why no one makes self supporting potting soil?

Question

If plant's have lived all by themselves for millions of years why do we need to feed them when using potting soil?
Do they purposley make inferior soil to sell fertilizers?

Why can I put a plant in the back yard and it grows just fine?

Answer 1

technically because soil is not supposed to be nutritious to begin with. it is a substrate through which the roots can grow to seek out moisture, oxygen, and nutrients.

Soils do not contain the same set of nutrients across the world and that is why some plants are only native to very specific conditions and climates. Trying to grow them anywhere they did not naturally occur requires us to temper the local soil with fertilizers to, well, make the soil more fertile for what we're trying to grow...and each fertilizer, technically, should be specific to the plant you are growing although there are huge areas of overlap and tolerances that you can end up with a couple "general purpose" fertilizers out there.

However, to attempt to put them all within a bag of potting soil would be extremely counter productive. If you were growing baby roses in the soil and expected it to be pre-fertilized as such you would end up with soil that would be caustic and burn most bulbed plants.

Does that make any sense?

Answer 2

All good answers, gang! The key point is that potting soil is not soil. It is composted material that has chemistry added to it to make it hospitable to plant growth. The plant uses the chemicals up, eventually. Having that plant food added to the soil allows continued growth in an artificial soil.

I dont know of any single plant that has survived for millions of years. Plants grow and die. They decay and their nutrients and their organic materials go back in to the soil and help feed the next generation of plants. It's the circle of life for plants.. (do I hear The Lion King music???)

Potting soil is used because it is lighter in weight and more freindly to plant growth IN CONTAINERS. A plant will send out enough roots to get what it needs in the earth.. or it will die trying. In a container, you have to put in the soil what the plant needs, or it dies.. simple as that.

Potting soil needs fertilizer to grow plants. So does earth soil. Fertilizer, plain and simple is plant FOOD. If nutrients and food aren't available, plants won't grow in either.

The assertion that potting soil is made inferior just to sell fertilizer is just silly. Potting soil is inferior because the public doesn't want to pay more than a dollar and a half for a bag of soil. You get what you pay for.. there's a REAL difference in what's in cheap potting soil vs. good potting soil. Good soil is pH buffered, contains starter fertilizers and micronutrients. It has proper drainage characteristics and holds the correct amount of moisture, it has the right blend of fine and coarse particles and the proper balance of components.

Spend a few bucks on your potting soil. You will be MUCH happier.

Answer 3

a potted plant does not have access to the wide variety of nutrients that a plant in the wild would get from it's native soils.

add to that the possible need for insulation of the soil, due to the fact that it is exposed to the natural elements greater than that of native ground soils.

lastly, potted plants tend to be raised in highly organic, fertilized conditions, requiring similar soils for continued success.

quite unnatural, but a necessary "evil"

Answer 4

No ask your self they die. first of all do away with the plastic pots. you will possibly desire to verify the the rest ceramic/clay pot to the size of your flora. in no way use plastic to line a planter. Gravel/stone of different sizes is the ideal. And that planting soil mixed with the plastic purely provides up as you drown the flora. Get your self the main important planters, ceramic/clay, you're able to have adequate money. If room facilitates, make 2 evergreen, 2 annual, and one your fruit planting. place the fruit in middle, with the evergreens surrounding and the annuals on the exterior. boost them off the exterior with the help of any ability it is appealing to you. the backside of each planter might desire to have a minimum of an entire 2 to 3 inches of stone. each planter must even have weep holes for severe water. The soil combination might desire to journey the plantings you're making. The annuals % in basic terms familiar topsoil. The evergreens might % a mixture of topsoil and an acidic miricle-strengthen soil. The Fruit Tree relies upon on the tree. Plant the annuals you like and want for the ideal. For evergreen planters I propose you place creeping cotoneaster on the exterior of the planter and a topiary evergreen inclusive of a blue spruce or norway spruce interior the middle. The fruit tree you like could be present day in many cataloges. there are a number of dwarft kinds on the marketplace, including, one which produces extremely some varities of apples on one tree. good success

Answer 5

well first of all the soil that was here millions of years ago is no longer available for us to use.it down in the earth now,and we have depleted the earth of alot of its natural minerals and vitamins for our own use and consumption.so now there is no way for us to have that such fertal soil as a million years ago.and they sell potting soil that feeds for up to so many moths at a time,such as miracle grow potting soil.its a little more expensive,but tyou get what you pay for now days!i dont believe they make potting soil so inferior,some of its great!