Sphagnum moss is used in the floral industry to line wire baskets and make wreaths, and peat moss is harvested and used as a soil amendment by gardeners.

Quality and Cost of Moss from Different Countries

It is worth noting that moss from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are in better quality than those from China and Taiwan. The moss from these western countries are thicker and longer, and are good for approximately 18 months, while those from China and Taiwan are thinner and shorter, and can be used for approximately 6 months. But of course, better quality also means higher price. Since I won’t be using the same bundle of moss for a very long period of time anyways, I am happy with the Chinese made ones

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How to Wrap Pots or Roots with Moss
How to Water Tabletop Garden – Bento Box

Tip 1 – Choose the Right Plant

Before you bring a houseplant into your house, you just have to make sure you can give what it needs to grow healthily. Choose only those plants that will be able to grow in the climate and condition of your room.  Here is a list of suitable houseplants with photos for indoor gardening that you may find helpful.

Tip 2 – Enough Sunlight?

Like oxygen and water, plants need sunlight to grow healthily. If your house does not have a lot of sunlight, and if you are not planning to use any artificial light, don’t worry, for you still have many options to choose from. Different types of houseplant require different amount of sunlight. There are many types of plants that thrive in medium to low light conditions, such as African violets, Boston ferns, Spathiphyllum, Philodendrons, and many more.

Related Post about Light Requirements
My Echeveria is Growing Way Too Tall!

Tip 3 – Rotate Your Indoor Plants

Plants have the tendency to reach towards the light source. In fact, this is how one can make a bamboo curl up – by covering the whole plant with a container, but leaving only a small hole, to manipulating the light condition as the plant grows.

And for the indoor plants, the light source is usually where the windows are. Hence, it is necessary to rotate your plants occasionally in order to keep them growing straight.

Tip 4 – How Much to Water?

Improper watering is probably the number one cause of death for most plants. And overwatering is usually more of the problem than underwatering. A rule of thumb for watering potted plants – water the houseplant only when the soil mixture feels dry to the touch. And when you do so, you should water the plant thoroughly until water drip from the drainage hole of the pot. Light watering does your plant no good, for it only wets the surface of the soil, but not the root.

Related Posts about Watering Indoor Plants
Gardening Journal – They Just Want More Water!
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Tip 5 – When to Water?

For most plants, the best time of day to water is in the morning. This gives the plant time to absorb the water and get ready to handle heat, cold, or just the energy it takes to produce chlorophyll, grow, and move nutrients around.

Tip 6 – Choose a Gardening Container

For gardening beginners, I vote for plastic pots. There is no doubt that plastic pots make things simpler and easier for gardeners. Plastic pots are durable, shatter proof, and unlike those clay pots, they keep the soil from drying out too quickly. In addition, while many ceramic pots do not have drainage holes due to their decorative qualities, plastic pots always have drainage holes to avoid overwatering and other drainage problems. Also, the light in weight of plastic pots makes it easy for gardeners to check whether the soil has been dried up and if watering is needed.

But I also agree that most plastic pots are just plain and boring.  In fact, I have made many tabletop gardens and home decorations using different types of container as my garden containers. If you want to have some fun in indoor gardening, making your own container or tabletop gardens, here are some posts showing you how to make some cute tabletop gardens and container gardens for home decorations.

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Tip 7 – Keep a Record

Keep a record of each of your plants’ name, species, purchase date, fertilizer dates, repotting dates etc just as you would maintain your child’s medical reports. It will help you to maintain your plants systematically.

Related Post about Keeping a Record
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Tip 8 – Fertilize the Potted Plants

Potted plants have nowhere to go for feed apart from the soil in their pot, so it is crucial that you fertilize your potted plants regularly.

You can add in a small amount of liquid fertilizer when watering your houseplants. Some plants go dormant in the winter, so you should avoid fertilizing in the winter. You may find it helpful to keep a record of your fertilization dates. And if you fertilize your plants too much or too often, you will end up burning your plants.

