GROWING MEDIUM ? HELP

I CHECKED THE MARKET IN MY COUNTRY NO PERLITE OR VERMICUILITE AVAILIBLE.ONLY PEAT MOSS ,COMPOST ,FERTILIZER,MIRACLE GRO & UNWASHED COCONUT COIR,PLEASE ADVISE ON HOW TO USE THE PRODUCTS AVAILIBLE TO ME I WAS THINKIN OF CUTTING SOME FOAM INTO SMAL CRUMBS AND MIXING WITH THE SOIL TO MAKE IT MRE AIRY

What are you growing in just soil? Or a hydro rig?

Use sand, do not use foam.
Do not use the unwashed coco it is full of salt, it will kill your plants. Wash it good and use it as it is very good for growing and replaces sand and all the other things you can't find. Remember there is no PERLITE OR VERMICULITE in farmers fields and they do just fine.

yes, but they have rocks and stones.. this helps soil in fields from compacting and retain moisture. They also have worms that aerate the soil and provide additional value to the soil in the form of their castings. You will also note that farmers spend considerable time and money to prep their soil by installing weeping tiles through their fields in clay soil environments, and irrigation in sandy fields.

I wouldn't suggest throwing rocks into your pots, but if you can get a hold of lava rocks (the red porous ones) throw them in a burlap bag and beat them down with a hammer.. wash them well.. and mix those in- instead of perlite.. will achieve the same effect.

Sand drains very quickly and from what I understand washes out fairly easily, although I haven't used sand as an additive to anything.. I have heard of people putting sand on top of their soil because of bugs... fungus gnats I think? But may work well if you can't find anything else.

sand, as somebody else suggested. Or keep on looking for perlite.

btw, perlite and vermiculite are 2 different things. Perlite works like sand in loosening the soil and increasing drainage. Vermiculite is the opposite, it helps hold moisture in the soil.

Kerovan said:

sand, as somebody else suggested. Or keep on looking for perlite.

btw, perlite and vermiculite are 2 different things. Perlite works like sand in loosening the soil and increasing drainage. Vermiculite is the opposite, it helps hold moisture in the soil.

Click to expand...

I assume that's pointed at me as I'm the only one who mentioned anything about perlite alone... and you're wrong about that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perlite

"In horticulture, perlite can be used as a soil amendment or alone as a medium for hydroponics or for starting cuttings. When used as an amendment it helps prevent water loss and soil compaction."

"Vermiculite (Many expanders of perlite are also exfoliating vermiculite and belong to both trade associations)"

I'm not saying they aren't different things.. I know they are... but they both work to loosen soil, and hold moisture. so does small chunks of volcanic landscaping rock if that's what you can find if you can't find either perlite or vermiculite.