These DIY Potting Mix Recipes Will Save You Money and Boost Your Plants Make potting mix with free materials and use it for seed starting, raised beds, and more. In This Article View All In This Article Sand Compost and Wood Chips Leaf Mold Combatting Pests Close Credit: Corinna Kern / Getty Images Key Points You can make your own potting mix at home using simple ingredients like compost, sand, and shredded leaves.Compost adds nutrients while wood chips and rocks help your mix drain well and keep plant roots healthy.Some homemade mixes may carry pests, but you can treat them with neem or hydrogen peroxide before planting. Making your own potting mix is a rewarding and cost-effective way to care for your plants. Although it may seem intimidating to create a soil medium from scratch, the process is simple, and you can use ingredients that you likely have on hand. By using readily available materials such as compost, sand, shredded leaves, and wood chips, you can create a nutrient-rich and well-draining medium tailored to the specific needs of your plants. This not only saves you money but also reduces kitchen and yard waste, making it an eco-friendly choice. So, instead of heading to the store for bags of soil, why not get creative with what you have at home? Ahead, experts share simple DIY potting soil recipes that will help create a sustainable and self-sufficient approach to gardening. Brigitte Zettl, director of horticultural production for Stark Bro’s Nursery & Orchards Eric Nieusma, regenerative farmer and co-owner of Maine Hill Farm The Difference Between Potting Mix and Potting Soil—and When to Use Each How to Make Potting Mix With Sand Seed-starting mixes need to be light and well-draining and do not require high nutrient content, making sand an excellent choice. "Seeds contain their own nutrients that sustain them for the first couple of weeks of life, so fertilizer is not needed," says Brigitte Zettl, director of horticultural production for Stark Bro’s Nursery & Orchards. You can add compost to this mix for added moisture, but it is optional. Rinse the sand with water, as it may contain salts that can harm the seeds.Mix the seeds into the moist grains of sand. Place the mix in a plastic bag and seal it.If the seeds require cold stratification, Zettl suggests placing the seed-starting mix in the refrigerator or in a dark box to facilitate the process.Check the seeds daily to ensure they remain moist and healthy.Transplant the seedlings into containers when the cotyledon and radicle emerge. Peat moss is a widely used soil amendment and component of potting mixes because of its excellent water retention and aeration properties. However, Zettl explains some growers have concerns about the sustainability of peat moss. Peat moss forms incredibly slowly in bogs over thousands of years, making it a non-renewable resource. Sustainable alternatives, such as compost or pine bark, offer similar benefits to peat moss without the environmental drawbacks. How to Make Potting Mix With Compost and Wood Chips Compost and wood chips make an excellent team when it comes to creating a potting mix. Compost adds essential nutrients and enhances soil fertility, while wood chips work like perlite or vermiculite, adding drainage and aeration to your mix, says Zettl. The ratio of wood chips to compost can be 1:1 or 2:1, depending on the type of drainage your crop requires. The more wood chips, the faster draining the mix will be.Simply combine the two ingredients and place the mix into your pot.Plant your seeds in the potting mix and water well. When using homemade potting mix for raised beds, remember that you don't need to fill the whole bed with the medium. Try a lasagna gardening approach and create layers using twigs and sticks on the bottom, and then layering brown and green materials with your potting mix on top. How to Make Potting Mix With Leaf Mold When creating a soilless potting mix, Eric Nieusma, co-owner of Maine Hill Farm, recommends a 50:50 blend of well-draining and water-holding ingredients. Small rocks are ideal for drainage, as they promote even aeration and do not retain water. Decomposed leaves, also known as leaf mold, are excellent for retaining moisture. Choose leaves from beneath the top layer of last fall's foliage, as they have broken down into a rich, dirt-like substance. Mix equal parts small rocks with leaf mold and add the mixture to your garden containers.Plant your seeds in the potting mix and water well. Making a suitable DIY potting mix is trial and error. While the ingredients in these recipes are readily available, Zettl points out that there is a potential downside to this approach. Unlike sterile soilless potting media, these mixes are rich in microorganisms and may contain pests or weed seeds. Most of the fungi and bacteria found in these mixtures are beneficial to plants, but some can cause seedlings to wilt. How to Combat Pests in Homemade Potting Mix To combat possible pests in homemade potting mixes, Nieusma recommends applying a neem soil drench using cold-pressed organic neem before planting your seedlings. He also suggests that you can sterilize your soil before planting by using 24 percent food-grade hydrogen peroxide. Mix 1 ounce of the solution in 1 gallon of water and drench the soil. Explore more: Garden