What’s the Best Indoor Plant Compost?

Bringing the outdoors into your home with house plants has plenty of benefits. Not only are house plants known to improve air quality, but they are also mood enhancers. This will lessen your stress, and you’ll experience cleaner air and even a boost in your productivity. To keep your plants healthy and thriving, it depends on the types of compost you use. Let us explore the best indoor plant compost for your treasured plant friends.

This guide will help you maintain your indoor oasis by guiding you on the best potting compost for your house plants.

Composting for Indoor Plants vs Outdoor Plants: What’s the Difference?

Composting for indoor and outdoor plants differs in how it’s made and how much compost is needed. 

Indoor composting usually involves using a smaller setup, such as bins or containers that fit in your home. Common materials you might use include kitchen scraps, such as fruit and vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, and eggshells. Because you’re using a smaller space, the process of making compost might take more time, as using smaller compost volumes at lower temperatures can slow down the process. 

Once ready, the finished compost can be mixed with your potting soil. 

Outdoor composting often involves larger piles or bins kept outside. You can typically use a diverse range of materials, such as garden waste. Grass clippings, leaves, twigs, and kitchen scraps can all go into your composting bin. 

Outdoor composting relies on natural processes and outdoor conditions like temperature and moisture levels, leading to quicker decomposition. 

So, even though the composting basics are the same, there are some differences in how compost is made and used for indoor and outdoor plants.

What Compost for Indoor Plants Works Best?

Selecting what compost for indoor plants works best is essential to ensure they grow and develop to their full potential. 

Indoor plants have more requirements than outdoor ones, as they are kept in pots with fewer nutrients available. The perfect soil for your indoor plants needs to supply the necessary nutrients and retain moisture.

Here are some top choices that cater well to indoor plants:

Peat-based soils are fantastic for indoor plants because of their water retention abilities. Peat moss holds moisture while allowing for sufficient drainage, ensuring that plants receive water without getting waterlogged. 

Coir-based soil comes from coconut husks and is an eco-friendly substitute for peat. Coir-based soils offer similar advantages to peat-based options by providing good moisture retention and aeration. 

Potting mixes are specially designed for indoor plants. These blends typically incorporate organic materials like peat, coir, composted bark, perlite, or vermiculite to improve aeration. Opt for a Lomi Composter for eco-friendly waste disposal in your gardening.

DIY compost is a great option for those passionate about gardening. Create homemade compost using organic materials like kitchen scraps, yard waste, and composting aids like earthworms (vermicomposting). 

The 7 Best Composts For Indoor Plants

If you’re ready to take your indoor plant collection from dull and wilting to vibrant and colorful, look no further. Here are the seven best composts to help your plants thrive. You can buy the majority of these specialized composts in-store.

Houseplant Compost

Houseplant compost balances a blend of essential nutrients that helps plants to grow and thrive. You can buy this compost in stores or online. It’s formulated to help a variety of indoor plants grow, with a balanced composition that promotes root development, lush foliage, and vibrant blooms. 

Because houseplant compost drains well, it can also prevent waterlogging so the roots don’t rot.

General-Purpose Compost

General-purpose compost is versatile and can help support the growth of varying types of indoor plants. Containing a balanced mix of organic material, nutrients, and microbial activity, it’s healthy soil for plant roots. 

Promoting nutrient uptake and enhancing soil structure, general-purpose compost improves the resilience of your plants. Because of its versatility, you can use it for all your indoor plants, whether foliage or flowers. 

Specialized Blends

Specialized compost blends are designed for the unique needs of plants like cacti, succulents, ferns, and carnivorous plants. With a targeted blend of nutrients, this compost can meet the needs of these interesting plant species. 

These composts are formulated to provide the ideal balance of nutrients, pH levels, and soil structure to help your indoor plants grow healthily. 

For example, cactus and succulent composts provide excellent drainage and aeration, mimicking the arid conditions these plants prefer. Similarly, composts for ferns and carnivorous plants are formulated to maintain high humidity levels and acidic soil conditions. 

Depending on the house plant you’re nurturing, look for composts that cater to their unique needs.

