Why the Lab is Ditching "Dirt"

I’ve been buying house plants for years now, and as my collection has grown, so have my planting ‘supplies’. When I first got started, I didn’t know what sort of substrate would work best, so I did what a lot of people do – I bought a big bag of Miracle Gro soil and started repotting in it. Looking back, I must have gotten really lucky. It took me a while to start seeing gnats, and even when I did start seeing them, there weren’t that many. I controlled them with the usual suspects – Captain Jack’s, Neem Oil, Sticky Traps – and continued on my merry way.

And then last December hit. Let me set the stage for you: I went from having a few indoor plants and a large outdoor garden to picking up a new plant almost every time I went out, culminating in upwards of 50 potted plants in my home. Now I know for some people that isn’t so very many; but for a lady who dislikes clutter, organizes the garage every spring, and promptly removes clothes from the closet that she no longer wears, it was a bit of a situation. Add to that the month in general - I don’t know anyone who isn’t super busy in December between wrapping gifts, traveling, and planning for the holiday - and my father-in-law fell, prompting multiple trips to the hospital over the course of weeks that ultimately, unfortunately culminated in his passing.

To say the least, our family was overwhelmed. Busy, heartbroken, wanting to still find the magic of Christmas while acknowledging our loss, and trying to figure out what our new normal looked like, we struggled through the first couple of weeks of December. And then my mother-in-law called. She wasn’t feeling the best, and she was wondering if I could pick her up and take her to Urgent Care. The diagnosis: Flu A. Apparently getting vaccinated just wasn’t enough this year, so I took her home, picked up her prescriptions, some soup and some Gatorade, and got her settled in to rest.

Two days later, my sister-in-law let us know they were at the ER. Everyone was having flashbacks of our last hospital visit. Panic ensued. We took turns as a family sitting with her at the hospital as her blood sugar spiked, sending her to the ICU. After almost a week, everyone was exhausted, and she was finally able to come home. We had days before Christmas, and this year, we’d decided to wrap what we had and call it good.

In all that, I did what I thought would be best for my plant collection - and easiest for myself - by watering when I remembered to and otherwise leaving the plants to do their own business. And yeah, it did NOT work out in my favor. The fungus gnats absolutely took over! They were flying through our home like a swarm of bees would at a threat to their queen. You couldn’t sit in a recliner without a gnat flying up your nose, and the kitchen sink windowsill looked like a graveyard to fallen gnat soldiers. Something had to be done.

I started researching and very quickly found out that the issue likely stemmed from my soil. Most store-bought potting soils are peat-based. If you’re not familiar with it, peat is a type of moss that’s readily available throughout the US. It grows like crazy and it breaks down quickly, making it an excellent choice for mass-produced potting soil. It can also help your plants if they prefer to have “wet feet”, because it holds moisture just like a sponge.

The problem is, peat holds moisture. Every time it rains at the mass market soil plant, the peat moss holds moisture. That moisture draws fungus gnats, who LOVE wet, swampy conditions. They buzz around the soil, then lay their eggs in it. Those eggs may not be there long enough for them to hatch - or some of them could be - before the substrate is put into a bag headed to your local big box store…with its cargo load full of gnat eggs.

If you live in an area where the humidity is super low,  maybe that’s not so bad. But if you’re like me and live in NE GA, it’s a big problem that causes unfortunate gnat apocalypses in people’s homes (like mine in December) all the time. You just can’t treat your houseplants for bugs every day of your life. There’s too much other living to do.

The solution I’ve come up with is The Curated Mix: a precise, clinical-grade blend of Coco Coir (soilless coconut husks), Horticultural Charcoal (absorbs toxins, manages moisture), Worm Castings (soil conditioning worm poop), Perlite (prevents root compaction and water logging), and Orchid Bark (mimics natural, tree-like environment). Coir is an inert base, meaning it holds nothing of nutritional value to your plant. Really, all it does is help hold the plant up by the roots, both keeping them aerated and allowing you control of what nutrients you provide. The further down the houseplant rabbit hole you go, the most important it is to be able to give each plant its own blend of nutrients.

So, when you select YOUR plant from Curated Cuttings, you are…well, you’re getting a plant. But in addition to that, you’re getting what we like to dub a specimen. That means it’s been vetted right here in a house in Flowery Branch, GA that probably isn’t so different from your own. It means I’ve already taken the fungus gnats out of the equation for you, and I’ve taken the guesswork out of what nutrients you need to provide for your plant to thrive in your own home.

Plants are a beautiful part of our lives, and there’s no reason to be scared of bringing them into our homes. If you’re interested in learning more about our story, or if you simply want to see what sort of plants we’ve been potting in Coco Coir of late, then sign up for ‘The Lab Notes’. You’ll get early access to our March 1st Collector’s Drop and be the first to know when our gnat-vetted specimens are ready for their new homes. Click here to learn more of our story & join The Lab Notes.