If you are a fan of gardening and don’t want to spend a fortune on ready potting soil, making your own organic soil at home could be a great alternative. As the name suggests, you are using base ingredients to create the soil mix you want for certain needs. Now, ready potting soil is super easy to use, but you are never really sure of the ingredients. In fact, many gardeners and landscaping enthusiasts are pleasantly surprised to know that most branded soil mixes are made at the same facility, often using same ingredients, and are only branded differently.

There are varied aspects of growing that are worth researching on, and you can check websites and brands like BuildASoil to find basic ingredients, which are produced as per standards and are also organic. In this post, we are discussing all the pros and cons of making potting soil at home.

The pros

  • When you are using homemade soil, you are very sure of the ingredients that have been used, so there are no doubts and guesses on that.
  • Secondly, you can reduce dependency on using chemical fertilizers for your grow. This is a big advantage for people who are trying to grow organic produce for personal use.
  • With homemade soil, you can have precise control on the nutrients – both macro and micro. This ensures that your plants get what you want, and the grow will be of the best quality possible, without any compromises. Even for small-time growers, this is a good idea.

  • For growing certain plants, such as cannabis (if legal to grow in your state in the US), you can use homemade soil to get the best natural aroma and flavors. In fact, more buyers and manufacturers are interested in organic cannabis.
  • When you reduce your dependency on ready mixes and chemical fertilizers, you do a favor on the environment. Depending on how you make your homemade soil, the process is entirely friendly and safe for the planet and is sustainable too.

On the flip side

  • Let’s not forget that it may take considerable time to get homemade soil ready for use, and for many growers, this may not be a viable choice.
  • There are upfront costs involved, which not many growers are interested in spending. However, in the long run, the benefits of homemade soil are real.

Making your own soil mix obviously is a better idea.