Help mixing my soil please

[Cruizer]

I have been struggling with my 8" pots holding too much water and the plants are suffering because of it. I have FINALLY found some perlite but not sure how much to add. My soil is organic and the fertilizer is horse manure. So how much of each should I use to get the proper drainage.

I pulled a plant about 3 weeks ago because it stopped growing. Today i emptied the soil out of the pot and it was STILL wet! in the middle.

I'm also in on the Solo cup challenge and need to mix my soil, manure and perlite for that grow too,

 

[Agen36]

Re: Help mixing my soil please.

Here's a formula that works for me:
3 parts organic garden compost
3 parts peat moss
2 parts perlite
1 part vermiculite

Mix it thoroughly (very thoroughly)
In the bottom of the pot start with an enriched potting soil like Dr. Earth (about the bottom third of a 3 gal container). Wet till just damp.
Now add your soil mix (just shy of two thirds of the pot). Wet until damp, gently stirring (but not so deep as to disturb the enriched potting soil) to distribute moisture.
Press your solo cup into the middle, creating an even hole the size of the cup. Add water to this (ph'd to 6.5 of course), not too much, perhaps 3x contents of cup.
Now add your germinated plant (with contents of the cup and assuming you're using a good starter soil like Dr. Earth starter soil) into the hole, pressing down gently but firmly. Now take about 1/4 gal of ph'd water and distribute it around the outside of your 3gal container.
The newly-germinated plant will continue to grow in the starter soil and as the roots wend their way downwards through your soil mix they will eventually encounter the enriched potting soil which will have had time to "cool down" in the interim.
It doesn't take much water to satisfy the ladies and it's much easier to add water in small quantities frequently as opposed to a lot all at once.
Water around the circumference of the pot which allows the roots to search outwards and down for water, creating a nice network of roots throughout the entire pot. If you water around the plant the roots will have a tendency to go nowhere.
Over-watering is a sin, whereas under-watering is easily resolvable.
About every second or third watering add some appropriate gentle nutrients during the veg and then the bloom cycle.
If you have more questions, please let me know and we'll struggle through to a nice harvest.
And remember, a newly-germinated plant will not use much water.
Also, if it doesn't seem like its growing much initially, there's a lot of activity underground, so don't start adding water to propel it upwards: you'll end up with the same soggy conditions that brought you here in the first place.

 

[Agen36]

Re: Help mixing my soil please.

By the by, I'm not sure I would dabble with horse manure.

 

[Cruizer]

Re: Help mixing my soil please.

Thanks, I will look for better fertilizer, probably order something from one of the sponsors...Fox Farms seems popular. Is Humus considered a highly rich soil? I saw a bag at H.Depot that said 60% humus.

 

[TheRoach]

Have you tried worm castings?
Those are good for your soil biology.
Not sure if you have any of this available in your area but it works for me:
50% coco coir
30% rice hulls
20% worm castings

You can feed with teas, as somebody around here said: Feed the soil, not the plant.
Best of lucks!!!

 

[Cruizer]

Cool thanks, I will look into the teas and maybe find one that i can make.

 

[Blueballavngr]

I use teas. This recipe works well with happy frog cut with 30-40% perlite.
5 g h20
5c worm castings
1.5c bat guano 8-2-1
.5c bat guano 0-10-0
3-5 tbsp unsulfered molasses
1 tbsp rock powder mostly limestone and granite
5 tbsp seaweed
2 tsp humic acid

If plants r doing really well I back off off on the guanos because a build up starts to occur. No matter what you read, you can over fertilize ur plants with teas. If they say u can't then they probably don't use it! For Foliar sprays dilute 4:1 .
As you transition into flower make the guanos equal at 1 c each then around week two switch them from original recipe so u have .5 c of 8-2-1 and 1.5 c of 0-10-0. Some strains had a few yellow leaves early in flower so I bumped up the 8-2-1 guano. The castings provide a base nutrients and r the culture for bacteria life in ur tea. The molasses provides calcium and magnesium and other trace minerals as well as feed ur bacteria. The guanos provide the bulk nutes but I noticed if to much sits on top if the soil it attracts bugs like flies on shit. Literally. My girls do well with it. I bump up the seaweed durring transplant as it helps to de-stress and keep things green. The humic acid is one of those less is more, long story short it makes the exchange between what the bacteria or fungal life is breaking down and supplying the roots about 20% faster. Guys that use teas usually don't use ppm or ph pens. It's not a necessity as the bacteria will adjust ph so they will thrive but if u test it anyways you will find certain time frames where the ph is ideal mine is around 31-34 hours. This mixture needs to be airated and kept covered in a dark bucket or bin so algae doesn't compete. U should also stir daily. If u still have some left after 72 hrs it can be refridgerated for up to 7 days. If u use larger batches like I do in a 50 gal some things like molasses and castings should be increases beyond the ratio and guanos should be lowered.
Here are some of my plants so u can choose for yourself. I personally think it's much cheaper than what I would need in nutes ie fox farms line or sensi and have really nice results.
Most of these photos were wk 2-3 in flower and wk 4-5 in veg except the clones

 

[Blueballavngr]

The hairy nug near the top is an auto and some of those pics might be wk 1 in flower but most wk 2-3 sorry for the side ways I do this on my phone. Please note the high angle on leaves as a sign of health of these plants. Happy growing.

 

[kraw420]

If you want TRUE Organic soil, hit up my ROLS thread and recipe.
Recycled Organic Living Soil