Soil Ratio's

[Sweethaze]

Every soil mix i come across is in % for example

90% Potting Soil
10% Perlite

What do you guys use to measure the % so i have the correct amount of each ingredient?

Thanks and be safe.

[Boss]

Just use gallon jugs or 5 gallon pots.

[Sweethaze]

Sorry man, i dont quite understand.

Lets just say im using 3 gallon pots, do i fill the 3 gallon pot 9 times, does that make it 90% and fill it once for perlite which is 10%?

[Arising Green]

If the soil your buying is a 90/10 mix of potting soil and perlite,
then it will remain that no matter how much of it you use.
If you want to up the perlite percentage then you'll have to add that separately.
Same goes for any other amendments you wish to add.

[Sweethaze]

Thanks man, but i'm not buying the soil with a 90/10, its all seperate i need to make up my own mix. What i need to know is what do i use to measure %. I'm new to all this growing thing and its the only thing i cant figure out.

[Boss]

Try 50% potting soil, 30% vermiculite, 15% pete and 5% base minerals, worm castings, and clay.

Use a scoop and do 5 scoops, 3 scoops, a scoop and 1/2 and a 1/2 scoop for the 5%. ;-)

[Arising Green]

Ah ok.

First decide what kind of mix you want and how much you want. (As Boss described above)

Then, as Boss previously mentioned, use a gallon container to achieve accurate ratios.

To achieve the above post mix, you would fill up your gallon container with the approximate amount of amendment percentage's desired. Just 'eye' the amounts and you'll be laughin. :-) Piece of cake.

[RooRman]

Excerpt from my thread "Bat Guano for Organic Indoor Gardening w/RooRman".

"Ah percentages... why are stoners no good at math!?

As far as I can remember, a standard bag of Pro-Mix is 16 quarts. For instance, if we need to add 20% perlite to this quantity of soil we would multiply .20 (20% for the perlite) times 16 (amount in quarts of Pro-Mix) and we would get 3.2. This means 3.2 quarts of perlite should be added for every 16 quarts of Pro-Mix to obtain a 20% perlite to soil ratio. WHEW!"