Growing lilies is an excellent way to add a little flare to your home. Not only will the beautiful flora add a nice pop of color, but it’ll also purify the air.
While these plants are low maintenance, they do have specific requirements to thrive. That’s especially true when it comes to the growing medium.
So, if you’re wondering how to make your own lily soil, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the growing conditions.
We’ll also cover the benefits of making your own soil at home.
Why Make Your Own Liliaceae Plant Soil?
To grow a lily, you’re going to need the proper soil. Luckily, there are many excellent growing medium options online.
At this point, you may wonder, if there are great soil alternatives, what’s the point of making my own? Well, there are a few reasons why it’s best to use homemade growing mediums.
First off, they’re much more customizable. This means you can tweak the recipe to handle all kinds of weather conditions.
Other than that, when you make your own soil, you’ll ensure that all the necessary nutrients are present. That way, you’ll guarantee the lilies will grow healthy.
Finally, pre-packaged soil can sometimes contain preservative chemicals. These stop bacteria and other harmful organisms from growing.
Sadly, this can also affect the growth rate of your flowers. So, making a custom soil blend will eliminate the chances of that happening.
What Are the Characteristics of Lily Soil?
When it comes to soil, there are three factors that you should keep an eye on. These include drainage, soil pH, and nutrient availability.
Well-Drained Soil
The drainage aspect will deal with the porosity of the soil. This is the growing medium’s ability to retain water.
Typically, lilies need a well-drained environment to thrive. To figure out how to create that, we have to look at the different types of soil. These are loamy, sandy, silt, and clay.
Sandy soil is the most porous, which means it doesn’t hold water well. This may result in a dry environment, which isn’t ideal.
On the other hand, clay is the least porous, and gets waterlogged easily. That’ll make for a particularly damp growing medium. Sadly, this may lead to root rot.
So, for the best results, it’s a good idea to find a compromise between the two. That’s when loamy soil comes into play.
It’s a mixture of sand and clay that produces the perfect growing medium. You can also rely on silt if you live in a cold area.
Acidic Soil
Lilies prefer to grow in an acidic environment. Typically, a pH of around 6 to 6.5 should do the trick.
Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to tell the pH of the soil with the naked eye. For that reason, you’ll need to use a pH meter.
Then, you can add certain chemicals to reach the desired level of acidity.
Rich Soil
With the acidity and drainage of the soil out of the way, we can focus on nutritional content. To allow lilies to grow healthy, you need to use soil that’s rich in organic materials.
This includes compost matter and other additive fertilizers. As a general rule, lilies require about a tablespoon of fertilizer every two weeks.
What Do Lilies Need?
We talked about the characteristics of lily soil. Now, we can dive into what the flowers need to survive.
First off, when it comes to sunlight, the more the better. Lilies need full, bright light to grow. Generally, about six hours of sun a day should be sufficient.
Other than that, the flowers will require three nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Nitrogen is one of the key ingredients in amino acids, which plants need to produce new proteins.
Moving on, phosphorus promotes the growth of healthy roots. That makes it essential for anchoring lilies and making sure they get enough water.
Finally, potassium aids with the transportation of water and nutrients inside the flowers. So, without it, the plants will starve and wilt.
What Do You Need to Make the Best Lily Soil?
Before we jump into how to assemble the perfect soil for lilies, it’s best to gather your materials. This will make the process of creating the growing medium much easier.
Plus, it’ll reduce the chances of dragging soil through your home.
Here’s a list of everything you’ll need to start the process:
- River sand
- Pea gravel
- Clay soil
- Small garden shovel
- Organic materials (dead leaves or manure)
- Bucket
- 10:10:10 fertilizer
- Water
- Gardening gloves (optional)
- pH meter (optional)
Most of these ingredients are easy to come by. For example, you can forage in your backyard for dead plant materials.
However, other components like river sand and pea gravel are harder to find. If you don’t live by a large water source, it’s easier to purchase them online.
Finally, a pH meter isn’t necessary, but it’ll make the process of perfecting the soil simpler.
How to Make Your Own Liliaceae Plant Soil?
Now that all your ingredients are ready, we can begin making lily soil.
Mix the Base
The first step of the process is mixing your base components. That includes sand, gravel, and clay.
To start off, add equal parts of clay and sand to the bucket. Then, using your shovel, mix them together for about a minute or so, until they form a uniform blend.
At this point, it may be a good idea to test the soil. To do that, pick up a handful of the growing medium and squeeze it tightly in your hand.
If the mixture forms a stiff clump, then you’ll need to add more soil. On the other hand, if the soil is too loose, then adding a little clay should fix the issue.
Add Gravel
After that, sprinkle in some gravel as you mix the growing medium. You want to keep doing that until you can see small specs of tiny rocks in the soil.
Once that’s done, you can focus on the second round of tests. This time, you’ll need water to carry out the experiments.
Fill up a small planting pot with your soil mixture. Then, add water until all the growing medium is damp.
Next, wait about an hour for the liquid to make its way through the soil. By the end of this period, the top two inches of the medium should be dry.
If not, you may have to add more gravel to increase the porosity of the soil.
Fertilize the Soil
When you’re done with the second test, the growing medium should be ready to use. All that’s left is adding compost material and fertilizer.
As you add these components, check the pH of the soil continuously. Once it hits the 6 or 6.5 marker, you can plant your lilies.
How to Store Your Leftover Liliaceae Plant Soil?
Over time, your growing medium will lose some of its nutritional value. So, to ensure your soil mixture lasts for a long time, you’ll need to store it properly.
For that, you’ll need an air-tight container.
Next, the process is as simple as filling up the vessel to the brim and covering it up. You can even add a layer of cling film on top of the soil before placing the lid.
This will improve the air-tight seal. On top of that, it’ll stop the soil from spilling all over the place when you need to use it next.
What Are the Benefits of Making Your Own Potting Mix for Lilies?
There are quite a few benefits to mixing your own lily soil. First up, as we mentioned, you’ll be able to customize the growing medium as you like.
Because of that, you’ll have a better chance of growing healthy lilies.
Other than that, you can choose how much soil to make at a time. Since the growing medium will lose some of its potency, this can be a major help.
That way, you won’t waste any of your precious resources.
Lastly, lilies are incredibly sensitive to moisture. Any excess water can cause the roots to soften and break down. So, if you use store-bought soil, you risk damaging your plant.
FAQs
How Much Soil Do Lilies Need?
Lilies don’t need a lot of space to spread out. That means a medium to large planting pot should do the trick.
Although, if you plan on planting the flowers in a garden bed, then you have to make some considerations. For example, the soil needs to be at least 12 inches deep for the lilies to thrive.
How Do You Increase the Acidity of Soil?
To alter the pH of the soil, you can use a buffer solution. However, you can also use fertilizers, which are acidic most of the time.
Wrapping Up
Figuring out how to make your own lily soil can be a little challenging. You should start the process by gathering all the necessary materials.
Then, mix equal parts of sand and clay to create a base for the growing medium. Next, add a sprinkle of gravel to improve the porosity of the soil.
Finally, using compost matter and fertilizers enhances the nutritional value of the medium. Once that’s done, you’re ready to plant your lilies.
It’s also good to remember that you can store any excess soil in an air-tight container.