I've noticed that people are using sand in "soilless" mix? Why, and do i need it?

[tulsanurse1]

Several post on here where people are using sand? just wondering what its for and if I need it.

[Worth1]

I use sand because it is in my garden.

Sand helps keep soil loose and sand retains water because it doesn't crack.

You can dig down in almost any sand and find moisture
I have grown many crops with nothing but sandy loam, 13-13-13 and compost.

I don't know why anybody else uses it.

worth

[amideutch]

tulsanurse1, works great as an addition to soil gardening but not in containers unless your talking succulents. I think you pretty much have all the ingredients you need for your upcoming endeavor. Ami

[tulsanurse1]

Thank you, I was like..."Oh No...", something else to purchase, lol.

[dice]

They mean "coarse sand", by the way, not fine stuff like you
would find at most beaches or along a river bank. Usually
you cannot tell looking at bags of it in a hardware store (near
the bags of dry concrete, mortar, and so on) just how coarse
it is and whether the particles are big enough to do the job
that you want it for in a container mix, so you are better off
using perlite instead, which has a big enough particle size
to contribute some large pore air space to the mix. Perlite
is lighter, too, when you need to move the filled containers
around.

Pumice is another good substitute for coarse sand in container
mix, but one rarely finds bags of it anywhere. Landscape
suppliers that have it are usually selling it by the cubic yard
or truckload.