Is there a good way to make homemade potting soil out of local soils that are heavily clay-dominant? Potting soils typically use perlite or vermiculite for drainage; could I sediment sand out of the soil, or would I be better off using crushed brick as larger aggregate?
Right now my model is 2 parts sedimented soil (silt + sand = maybe 10% of total makeup), 1 part biochar, 2 parts compost.
I don't think adding sand is actually helpful for augmenting clay soils, it ends up being counterproductive. Compost and biochar are really good, roughly equal parts compost and clay soil should work, so just ditch the sand and silt and this is a pretty good method.
1:1:1 sand:clay soil:perlite by volume has worked pretty well as a well drained low-nutrient medium for me in the past. Generally around 8-10% organic matter by wright is considered a sweet spot so I would consider starting with half a part compost.
I'm trying to do it without perlite though. Preferably, without buying anything. I wanna say most potting soil mixes have an organic matter content well above 20%. And clay soil, while abundant here, is the worst for drainage which is kinda key in potting soil.
Is there a good way to make homemade potting soil out of local soils that are heavily clay-dominant? Potting soils typically use perlite or vermiculite for drainage; could I sediment sand out of the soil, or would I be better off using crushed brick as larger aggregate?
Right now my model is 2 parts sedimented soil (silt + sand = maybe 10% of total makeup), 1 part biochar, 2 parts compost.
I don't think adding sand is actually helpful for augmenting clay soils, it ends up being counterproductive. Compost and biochar are really good, roughly equal parts compost and clay soil should work, so just ditch the sand and silt and this is a pretty good method.
1:1:1 sand:clay soil:perlite by volume has worked pretty well as a well drained low-nutrient medium for me in the past. Generally around 8-10% organic matter by wright is considered a sweet spot so I would consider starting with half a part compost.
I'm trying to do it without perlite though. Preferably, without buying anything. I wanna say most potting soil mixes have an organic matter content well above 20%. And clay soil, while abundant here, is the worst for drainage which is kinda key in potting soil.