A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 how to pick soil

i will be needing to repot a few of my plants but I am unsure of what type of soil to use for them. I have the following plants
1.spider plant
2.golden pothos
3.bird's nest
4.shcefflara plant
5 purple waffle
6.prayer plant
7.song of india
8.janet craig dracaena
I bought some soil but some of my plants do not seem to be happy. My golden pothos does not look well, it's leaves are curled and droopy looking. I only water it when it feels dry about 2 inches down. I started this one from cuttings, I ahve other cuttings that are doing much better than this one plant.

Nice lot of plants! I don't recognize the names for 3, 5, and 7. Do you know their scientific names? For soil, I always get a good quality general potting soil (NEVER one with added fertilizers) and mix in various things of my own; drainage material, grit, sand, leaf compost, pine needle compost, ..., whatever the particular plant wants. When I repot, I don't shake off all the old soil or break up the root ball, just a gentle shake to get rid of any loose bits without damaging the root ends. I wait about 3 days before watering in the new pot, so any broken ends have time to scab over and won't rot. I don't happen to grow pothos, so someone else will have to talk about its specific soil preferences.

thanks Margaret,
Number 3 is in the snake plant family it's a Sanseviera trifasciata 'Hahnii' the name for number 5 is a Hemigraphis 'Exotica', and number 7 is Pleomele reflexa this is in the Dracaena family
I guess I can find what type of soil each plant needs from online? I just know some of plants are not happy with the soil I have them in right now. They are not dying but not flourishing either. I am not going to do anything to them yet because I just moved to a different apartment and I know they need time to adjust to this place ( not the greatest light will need more in door lighting) thank you for suggestions.

I just repotted a Yucca in a flowering soil....guess I made a mistake! I didn't use much of the soil anyways. The root ball held a lot of soil. But I watered it right away coz of the wind that was kind of blowing away the soil.

So, is there something I need to take care of or remedy now?

Also, while watering another plant in a pot (I cannot identify it), I noticed all kinds of tiny bugs/insects hopping in and out of the soil. I read somewhere that it is just normal. Is there any reason I should be worried bt this??

Thanks for the help in advance...