Does Your Soil Need Perlite?

Pants oftentimes use perlite as a soil additive. This can be mixed into soil or coco coir to boost its air-holding capacity and drainage efficiency. Although it’s not strictly necessary, practically almost all canna-friendly potting mixes include some perlite.

Growing herbs in soil or coco coir benefits greatly from horticultural perlite. Although it appears like tiny white rocks, perlite has a light and airy texture, similar to popcorn.

Nearly All High-Quality Soil Mixes Contain At Least a Little Perlite

A 50/50 Potting Mix of Coco & Perlite – The increased oxygen availability to the roots in perlite fosters rapid development. It also prevents nutrient buildup. This works wonderfully with coco coir’s capacity to absorb a lot of moisture.

Perlite for Growing Herbs                                                                                                                            

• One of the most popular soil supplements is perlite. Any soil or coco mix that doesn’t already contain it is strongly advised.
• Perlite looks like airy, light white “rocks” that have a popcorn-like texture.
• Perlite helps minimise nutrient build-up, making it a suitable choice when growers are supplying nutrients and supplements in the water.
• Adding perlite boosts the overall drainage ability in a potting mix, helping prevent overwatering.
• Your soil or coco will develop more quickly if it has more oxygen. Roots adore oxygen! Because perlite does not hold water, the amount of oxygen that is available to plant roots is increased. As a result, even when the growing media is damp, air pockets develop around the perlite.

How Much Perlite to Add?

Perlite should be added so that it makes up between 10-50% of the total volume of the potting mix.

If you want improved water retention and don’t intend to use a lot of additional nutrients, add 10–20% perlite. This is so that the nutrients in the soil can leach out more quickly as a result of the excess perlite’s ability to facilitate easy water drainage.

If you intend to utilise a lot of additional nutrients or supplements and want your plants to grow as quickly as possible, add 30–50% perlite to your soil.

Perlite comes in a variety of forms. You can use any 8-quart bag of perlite. Perlite is frequently available in garden supply stores in the home improvement garden area.

What is Perlite?

The light, almost fluffy perlite we use for gardening does not occur naturally. It is actually manufactured from expanded volcanic rock.

It all starts with lava (like the kind from a volcano!) which cools and sometimes turns into obsidian, a shiny black glass that can be mined from the ground.

Example of obsidian, which is formed out of lava

Obsidian gradually collects water from the atmosphere throughout aeons. This hydrated obsidian is extracted from the ground and finely crushed. The components are then intensively heated to enlarge them. The heat makes the perlite pieces pop like popcorn because of the large amount of water they contain. Perlite is primarily comprised of air, which explains why it seems so light.

Production of Horticultural Perlite

Video: Waht is perlite?