 Hi everybody! As I get ready to repot some of my tropical plants, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to share my updated tropical plant potting mix recipe and I hope that you enjoy the video! So, let's get to it! If we think about it, the potting mix helps our plants in many different ways but there are three that are very important and these are moisture, nutrition and drainage. Another thing to remember when thinking about potting mix is something that is called caking and this happens when we water our plants and then the potting mix dries out and then we water and then it dries and then we water and then it dries and as we continue doing this the potting mix starts to compact around the roots. So, in this video I'm going to show you which ingredients I use to prevent caking as well as other strategies so you can maintain the soil fluffy and soft and the water can go through. In my case my favorite ingredient for moisture retention is coconut coir. Coconut coir is a great material to retain moisture in the potting mix and it has many other advantages. Coconut coir is also a very good alternative to peat moss. Peat moss is a fossil fuel so it takes thousands of years to make whereas coconut coir is a renewable source. Another thing that I love about coconut coir is that it's a great material to prevent caking. When you buy it you will receive a block like this one so all you have to do is to add water so it absorbs it and you can break it down for your plants. The next material also helps us with moisture retention but it also provides lots of nutrition and this one is two parts of worm castings. If you've been following me you know that I love worm castings and I really like it because you know in the gardening community they actually call this the black gold and this is because they contain so much nutrition for our plants and of course with tropical plants we know that they want the soil to stay moist for longer periods of time but this is a key thing to remember they want the soil to be moist but not wet because this will lead to root rot or over watering and this is when drainage becomes really important. For drainage I've been using two ingredients that have helped me so much with the potting mix and plant. The first one is pumice or perlite like this one right here and as you can see it is very dusty this is because this is an expanded volcanic rock so before you use it just to protect your lungs I recommend that you put some water so you don't breathe all that dust. And the second one is something that I found here in Berlin this is actually an orchid mix and it has some orchid bark as well as clay and leka. This is really great because it makes the soil a little bit more chunky it gives it the drainage that it needs and it also prevents caking. So I would strongly recommend that you add this one as well. Once we add all of the ingredients we just mix it together and we can use it for our plants. Another tip that I can give you to prevent caking is before you water your plants use a fork or a toothpick to poke the soil a little bit just do it very gently so being careful not to damage the roots but at the same time you will make the soil a little bit more fluffy and get it ready so the water can go through and to the roots. And let me ask you what ingredients do you use for your potting mix? I can tell you reading your comments for these videos is really helpful because we learn from each other we keep the conversation going I also know that I'm not talking to the camera but I'm talking to you I see you so thank you so much for commenting down below. Also if you would like to support this community and the work that I do here we do have a Patreon page and we meet every month to talk about plants. Actually this month we're meeting to report together so I'm very excited about it. So if you would like to check it out I have this link right here and as always I will see you in the next one. Okay adios!