Skip to Content

The Best Soil to Use for Your Philodendron

The Best Soil to Use for Your Philodendron

Share this post:

Disclaimer: Some links found on this page might be affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I might earn a commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Taking care of your philodendron shouldn’t be all that difficult. Even so, there are many things that you should know.

To keep the plant healthy and looking great, it’s important to care for it well. Part of caring for the plant involves watering the plant and ensuring that the plant has the right type of soil.

Some types of soil are going to be better than others. Generally, plants have soil preferences that will help you to get better results.

Read on to learn about the best options for philodendron plants. This should make it as simple as possible to care for this plant and avoid issues with watering the plant too much or too little.

The Best Soil for Philodendrons

Making the best soil for philodendrons won’t be all that tough. You want to ensure that the soil drains well, but it also needs to retain moisture well enough so the plant won’t dry out.

The soil must be rich in organic matter as well. Philodendrons need nutrients to be able to thrive.

Ideally, you should make a custom soil mixture to ensure that you check all of the right boxes. This is easy to accomplish.

To make the best soil for these plants you want to use one part coco peat, one part potting soil, and one part compost. This ensures that the soil has enough nutrients, but it’s still going to drain nicely.

There are other soil recipes that you can do to get good results. However, many enthusiasts recommend using coco peat, potting soil, and compost.

You could also try a soil mixture that contains potting soil, coco peat, and perlite. This is a popular soil mixture that also allows you to enjoy good results.

Can I Use Succulent Soil for Philodendron?

Succulent soil is okay to use for philodendrons if you make some adjustments. If you don’t make adjustments, it’s going to be less than ideal.

It’s common for people to want to use cactus soil or succulent soil for these plants. If you have some of this soil at home that you wish to utilize it’s fine to do so.

To make the necessary adjustments, you’ll need to alter the balance of the soil. Succulent soil usually contains perlite, sand, and a little bit of compost.

Philodendrons need much more nutrients than succulents and cacti. So the soil needs a different balance.

So you need to add more organic elements to the mix for the soil mixture to work out. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be appropriate for philodendrons.

So add nutrient-rich organic elements to the soil. This makes it fine to use and you can be confident that all will be well.

Do Philodendrons Like Acidic Soil?

You’ll find that philodendrons do well in slightly acidic soil. It’s best not to put them in soil that is too acidic, though.

For optimal results, ensure that the soil has a pH level between 5.0 and 6.0. It’s easy enough to make a soil mixture that will fall in this range.

The soil that you learned about earlier that contains potting soil, coco peat, and compost should have the right acidity. You can also combine potting soil, perlite, and peat moss to make slightly acidic soil that these plants will like.

You can always test the soil to make sure that everything is in the right range. It’s good to do this so you can feel confident that you’re putting your plants in the best position to thrive.

Should I Fertilize My Philodendron?

It’s wise to fertilize your philodendron to ensure that it will grow strong and stay healthy. However, you don’t want to go overboard.

Too much fertilizer has the potential to be harmful. To get the best results, you want to fertilize the philodendron only during the summer and spring months.

Generally, you want to fertilize these plants during the months where they will be growing the most. It helps to give them the boost that they need to grow strong.

Stick to a normal fertilization schedule and you can see your houseplant thrive. It’s easy enough to fertilize these plants using standard houseplant fertilizer.

How to Fertilize Them

Fertilizing philodendrons won’t be tough, but you still might want some advice about how to approach things. Thankfully, it’s simple enough that you won’t have to do anything complicated.

You want to fertilize philodendrons once per month during the spring and summer. You can still fertilize the philodendron during the autumn and winter, but you want to do so once every two months.

Use the right type of fertilizer to get the best results. Most enthusiasts recommend using a simple 20-20-20 houseplant fertilizer.

This fertilizer works nicely for all types of philodendrons. Just be sure to follow the directions so you don’t use too much of it at once.

It’s also wise to test the soil every so often to keep it in the right range. Sometimes the pH level will be thrown off when you fertilize the plant, but this will be simple enough to fix if it ever occurs.

You might need to amend the soil. So long as you’re staying on top of things, you won’t have a tough time fertilizing philodendrons.

Can I Use Orchid Fertilizer on Philodendron?

It should be fine to use orchid fertilizer on philodendrons if that is all that you have. However, it’s better to use a normal houseplant fertilizer.

Orchid fertilizer can be helpful, but you need to be careful when using it. It’s recommended to dilute the fertilizer to half-strength before using it on your plant.

So long as you’re doing this, everything is going to go just fine. Many people use orchid fertilizer on other houseplants and it goes okay.

Whenever you’re using any type of fertilizer you need to be careful not to use too much. Many houseplant fertilizers instruct users to dilute the mixture to protect the plants that are being fertilized.

Are Coffee Grounds a Good Option?

Yes, coffee grounds can be helpful and good to use with philodendrons. Many people use coffee grounds to help fertilize these plants.

It’s common for coffee grounds to be used as a “pick me up” when a philodendron seems to be growing slowly. You might use some coffee grounds as a way to boost the plant and help it to grow a bit faster.

There are a few ways that you can utilize coffee grounds to help your houseplants. You can mix the coffee grounds into the potting soil or you can water it down and pour it on the soil.

Either way, the coffee grounds can indeed be helpful. So coffee grounds are good for philodendrons, but you don’t want to use too much.

Note that coffee grounds shouldn’t be used as a fertilizer replacement. It’s just something that you can do to provide the plant with additional nutrients.

Watering Your Philodendrons

Now that you know about soil and fertilizer, you should learn a bit about watering these plants. Watering philodendrons properly is an important part of keeping them healthy.

It’s common for people to water these plants every one or two weeks. However, you shouldn’t simply water the plants on a strict schedule.

The soil needs to dry out before you water the plant again. So it’s best to touch the soil with your fingers to see if it has become a bit dry and is ready for water.

When it’s hot and the plant is getting more sun it’ll dry out faster. So you’ll typically need to water the plant less often during the winter than you would in the summer.

Of course, keeping the plant indoors does change things a bit. Even so, the plants usually receive more sunlight in the spring and summer and will need to be watered more often.

So just check the plant once per week to see how it’s doing. Water thoroughly at the base until you see water coming out of the drainage holes.

Don’t allow the philodendron to sit in water for too long. Get rid of the water and place the plant back on a dry saucer in its pot when you’re done.

Final Thoughts

Knowing how to make the best soil for your philodendrons will help you out. It should be easy to make soil that will keep these plants in great shape.

You can make your own custom soil mix that will work for these plants. One part coco peat, one part potting soil, and one part compost will work so well.

There are other soil mixtures that work well that you can try. So you might choose to try different things depending on your preferences.

Remember to fertilize these plants to keep them in good shape. They should be fertilized once per month during the spring and summer and then once every two months during the autumn and winter.

Use normal 20-20-20 houseplant fertilizer to get the job done. Follow the instructions and you’ll have an easy time with everything.

Watering these plants will be simple as well. You just need to touch the soil to ensure that the plant has dried out a bit between watering sessions.

Typically, these plants will need to be watered every one or two weeks. Always check the soil before watering the plant so you can be sure that you’re doing things right.

Philodendrons are some of the most popular houseplants for a reason. They aren’t that tough to take care of, and they’re going to look great in your home.

So long as you follow the advice above you’ll have a great experience. Owning these plants will be nice and you might even want to own more than one of them.

Be sure to let your friends and family know what you learned today. If they’re interested in philodendrons they will benefit from learning a bit more about the best type of soil to use.

Share this post: