Premium potting soil brands have figured out how to sell science. Their citations are real and the studies are legitimate. What they never mention is that almost every every benefit is conditional on light and the environment.

The plastic pot your plant came in was designed for a supply chain, not a root system. Smooth walls cause circling roots, shallow depths waterlog the root zone, and the round profile gives roots nothing to interrupt their spiral. The science on better container geometry has existed since the 1970s. Here it is.