Tip 9 – Soil Is Not Our Only Choice

Besides soil, there are many other types of growing medium we can use for indoor gardening.  Many houseplants, especially some foliage plants, thrive when they are planted in water (here you can find more about hydroculture – the dirt-free way of gardening).  In addition, we can also use crystal soil, a beautiful, jello-like growing medium, for our smaller potted plants (here you can find more about crystal soil).

But of course, soil has its merit.  In some cases, soil is still the most suitable growing medium for gardening.  And like all other growing medium, soil is an integral for a healthy plant. If we are growing your plants in a container, we should avoid using soil from the garden. It will not yield good results. Besides, it may also risk insects, weeds, and other diseases to our potted plants.

In addition, we may need to add different types of soil amendment into our soil mix.  Soil amendment is any material added to the soil to improve its physical properties, such as water retention, permeability, water infiltration, drainage, aeration and structure. The goal is to provide a better environment for roots.

Here are some posts introducing different soil amendments.
Horticultural Charcoal for Indoor Gardening
Sphagnum Moss & Sphagnum Peat Moss
How to Wrap Pots or Roots with Moss

Tip 10 – Good Drainage

Almost all gardening guides tell us to use only pots with proper drainage holes. And without proper drainage holes, the excess water in the soil can go nowhere but stay in the pot, damage the roots, and your plant will almost certainly die…

Yes, all of this is true. Pots with drainage holes make life of a gardener easier. They take away the uncertainty and make the task of watering our plants much simpler – just water slowly and thoroughly till water dripping from the drainage hole. That’s easy. No guesswork is needed anymore!

But let’s face it. Sometimes there is a beautiful pot without a drainage hole that we just want to use… So what should we do? Let me post a few suggestions for potting houseplants using containers without a drainage hole later.

Related Post about Drainage of Garden Container
Drilling Drainage Holes by Ourselves

Okay, horticultural charcoal does not absorb odors, enrich or purify soil, or ward off any insect (more on Myths of Horticultural Charcoal in Gardening).   So, what good does horticultural charcoal do in gardening?

Porosity – Improve Drainage

Charcoal is a porous form of organic matter primarily composed of carbon. It is used as a soil conditioner to improve soil drainage. This is especially true for those pots without drainage holes, for the charcoal will provide a place for excess water to settle.

Research has shown that growing mediums with horticultural charcoal are able to buffer the effects of sporadic watering, and help preventing the plants from damping off.

When compare with other moisture-retaining potting soil ingredients, horticultural charcoal has its advantages. Horticultural charcoal is in bigger chunks than perlite, yet light in weight. In addition, it doesn’t break down as quick as bark, nor does it rot. So, while horticultural charcoal does not purify soil or water, it is a good medium to retain moisture, improve drainage, and loosen up the mix.

Organic

Charcoal is organic, a characteristic which some gardeners place high in value.

Ease of Use

For those plants that are often transplanted from pot to pot for a fresh potting medium, horticultural charcoal and other coarse ingredients can be shake off from the roots very easily, so to be discarded and replaced.

Hold and Deliver Nutrients in the Soil

Horticultural charcoal can reduces the leaching of fertilizer in free draining soils as the charcoal’s porous carbon structure enables the nutrients to be held for slower release to the plants. The inclusion of charcoal in open seedbeds showed that it facilitates the uptake of nutrients. Researches have shown that calcium uptake almost doubles, with significant increases in potassium, magnesium and phosphorus, the pH increases slightly and there is an obvious increase in organic matter.

Back to main page -  Holticultural Charcoal for Gardening

Charcoal has been used for horticultural purposes for at least two thousand years. Archaeological researches have come up with evidence of charcoal being used as a soil ameliorator in the Amazon Basin since around the time of Christ (Check here for more on Terra Preta – Amazonian dark earth).