Bio-Compost

Bio-compost, made from food waste and other organic materials, has a high nutrient content and is environmentally friendly to produce. 

This compost is rich in organic matter, beneficial microbes, and essential nutrients, making it an excellent choice for helping your plants grow. Bio-compost also helps improve soil structure and fertility. 

Using bio-compost can also reduce waste and recycle organic materials, so you can look after your indoor plants sustainably. 

Compost for Acidic-Loving Plants

Ericaceous compost for plants that prefer acidic soil conditions, like asters, begonias, and coleus, meets the unique nutritional needs of these species. This compost contains ingredients that help lower soil pH levels and provide the essential nutrients these plants require to grow and flower. 

Creating an acidic soil environment promotes healthy root development, nutrient uptake, and overall plant vitality, ensuring acid-loving plants can grow in your home.

Alkaline Cactus Compost

Cacti thrive in alkaline soil conditions, and alkaline cactus compost is formulated to provide the environment they need to grow. 

This compost contains ingredients that promote alkalinity and features excellent drainage properties and aeration. This is crucial for preventing waterlogging and root rot, common issues found with cacti grown in overly moist soil. 

The gritty texture of alkaline cactus compost also mimics the natural habitat of cacti.

Flower Compost

Flower compost suits a wide range of indoor flowering plants by offering a balance of nutrients and organic matter. This compost provides essential nutrients for promoting flower growth and development, and longer blooming periods.

With a good balance of nutrients, flower compost promotes healthier root growth and a better soil structure so flowering plants can retain water and nutrients.

How to Make Your Own Compost for Indoor Plants

Rather than buying plant compost from the store, you can make your own compost for indoor plants using organic kitchen waste. This is not only more cost-effective but better for the environment and your plants. 

Here’s a simple guide to creating your own indoor plant compost soil;

1. Get Your Supplies

Gather all the items you need. Use organic materials like leftover fruits and veggies, coffee grounds, eggshells and shredded paper or cardboard. You’ll also want to have a compost bin with a lid, a shovel or trowel and some water handy.

2. Prepare the Bin

Ensure there are holes in the base of the bin for drainage.  Then line the bottom of your bin with shredded paper or cardboard to help with both drainage and air circulation.

3. Add Organic Waste

Start by putting in kitchen scraps like fruit peels, coffee grounds, and crushed eggshells as the first layer of your compost bin. Cut up larger pieces to speed up decomposition.

4 Layer with Browns

Add another layer of brown materials like shredded paper, cardboard or dried leaves on top of the food scraps. Browns provide carbon that balances out the nitrogen-rich kitchen waste and creates an ideal environment for decomposition to take hold.

5. Keep it Moist

Lightly dampen each layer you add to the compost bin. Aim for a slightly moist texture but not overly wet. The right moisture levels are crucial.

6. Mix the Contents

Use a shovel or trowel to gently mix the materials in the compost bin. This helps spread out moisture and air evenly, aiding in decomposition and keeping any unwanted smells at bay.

7. Cover and Store

Securely place the lid on the compost bin to keep in moisture and warmth. Keep it indoors in a well-ventilated spot, away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.

8. Turn the Compost

Every one to two weeks, use a shovel or compost turner to aerate the compost by turning it over. This speeds up decomposition and prevents anaerobic conditions from forming.

9. Monitor Moisture Levels

Regularly check the dampness of the compost and add water as necessary to keep it moist but not soaked. Adjust moisture levels by adding more dry materials if they are too wet or wet materials if they are too dry.

10. Harvest the Compost

Once several weeks or months have passed, depending on factors like temperature and moisture, your compost should be dark, crumbly, and earthy in smell. Scoop out the finished compost from the bin for potting or adding topsoil to indoor plants.

Summing Up

To keep your indoor plants healthy and thriving, it’s essential to pay close attention to the compost you use. Using this guide, you will have the top compost choices for your indoor plants that will enable them to thrive in your home. 

Whether it’s houseplant compost or specialized blends, one of these options will meet the needs of different plant varieties. 

By selecting the right compost and following the proper composting techniques, you can create nutrient-dense soil that nurtures the growth of your indoor plants, turning your home into a green sanctuary.