Correct Soil
 

Hiya,

I know this has been asked loads of times but is this an OK soil to be using for my tortoise table/ growing their food in?!

Thank you

Natalie

Top soil is a good substrate for a tort table. As for growing food also not bad idea but if u sow seeds be sure your torts will eat all sprouts immediately. Better idea to plant already grown weeds etc.

Hi Natalie, is that a specific kind of soil you are thinking of using?

To grow weeds for your tortoise, you need the poorest soil you can find:0)
Weeds dont like fertilizers and grow best in poor soil.

I have to disagree. I sowed T-lady seed mix in a regular soil and after 1 month another portion in a soil bought from a flowershop. After another month the one sowed in special soil has overgrown the other, older sowing.

I've been growing my weed garden with the same coco coir I use in my table. That way I can dig up whole plants and add them to the table without worrying about changing the soil. Plants are growing well and I add limestone flour to the coir for extra calcium

I have been growing weeds in my garden for over 34yrs and always sow straight onto the poorest driest soil, and they grow really well. I just sow and go.

weeds may grow fast in good soil but they are weak and tall, have a look at a wild weed and see the difference, you'd be always replanting and buying seeds if you don't let them get established in the garden. When out picking weeds you don't take the whole plant but leave the base and roots with spindly home grown plants there's nothing to leave to re grow. Plus you also have to bear in mind torts need high fibre foods and new growth doesn't have that, young weeds/plants are also higher in food nutrition that tough old ones and that's also what contributes towards torts growing to fast, if you look at what they'd normally find to eat in their native country its usually old, dry and not very green apart from the odd occasion when its rained. I've only ever been to the south of france and spain but even in september there's not a lot of green around let alone in the summer. Young plants are also far higher in sugars than old ones which again is a reason to try to find older plants as well.

Weeds will grow well in any soil, that's why they are weeds. They have adapted to grow anywhere so they become a pest and get called weeds.

Grow them for a couple of years in a good soil and compare to the wild ones. Comparing a few months old plants to ones that has been growing in wild for years makes no sense.