Nowadays, horticultural charcoal is an additional item recommended by many gardeners for custom mixing potting soil and as a drainage base in all types of indoor container plants. You may have heard of the many wonderful things that horticultural charcoal can do in gardening. Some are true, while some others are exaggerated and misleading.

Since I am curious and wanted to learn more about the real value of horticultural charcoal, I have spent a quality amount of time researching on it. And now, I would like to share what I have found with everyone. Cheers!

Here are a few posts about horticultural charcoal in gardening.

Horticultural Charcoal – Can be Substituted by Barbecue Charcoal or Filtering Charcoal?
Myths of Horticultural Charcoal in Gardening
What Can Horticultural Charcoal Do in Gardening?

Myth #1: Barbecue Charcoal Works Just Fine

Not all charcoal are created equal. And horticultural charcoal cannot substitute by either barbecue charcoal or filtering charcoal. For more details, check the post: Horticultural Charcoal – Can be Substituted by Barbecue Charcoal or Filtering Charcoal?

Myth #2: Absorb Odors

Horticultural Charcoal does not absorb odors, nor lower the possibility of odor-causing bacteria. In order for the charcoal to absorb the compounds responsible for the foul smell of soil that has gone bad, it needs to be activated or super-heated so to create lots of air pocket to absorb odors. But horticultural charcoal is not activated, so it lacks the ability to really absorb anything.

Of course, you can use activated charcoal in aquarium shops. Those are called activated filter carbon and can be bought in aquarium shops. But in comparison with horticulture charcoal, filter carbon is very expensive. For your reference, while $6 can buy 24 oz of horticulture charcoal, it can buy only 7 oz of filter carbon.

Secondly, adding charcoal to make up ten to twenty percent of the soil volume is not going to have any odor-absorbing properties after sitting in the soil for a short while. It is like placing a small sponge into a sink full of water in hoping it will absorb all of the water.

Myth #3: Soil Enrichment

While in some reports, it is shown that charcoal can reduce the leaching of fertilizer in free draining soils, horticultural charcoal, by itself, does not enrich soil. And in order to be a good source of potash, the charcoal must first be burned. Yet, then the charcoal will lose its porosity value.

Myth #4: Purifying Soil and Water

Charcoal does not have a special purifying quality when layered into non-draining pots. In addition, it does not purify water by mixing it with soil. As mentioned earlier, horticultural charcoal is neither activated nor super heated. Hence it does not contain the necessary air pockets for optimal filtration like those carbon filtration that use activated charcoal.

Myth #5 Insects and Disease Fighter

Charcoal has been recommended as part of the treatment for the eradication of a fungal disease, Cylindrocladium, which infects Box hedges. However, horticultural charcoal per se doesn’t ward off plant diseases, parasites, insects, or slugs. In addition, it isn’t an anti-fungal agent equivalent to sulfur or copper.

Back to main page -  Holticultural Charcoal for Gardening

Horticultural Charcoal & Barbecue Charcoal

There are binders added in barbecue charcoal, and they are reported as sufficiently toxic to plants, and in consequence, make barbecue charcoal and its ashes not recommended for composts or garden soil enrichment.

Horticultural Charcoal & Filtering Charcoal

Filtering charcoal is not the same thing as horticultural charcoal. Most that are sold for aquariums today is not a wood charcoal at all, but are made by a completely different process from bituminous coal, peat, lignite, hardwood, or animal bone, followed by further processing & chemical washes. It retains a great deal more water than horticultural charcoal, yet less oxygen. Unlike filtering carbon, horticultural charcoal is untreated and unprocessed, hence, a more natural product.

Because filtering charcoal is an activated carbon, it has lots of air pocket, hence can absorb odors. Horticultural charcoal cannot absorb odors, for it merely is a cheap grade of natural charcoal that has not been activated. Check out Horticultural Charcoal Myth #2 Absorb Odors for more details on this topic.

Back to main page -  Holticultural Charcoal for Gardening