Soils and layers
Peat-based soilless mix
A light, airy peat and perlite mix.
What the simulation uses
- Holds water
- 57.5 % by volume
- Water it keeps after draining; the rest runs down to the drainage.
- Pore space
- 89 % by volume
- Room for air and water between grains; low means roots suffocate when wet.
- Weight
- 150 g/L
- How heavy a litre is.
- pH
- 5.5 to 6.5 pH
- How acid it keeps the soil.
- Mould risk
- medium
- How much fresh food it gives white mould; high-risk soils fuzz over in the first weeks.
- Breaks down in
- 3 to 8 years
- How long it lasts before rotting down to fine soil.
- Nutrients
- medium
- Plant food it brings.
- Presses down to
- 40 % of its loose depth
- How far pressing can pack it, keeping its weight.
Description
Peat with perlite or vermiculite and a dose of lime, the standard soilless potting medium. It drains better than bagged potting soil and often carries starter fertiliser. As the lime gets used up, the peat makes it more acid.
Also called peat-perlite mix, seed compost.
Estimated, where sources were thin: no mix-specific datasheet fetched; numbers interpolated from components.