Perlite improves aeration and drainage of container gardens.
Aerate your soil with the addition of pearl-white granules of perlite when potting container gardens, hanging planters, windowboxes and houseplants. A sterile additive with a neutral PH, perlite creates channels in the dirt through which air and moisture circulate.
Starting Seeds
Many commercial potting soils contain perlite as an additive. Sowing seeds and seedlings in soil blended with sphagnum peat and perlite is beneficial until stems are hardy enough to transplant outside.
Container Gardens
Containers requiring up to 30 or 40 quarts of potting soil are ideal candidates for mixtures blended with perlite. Soil drainage is improved when gardeners spread a finger-width layer of straight perlite in the bottom of pots before adding soil.
Considerations
Perlite does not degrade. For optimum aeration in raised beds or containers larger than 40 quarts, a mixture of leaf mulch or compost sprinkled with sand or gypsum for drainage can replace perlite. Two inches to four inches of the blend is layered on top of the soil and worked in.
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