Cham safe potting soil

Currently I have two Hibiscus and I'm rerooting some hanging pothos clippings.
I'm about to repot my hibiscus and I was going to use some "Miracle Gro Organic choice potting soil" but im wondering if thats the best way to go. I'd like to go with something thats proven to be safe for chams and allows my plants to flourish (and if it detracts pests it'd be quite a bonus cause we've got all sorts of buggies around with summer being here). So if anyone's got any ideas that work for you I'd love to here them.:D
 
Make sure you keep the plants outside for a couple of days. I had houseflies and fruitflies for weeks after using that stuff.

I STILL have gnats..
 
Make sure you keep the plants outside for a couple of days. I had houseflies for weeks after using that stuff.

Then back to home depot it goes :p. I already had another plant, which I repoted with a similar type of soil, and left outside. I brought it in the next morning and boy did I get a surprise, it was over run with ants or some type of beetle or something and I think some nats layed eggs in the soil because a few days later they were everywhere! By the end of the week I was crushing them without realizing it, all out of reflex:rolleyes:
 
I did a whole blog post and experiment to find which soils work best for plants kept in chameleon cages. Check it out https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/cushcameleon/131-custom-plant-soils.html. It took me over a month of observing and recording the differences. For awhile I used the organic miracle grow, I even used it as the loam soil in my experiment. In the end, I found that loam soil (i.e. organic miracle grow) is a poor choice for chameleon plants, simply because loam soil holds too much water; it also makes it easier for gnats/flies to live and reproduce in your pots. In my blog you will see that one of the best types of soil to use for you cham plants, is a mixture of coconut husk and play sand. I now use it in all my pots and it works tremendously. I no longer have any gnat problems and it is nearly impossible to over-water the plant, which was pretty easy for me to do when I was using other soils.
 
I did a whole blog post and experiment to find which soils work best for plants kept in chameleon cages. Check it out https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/cushcameleon/131-custom-plant-soils.html. It took me over a month of observing and recording the differences. For awhile I used the organic miracle grow, I even used it as the loam soil in my experiment. In the end, I found that loam soil (i.e. organic miracle grow) is a poor choice for chameleon plants, simply because loam soil holds too much water; it also makes it easier for gnats/flies to live and reproduce in your pots. In my blog you will see that one of the best types of soil to use for you cham plants, is a mixture of coconut husk and play sand. I now use it in all my pots and it works tremendously. I no longer have any gnat problems and it is nearly impossible to over-water the plant, which was pretty easy for me to do when I was using other soils.

Great blog cushchameleon!
 
I did a whole blog post and experiment to find which soils work best for plants kept in chameleon cages. Check it out https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/cushcameleon/131-custom-plant-soils.html. It took me over a month of observing and recording the differences. For awhile I used the organic miracle grow, I even used it as the loam soil in my experiment. In the end, I found that loam soil (i.e. organic miracle grow) is a poor choice for chameleon plants, simply because loam soil holds too much water; it also makes it easier for gnats/flies to live and reproduce in your pots. In my blog you will see that one of the best types of soil to use for you cham plants, is a mixture of coconut husk and play sand. I now use it in all my pots and it works tremendously. I no longer have any gnat problems and it is nearly impossible to over-water the plant, which was pretty easy for me to do when I was using other soils.

Excellent job! This actually works out great I have 100lb of fine grain play sand that I initially bought for my geckos:rolleyes: now I can put it to good use.:) I'm wondering would zoo med eco earth work or would i have to find a different source of coconut husk and if so what kind?
 
Excellent job! This actually works out great I have 100lb of fine grain play sand that I initially bought for my geckos:rolleyes: now I can put it to good use.:) I'm wondering would zoo med eco earth work or would i have to find a different source of coconut husk and if so what kind?

Thank you. Im actually not familiar with the zoo med eco earth. I just picked up a block of coconut husk at a local nursery, they had a lot of it. You just soak it in water for about 10 minutes and then break it apart and mix it in with the play sand.

Great blog cushchameleon!

Thanks for the compliment :)
 
Thank you. Im actually not familiar with the zoo med eco earth. I just picked up a block of coconut husk at a local nursery, they had a lot of it. You just soak it in water for about 10 minutes and then break it apart and mix it in with the play sand.

To my understanding its more or less the exact same thing :)simply with a fancy name on it. I dont know any nurseries around here that carry that sort of thing do you think home depot or perhaps lowes might? otherwise I'll go with the eco earth though I'd rather save some money.:eek:
 
I did a whole blog post and experiment to find which soils work best for plants kept in chameleon cages. Check it out https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/cushcameleon/131-custom-plant-soils.html. It took me over a month of observing and recording the differences. For awhile I used the organic miracle grow, I even used it as the loam soil in my experiment. In the end, I found that loam soil (i.e. organic miracle grow) is a poor choice for chameleon plants, simply because loam soil holds too much water; it also makes it easier for gnats/flies to live and reproduce in your pots. In my blog you will see that one of the best types of soil to use for you cham plants, is a mixture of coconut husk and play sand. I now use it in all my pots and it works tremendously. I no longer have any gnat problems and it is nearly impossible to over-water the plant, which was pretty easy for me to do when I was using other soils.
Would coco coir work too? Or you used the coco husk chips? Or was it grounded up like soil ?
 
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