Why does every container gardening soil recipe have 10 ingredients?

[u/SashaNatureNomad]

Am I the only one who thinks most container gardening advice overcomplicates soil?

I've been growing vegetables in containers for a few years now and every spring I see people recommending these crazy mixes with 8-10 ingredients.

Meanwhile some of the healthiest tomato and pepper plants I've grown were in plain potting mix with extra perlite mixed in.

What actually made the biggest difference for me wasn't fertilizer schedules or fancy amendments. It was stopping the use of garden soil in pots.

The year I figured that out was the year everything suddenly started growing normally lol.

Curious what everyone here uses. Do you buy bagged mix, make your own, or just use whatever is cheapest and available?

And has anyone actually compared the results side-by-side?

[u/MisterProfGuy]

Some people really try to optimize to an excessive degree.

You saw for yourself the difference between soil and potting mix, and that difference is drainage and compacting. You can really fine tune drainage and probably get a PhD in the topic, but for most of us, we really only care if something is fast draining or not.

After that, it's how acidic the mix is, which leads to various adjustments, and then specific plants might do better or worse with specific additions.

The general recipe is base+compost+stuff for drainage.

The main reason I make my own is that I keep cutting down trees and so I end up with a lot of access to pine bark, and I want to avoid peat moss, and it's a hassle to try to research what is being harvested in a renewable way ("live moss") and what isn't (peat bogs). A big brick of coco coir is easy to store and use as needed.