When potting soil in flower pots becomes compacted, put a handful of sand in the pot: it becomes loose and airy, and the plants grow vigorously and bloom abundantly.

Keeping a few pots of flowers and plants at home makes your mood wonderful. For people who love growing flowers and do it often, you will run into this situation: after a potted plant has been grown for one or two years, over time the soil very easily becomes compacted. Once the soil is compacted, the flowers and plants begin to grow weaker and thinner, and bloom less. What should you do when the soil is compacted?

What should you do when the potting soil is compacted? One "drinking straw" and a handful of "sand" will do the trick, and the flowers grow beautifully!

Generally, the causes of soil compaction are a decrease in humus in the soil, long-term watering or rain washing away the soil, or the use of chemical fertilizers, excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer, and so on. If you want to improve compacted soil and make it loose, airy and fertile, you just need to do these few things:

Loosen the soil. Loosen the soil in the flower pot promptly; the depth depends on the depth of the pot, and do not damage the roots of the potted plant.

Add some leaf mold or peat, or repot and change the soil, because leaf mold and peat soil are rich in nutrients and humus, which can make the potting soil softer, more airy and more fertile. You can keep most of the old soil and just add some peat or leaf mold.

If you do not want to change the soil and find repotting and changing the soil troublesome, especially for plants like roses and spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) that have been grown for one or two years and whose soil has become very compacted so that water cannot soak through and the leaves grow unhealthy and tend to turn yellow, there is a little trick: insert a few drinking straws into the pot. Because the straws are inserted into the soil, the soil becomes airy, which is better for root growth.

If you cannot find straws, you can also use wire to poke a dozen or so holes to increase air around the roots; breathing is smooth, water does not accumulate easily, spider plants grow more and more vigorously, and roses bloom more and more.

You can also add some vermiculite or coal cinders, coarse sand, perlite, and so on to the potting soil, especially some large-grained sand, sand grains the size of soybeans or mung beans. Adding it to the soil for growing flowers works very well; you just need to sift the river sand.

Coarse sand can be obtained without spending money. Add one tenth coarse sand to a pot, and the soil will be more airy and drain better, and it will not become compacted for two years.

In addition, you can add some organic fertilizer, such as decomposed chicken manure fertilizer, cake fertilizer, sheep manure, bone meal, and so on. Only by using more organic fertilizer and less chemical fertilizer will the soil not become compacted.

Only with soft, airy, fertile potting soil that drains well will flowers and potted plants grow beautifully and bloom continuously!