Does anybody know where I can get plant soil to help my Christina plants grow faster?

 

I went to several plant nursery but they only sell the mixed soil type that is black in color and soft (they said mixed with leaves etc)

 

I thought there is another soil that is brownish red that is of better quality???

 

First time gardening so I need some help

It's hard to find quality potting soil and hard to know what you are getting in the garden shop sack products. 

Go with the black stuff and mix some real mineral soil and fine textured sand with it if you can scavenge some. It may have sewage sludge from waste disposal sites like many of the cheap sack potting soils does, but since Christina plants (Syzygium companulatum) are ornamental and not edible, you don't have to worry so much about toxicity, heavy metals and such. 

 

I just looked at Lazada potting soil products, but it appears that they may be raw uncomposted organic matter .  That can be a problem for plant health in the short term while decomp, soil maturing and stabilizing takes place. 

 

Best Garden State on FB has potting soil that they sell in bulk for their legal cannabis/hemp grower customers, but I can't find a sack product in their FB marketplace.  

 

I mix small quantities of my own for home use, with bulk topsoil from a materials yard on the 1001 near MaeJo, 1/3 soil, 1/3 fine mortar sand  from the  same yard, 1/3 high quality vermicompost that I order delivered, and I blend in some other goodies like bokashi complete organic fertilizer. I inoculate with forest soil rich in beneficial micro-organisms that I collect from an undisturbed forest area in the hills of eastern Sansai. 

For me Van Egmond soil rescued two cuttings that refused to grow for months in soil from HomePro. (not sure of the brand). The HomePro soil was not impressive from the start - lots of twigs, dead leaves and grass.  After transplanting into the Van Egmond soil the cuttings immediately began to thrive.

I bought the Van Egmond soil at a nursery in Hua Hin but it's avaliable on Lazada.  It reminds me of the Miracle Grow brand soil that I would buy in the US.

14 hours ago, drtreelove said:

Best Garden State on FB has potting soil that they sell in bulk for their legal cannabis/hemp grower customers, but I can't find a sack product in their FB marketplace.  

Best grown in coco coir IMHO.

The stuff with the green lettering on white bags at ThaiWatsadu has been pretty good for my gardening (almost all ornamentals) I do supplement with a general 15-15-15 fertilizer every three months or so and they seem to do fine. 

If your plants are already in the ground or in pots, and you are not re-potting, then maybe its not potting soil that you need. 

Worm compost or other organic fertilizer top dressing will enrich the soil and support healthy plant nutrition and growth.  

 

Kamtieng plant market vendors used to carry a composted chicken manure product called Maw Din from CP that I have used. And an ag shop in MaeJo has a composted bat guano and chicken manure product.  I also use bokashi fertilizer from Organic Totto.  

Best Garden State has some good COF blends (complete organic fertilizer). 

In my educated opinion, avoid high salts chemcial fertilizers like 15-15-15.  This will stimulate a growth and greening response, but at a great cost of supressing or with repeated use, totally killing off the all-important beneficial soil biology that is essential for real sustained plant health. 

13 hours ago, pseudorabies said:

For me Van Egmond soil rescued two cuttings that refused to grow for months in soil from HomePro. (not sure of the brand). The HomePro soil was not impressive from the start - lots of twigs, dead leaves and grass.  After transplanting into the Van Egmond soil the cuttings immediately began to thrive.

I bought the Van Egmond soil at a nursery in Hua Hin but it's avaliable on Lazada.  It reminds me of the Miracle Grow brand soil that I would buy in the US.

Interesting. I wonder what's the difference in soil composition of this Van Egmond that cause plants to grow fast?

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, EricTh said:

Interesting. I wonder what's the difference in soil composition of this Van Egmond that cause plants to grow fast?

 

 

 

 

Not grow fast but grow at a pace that is normal compared to my past experience.  The soil from HomePro was abnormal in appearance (but typical of many soils that I've seen sold in Thailand) looking like it was collected from a forest floor.  In the Homepro soil one of the plants, a christmas cactus, had 2/3 cuttings die.  The second plant which I've had for 35 years, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, grew very slowly with many leaves dying after sprouting.  Both are thriving in the new soil.  For me the question is "what's in the HomePro soil that was killing the plants?".

Get top soil from the rice fields. Readily available and dirt cheap. Pun intended.

 

Quote

The rice grain yield in clay soil was 46% higher than in sandy soil. Clay soil has more fine particles that can hold water and nutrients better than sandy soil, thus it can retain more water and nutrients needed by the water loving rice plant

 

I have been told that some of the stuff sold in bags is spent mushroom compost. OK I guess but you would have to add slow release fertiliser. Other stuff I have bought consisted of 40% peanut shells, what principally seemed to be composed of road sweepings and miscellaneous muck. Nobody made a market for cactus soil, or any other special need. None of it will have been sterilised.

Thailand seems to specialise in producing excellent things that disappear the next time you want to buy again,