Why make your own pond soil at home? Aquatic pond plants can grow in any soil, however, all soil mixes sold at garden centers have at least some amount of organic matter that will end up floating in your water feature.
I’ll show you how to easily create your own pond soil at home that won’t float, using stuff you may already have or can get from a garden center. This method is for potting outdoor aquatic plants. I do not recommend doing this for aquarium plants.
What you need
- Topsoil (just use regular top soil with nothing fancy added to it. Don’t use potting mix)
- Composted manure
- A garden hose for water, preferably with a jet nozzle or water gun but that’s optional.
- A bucket
Procedure
In a bucket, add 4 parts topsoil to 1 part composted cow manure. I use topsoil because it has less organic content than garden bed soil and alot less than potting soil. Never use potting soil. The composted manure is used to replace some of the nutrients we will be removing.
Mixing the pond soil
Using the get nozzle (or your hand), create as much turbulence in the water as you can, spraying all the way to the bottom in circular motion around the bucket. Imagine that you are trying to liquify the soil into mud because that’s exactly what you want to do (see image above).
Keep adding water until the bucket is mostly full.
Removing the organic matter
As you do this, you will see all the organic matter float to the top. I use my hands to scoop it out of the water, allowing the heavy soil at the bottom of the bucket to remain.
As you can see the floating stuff looks like mulch. This is all the stuff that you don’t want to put in a water feature. I just toss it on the garden beds and this way nothing gets wasted.
After that, pour the excess water out of your bucket and check to see if most of the organic debris is gone. If not, you can repeat the process again. Twice is usually enough. The goal is to remove most of the organic matter, but there is no need to remove all of it.
Ready to use aquatic plant soil
What you are left with will be a heavy, sandy, somewhat loamy soil, similar to what you find at the bottom of a pond. With most of the light weight components taken out, the soil will now be heavier and more stable for potted aquatic plants in the water.
I’ve seen unnecessarily complicated d.i.y. pond soil recipes online using things like kitty litter, pool filter sand, and even gravel. You don’t need to go out and buy anything special. I’ve been using this soil mix for years in multiple container ponds and water features with no problem at all.
If you have clay soil on your property, feel free to use it. Remove any grass, leaves and other debris from the clay before using.
You can also buy aquatic plant soil online and certain home and garden retailers but it can be hard to find, also, buying online can be expensive in bulk.
However, this mix is perfect for aquatic plants, now you can pot them up, place them in your water feature and enjoy!