Is this a soilless mix or a soil?

Roots

Active Member
Lets say 40% perlite and 60% Peat moss. Is that soil or soiless? How should it be treated? Peat moss is organic with a great ability to buffer alkalinity but it has no dirt.
 
Generally it's called soilless. No built-in buffering qualities and you have to adjust ph yourself. That ph range may vary a bit depending how you treat it, as SF said, but I think generally it's treated as/considered to be soilless, and a form of hydroponics.
 
Generally it's called soilless. No built-in buffering qualities and you have to adjust ph yourself. That ph range may vary a bit depending how you treat it, as SF said, but I think generally it's treated as/considered to be soilless, and a form of hydroponics.

Weaselcracker is right on the money.
It is the addition of organic matter, minerals, and microorganisms that would be necessary to make it a soil environment. As you said, otherwise it is basically a hydroponic medium.

For example I have vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss mixed in as a soilless grow and use hydroponic nutrients.

I have promix HP (peat and perlite with buffer and mycorhizzae) but have added Doc Bud's amendments to it and cooked it for a month allowing the microbes to become established and digest the amendment. The promix is much the same as my mix up top, but now has become a soil.
 
Generally it's called soilless. No built-in buffering qualities and you have to adjust ph yourself. That ph range may vary a bit depending how you treat it, as SF said, but I think generally it's treated as/considered to be soilless, and a form of hydroponics.

The peat moss definitely lowers the PH of 8.3 ph water to around 6.6. So ferted with a CRF or Jacks and Calnit it is soiless but what if you hit it with an organic tea once a week?
 
I think( I'm 99.998% sure) the peat/perlite mixes like Sunshine and Promix have dolomite lime added which brings them closer to 7. I use Sunshine and ph to 5.8
 
Possibly peat moss without the lime would be preferable. Most of the time PH rises and therein lies the battle.
 
Back
Top Bottom