteristics are: texture, nutrients and an adequate pH.

The food chain that creates good soil

At Meliflor, we are aware of this and recognise the importance of ensuring that a good substrate contains organic material as part of its composition, since this attracts a plethora of living species: bacteria, fungi, protozoa, earthworms, insects and even small mammals. These all feed on each other as well on the organic waste of plants and animals already decomposing in the soil, and some species also form a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the plants. Others merely contribute to the equilibrium of the underground food web. As a result of this food chain, plants are able to feed on the final nutrients generated. A natural example of where this occurs is in natural peat bogs, areas of the earth's surface that are the result of the decomposition and compaction of huge quantities of organic material. It is from these places that the peat manufacturers use in our mixtures is extracted.

How can we identify healthy soil?

Healthy soil should have all of this micro and macrobiotic life, as well as a specific texture. Various studies show that, in general, the roots of plants develop optimally when approximately 50% of the soil is made up of fixed particles (mineral and organic) and the remaining 50% consists of water and air. This makes sense when we remember that plants can only absorb dissolved nutrients and that underground organisms need oxygen to survive.

To make your life easier, you have the products by Meliflor, which combine rich organic mixtures of blonde and black peats with proportionate quantities of coco coir and perlite in order to achieve that healthy texture.

So you can stop worrying about the health of your soil!