guerrillase7en

how much perlite do you normaly mix in your soil? i've been having problems with overwatering because my soil had no drainage, so i went out and got some perlite and mixed it with my potting soil at about 50/50 i beleave i ready that's the right amount in the overgrow faq but i can't remember, but it looks like a lot! i just want to make sure i don't use to much and make it so my soil wont hold enuff water... i'm ataching a pic of how it looks

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Sag Man

Hmmm..... sounds like a very high ratio to me especially considering that your soil probably already contained a pretty decent mixture of perlite to begin with.

You mentioned that you've been having problems with over watering because your soil had no drainage. Do you think that maybe the real reason you had over watering issues is because you just plain over watered? I know I've been guilty of it!

Sounds like you are trying to go more of a natural route (i.e. no hydro). With that being the case, here is what is working for me and for ALL of my plant growing needs.

1. 3 parts Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil

2. 1 part Wiggle Worm Soil Builder

3. 1 part Perlite (any good brand will do and can be found anywhere)

4. (initial mix) 2 Tbls Mexican Bat Guano/gallon of soil mix

5. (initial mix) 1 Tbls Indonesian Bat Guano/gallon of soil mix

6. Line the bottom of my containers with about an inch of Hydrotron Clay Media (Smooth, round gravel would work too)

This starter mix will take you a long ways into growing if you also do a low concentrate mix of soil, worm castings, guano (depending on stage of growth) and brew a tea with it. I normally mix 1 cup FF soil, 1/2 cup castings, 1 Tbls. guano. I put this mix in the center of an old, clean, stretched T-Shirt "square" cutout, make it into a ball and tie the top shut. I then stick this "tea bag" into a "Kool-aid" container and brew a tea for several days in a slightly warm, dim location. This allows the microbial organisms to blossom (a good thing). I reuse the same bag for about 3 to 4 waterings and then replace with a new batch. I make sure to "shake" the crap out of my tea prior to watering so that I aerate the tea with generous amounts of oxygen. I have yet to meet a plant that can’t handle this mixture on a regular feeding/watering schedule. Even my seedlings love it and are green and growing rapidly (sometimes to the point of “oh my god, what have I created” )

When watering, DON’T over do it. I had posted a question about that recently because I had read so many conflicting opinions and was never able to dial it in myself. Once you “get it”, though, it all makes sense. For me, the weight of my containers and the looks of the leaves and branches are now my dead give-aways. My branches have a tendency to ever so slightly “droop” when they start getting a little on the thirsty side. And I don’t mean point down, they just don’t seem perky. Within several hours of watering (remember, don’t over do it), the stems seem to stiffen up and stand at attention straight out.

With this mixture and using 5 1/2” square Kord Pots, after a week or two of growth from the initial sprout, I am watering about once ever 3-4 days depending. I only water enough to where I can wet the entire surface and just see a slight dribble of run off come out the bottom. I know I have succeeded when I can look underneath the pot at the drain holes and see that all of my clay “balls” are wet.

One key trick that I rarely see discussed is to “cultivate” your soil surface every couple of days and definitely right before watering. This helps to seal off the cracks between the soil surface and the side of the pot so that roots don’t get exposed to air flow (bad thing). That gap will cause the tips to dry up and die. Cultivating also aids immensely in making sure that the water goes into the soil and not down the sides. I use a common dinner fork and only cultivate to about a 1/2” down (maybe a little more) and then smooth it out so the surface is once again level.

One last item I want to note is that I am increasingly interested in dumping my bat guano (or amending to it) some high grade Peruvian Seabird Guano. I recall Sureshot mentioning that he has used this with great success and I think that once my current supply of guano starts running low (we use it a lot of our Bonsai Trees and other house plants) I will pick some up.

I know this is much more information than you were asking for but I think that you may want to go back to some basics with some of this. My above mixtures have made growing brainless! I have yet to see a yellow leaf and I am seeing plants at two weeks from breaking soil that are as big and full as plants at 30 days veg. (similar to what Sureshot had in his “Grow it small” tutorial). In fact, many plants are easily showing 7 nodes going on 8 with plenty of sub nodes growing on the first 3 branches at two weeks! Just plain ol’ Nirvana seeds too!

Anways, keep up the good work, tweak and refine, and spread the knowledge.

Sag

guerrillase7en

thanks for your detaled reply, with just the potting soil the top 1/2 inch would be bone dry and halfway down would be on 10(the max it shows) acording to my moister meter. anyway thanks for the input...

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shriek

im using 15% perlite and 15% vermiculite and rest soil with some leca rocks in the bottom for drainage, it has worked very well.

Sureshot

Great reply Sag, one for the FAQ if I may?

SS

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Sag Man

Add away my friend, add away!