Simple beginners soil mixture help

[CoffeeAddict]

Well, I am the newbee who just got home from homedepot. I saw some cacti/succulants and snapped up 5 of them. Now I am trying to figure out a simple soil mixture for them as they each came in 1" clay pots. They will be house plants in the midwest area. I figured something like 1 part sand, 1 part peat and 1 part top soil. I have tried cacti before with no luck. They always die on me.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Andy_CT]

I'd replace the 1 part peat with either perlite, pumice or gravel. Try to use a gritty sand like concrete sand, they sell it at home depot for less than $3 for a 50lb bag, its with the cement products.

[daiv]

Welcome to the group here!

Have you read this page yet?

http://www.cactiguide.com/growcacti/

I would definitely avoid peat. If you are in the midwest, you really need a lot of inorganic material. Try something more like 10 parts pearlite and 1 part potting soil if you want something really simple. I've heard both sides for sand, but I generally consider sand not very useful. I think it is too dense and binds up the mix. You're better with loose airy material like pummice or pearlite.

[CoffeeAddict]

I appreciate your help.

I have read that web page. After reading through it I thought I'd make my own mix with 65% pearlite, 10% peat & 25% topsoil. But I will probably try the system you mentioned as it is easier and I tend to be a bit lazy.

Problem is that I do not know which kinds, most likely both, that I have. Desert vs. jungle. I wanted to put them into the same pot but now I think I may have to do 2 pots. I have also read through many web pages from this site and it seems that there is no one solution for the mixture. I am going to go to a real greenhouse today and see what they have in terms of a pre-baged mixtures. Again, I am a fairly lazy person.

Again, thanks.

[mughal113]

Hi,

If you have problem identifying your plants and deciding what's best for them, post some photos of your plants in the "Help With Identification", if you can. You'll soon get a response for your queries. And, keep the peat part out for many reasons. I think it would be better at this stage and much more convenient if you could get pre-mixed cactus mix.

[ag10]

I don't know what the compositions of premixed / bagged cacti composts are in the rest of the world but here in the UK all the ones I've seen contain a large percentage of (sphagnum) peat.
I'd check the contents carefully before buying!