Sybotanica
When a houseplant struggles indoors, the soil is often where the trouble starts: a heavy, all-purpose compost that stays wet through the dim months and slowly packs down around the roots.
Sybotanica's answer is a different mix for each kind of plant. Bark and moss for an orchid, pumice and perlite for a cactus, something chunky and airy for the thick roots of a Monstera, and an easy, lightly fed mix for the everyday plants on a windowsill. It is a simple idea, and it is why we wanted their soils on our shelves.
Where to Buy Sybotanica in Ireland
In Ireland, you can buy Sybotanica from us at The Garden. We stock the range in both of our shops, at Powerscourt Townhouse on South William Street, Dublin 2, and on Mill Street, Dublin 8. Come in with a question about a plant at home and we will help you find the mix that suits it.
Online, we deliver across Dublin with our own drivers and to the rest of Ireland with DPD. Sybotanica sits alongside the rest of our plant care products, from watering cans to misters.
Sybotanica Soil Mixes: One for Each Kind of Plant
SYBASoil is Sybotanica's name for its soil range. Every mix is peat-free, comes in a 5 litre resealable bag, and keeps for around two years unopened. You will find them with the rest of our houseplant compost and plant food too.
Our peat-free houseplant soil comes in six blends: Universal for most homes, and Aroid, Alocasia, Calathea & Maranta, Ficus and Fern for the plants that want something more particular.
A gritty cactus soil of perlite, pumice and a little sand, so water runs straight through and the pot dries out between drinks.
An airy orchid potting mix of bark, coconut husk and sphagnum moss, closer to the tree bark orchids grow on than to any soil.
A terrarium soil that holds moisture well under glass without turning wet. This one is in stock now.
The Base Soil Mix is coco coir, worm castings and plant food with no drainage added, a starting point to build on with the improvers below.
Start with the Universal blend. Most houseplants are happy in it, and you can always ask us in either shop.
What Goes Into a Bag of SYBASoil
Most of the mixes start with coco coir, the fibrous husk of the coconut, which holds water without slumping the way peat compost does. Worm castings feed the soil slowly and keep it alive. Sybotanica leaves them unsterilised for that reason, so the odd worm in a bag is a good sign.
Each blend then shifts the balance: more perlite, bark or coconut husk where roots need air, vermiculite where they like to stay damp, a little sand for fine-rooted ferns. Most also carry a little lava gravel and activated carbon, and enough plant food for about six months.
The soils are mixed by hand every week in Sybotanica's greenhouse in the Netherlands, a social workplace whose team includes people who would otherwise find it hard to get work.
Sybotanica Soil Improvers
For anyone who would rather adjust a mix than buy a new one, Sybotanica also sells the ingredients on their own. We carry seven of them, each in a resealable bag.
Perlite to open up a heavy mix and let it drain. Vermiculite to hold moisture for plants that like to stay damp. Orchid bark and coconut husk chips for chunky, airy orchid and aroid mixes. Worm castings to bring tired compost back to life. Clay balls for a drainage layer under a terrarium. And live sphagnum moss, cut by hand on a family-run moss farm in the Netherlands, for rooting cuttings and for orchids.
Chunky Mineral Mix for Semi-Hydro
For plants that keep getting overwatered, Sybotanica's SYBAStones range takes the soil out altogether. The chunky mineral mix is pumice, zeolite and black and red lava rock, with about six months of plant food mixed through. It never breaks down, stays open around the roots, and gives fungus gnats nothing to breed in.
It works best in a self-watering pot, or a clear pot without drainage holes, for thick-rooted plants like Monstera, Philodendron and Alocasia. Once the built-in feed runs out, use a fertiliser made for semi-hydro growing rather than a soil feed.
SYBASupport Plant Food
Sybotanica's plant foods come in three blends, one each for tropical houseplants, cacti and succulents, and orchids, and in two forms.
The slow-release plant food is a scoop of granules on the soil, made largely from soy meal, cacao shells and feather meal, and it feeds for three to four months. The liquid fertiliser for indoor plants is vegan, made from beet and potato by-products, and goes into the watering can one pump at a time, every time you water. Its orchid blend is gentle enough for fine orchid roots.
Use one or the other, not both. Feed through spring and summer, and ease off as the days shorten.
Repotting with Sybotanica
Spring is the time to repot most houseplants, when the light comes back and the roots start to move again. A few things are worth knowing with these soils.
Shake off as much of the old compost as you can, so the roots grow straight into the new mix. Once the plant is in, water it thoroughly to settle the soil around the roots.
Then leave the plant food for about six months, because fresh soil carries its own. Reseal the bag between uses, and the rest will keep for your next plant.
Questions About Sybotanica
Where can I buy Sybotanica in Ireland?
From us at The Garden: in our shops at Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin 2, and Mill Street, Dublin 8, and online with delivery across Ireland.
What is SYBASoil?
SYBASoil is Sybotanica's name for its range of peat-free soil mixes and soil improvers. Its plant foods are sold as SYBASupport, and its mineral mixes as SYBAStones.
Is Sybotanica soil peat-free?
Yes. Every mix is peat-free. Most are made with coco coir and worm castings instead.
Which Sybotanica soil should I choose?
For most houseplants, start with the Universal blend. Choose the Cacti & Succulent mix for desert plants and the Orchid Potting Mix for orchids. The Aroid, Alocasia, Calathea & Maranta, Ficus and Fern blends are tuned to those plant families.
When should I feed a plant after repotting it in Sybotanica soil?
Wait about six months. The soil carries its own plant food for around that long.
Are Sybotanica products safe for pets?
Keep them out of reach. The soil mixes contain fertiliser and activated carbon, and some contain perlite or vermiculite, all of which can be harmful if eaten. The plant foods are not pet-safe either.