How to Fix Pre-fertilized Soil?

B

Big_Budah

New Member
Hi There

I am currently 2 weeks into my indoor grow, I have 4 fem trainwrecks on the go from The Green House, things are going well and they all look healthy but im predicting probloems with soil in the future.

I live on a small tropical in the Indian Ocean and I can not get hold of good soil. I managed to find one shop that sold potting mix for seedlings. I have been using this and so far so good. When testing the run off, my EC is in the range of 2 to 3 and PH is at 5.5. I have read to use lime to up the PH but sadly can not buy lime here, would bakeing soda do the job? and I was thinking of completely flushing the new soil to try remove the pre nutes of the soil before transplanting the seedlings and then using the Green House powders to reintoduce the right amounts of nutes. Im not sure if this would work.

I apreaite any advise and ideas how I can sort this out.

Many thanks
 
Snoopy808

Snoopy808

Well-Known Member
Coral sand, oyster shell meal will work as an adequate substitute for dolomite. Any coral sand beaches, or dredged harbors? Both not nearly as fast acting but as effective over long term. You'd also be surprised where lime is sold and what else they call it.

Dont bother pre flushing. A seedling soil should have enough food for the very young plant. At most kelp with 0-0-0 fertilizer values would be used for them.
 
B

Big_Budah

New Member
JimmiP said:
Don't try to flush the soil. Save that action for the toilet. If everything is going well then let it keep doing what it's doing for now.
Click to expand...
Yeah I know what you mean but you I want to give the girls best chance of sucsess I can and have the correct EC and PH will surley help in this.
 
JimmiP

JimmiP

Well-Known Member
Don't pay attention to runoff in soil. You are going to need something other than seedling mix though. What other available potting soils did they have ?
 
JimmiP

JimmiP

Well-Known Member
It's a line repeated on here all the time. Don't flush your soil...Flushing is for toilets...

You can actually build your own good soil too if you get a little crafty. There are numerous threads that can assist you with doing just that on this site. And welcome to the fun.
 
Last edited:
Snoopy808

Snoopy808

Well-Known Member
Right.....and by pre flushing and fiddle fucking with an adequately made soil you can easily increase your chances that a young plant is retarded in its growth. EC is more a function of your soils organic matter and the ions absorbed-stuck to it. Not fertilizing. Fresh bagged soil and compost are excellent ways to have good EC. Pre emptive fiddle fucking can get pHs trending towards not good. Dolomite, coral sand, oyster shells help maintain a slightly acidic soil, ideal. Which a fresh bagged soil likely contains these types or other buffers to not need fiddle fucking from day -4 thru at earliest 1 month. While pH and EC can have a correlation to soil chemistry, EC wont tell you what is giving you your value, only a soil sample test. Your pH may be within tolerable limits and good EC but your base cations may not be in favorable ratios. Good luck
Big_Budah said:
Yeah I know what you mean but you I want to give the girls best chance of sucsess I can and have the correct EC and PH will surley help in this.
Click to expand...
 
spliffendz

spliffendz

Well-Known Member
If I had the money I would ship 'general compost' to all these countries where it is missing, we take so much for granted, and obviously there is a lot of money to be made it seems
 
B

Big_Budah

New Member
Snoopy808 said:
Coral sand, oyster shell meal will work as an adequate substitute for dolomite. Any coral sand beaches, or dredged harbors? Both not nearly as fast acting but as effective over long term. You'd also be surprised where lime is sold and what else they call it.

Dont bother pre flushing. A seedling soil should have enough food for the very young plant. At most kelp with 0-0-0 fertilizer values would be used for them.
Click to expand...
Hi Snoopy

Many thanks, we have plenty of coral sand here, I will give it ago. What eles do they use lime for?
 
drsaltzman

drsaltzman

Well-Known Member
Big_Budah said:
Hi There

I am currently 2 weeks into my indoor grow, I have 4 fem trainwrecks on the go from The Green House, things are going well and they all look healthy but im predicting probloems with soil in the future.

I live on a small tropical in the Indian Ocean and I can not get hold of good soil. I managed to find one shop that sold potting mix for seedlings. I have been using this and so far so good. When testing the run off, my EC is in the range of 2 to 3 and PH is at 5.5. I have read to use lime to up the PH but sadly can not buy lime here, would bakeing soda do the job? and I was thinking of completely flushing the new soil to try remove the pre nutes of the soil before transplanting the seedlings and then using the Green House powders to reintoduce the right amounts of nutes. Im not sure if this would work.

I apreaite any advise and ideas how I can sort this out.

Many thanks
Click to expand...
Hello and welcome.
Definitely do not put baking soda in your soil. It has sodium in it.
Not sure why you want to leach the soil before you transplant, it’s not necessary.
As mentioned let the plants use the charge in the soil, and then you can add your nutrients in a couple weeks once they have been used up.
As far as flushing, or more accurately “leaching”, it’s not just for toilets.
A simple Google search for “leaching soil” will tell you all you need to know.
It is a viable tool when you want to neutralize your medium.
While you can’t “flush” a plant, you can absolutely leach soil.
In most cases it is not recommended, but if you have a buildup of nutrients/salts that are affecting your plant, it can help.
In your case, it’s not needed.
Good luck on your grow.
 
B

Big_Budah

New Member
drsaltzman said:
Hello and welcome.
Definitely do not put baking soda in your soil. It has sodium in it.
Not sure why you want to leach the soil before you transplant, it’s not necessary.
As mentioned let the plants use the charge in the soil, and then you can add your nutrients in a couple weeks once they have been used up.
As far as flushing, or more accurately “leaching”, it’s not just for toilets.
A simple Google search for “leaching soil” will tell you all you need to know.
It is a viable tool when you want to neutralize your medium.
While you can’t “flush” a plant, you can absolutely leach soil.
In most cases it is not recommended, but if you have a buildup of nutrients/salts that are affecting your plant, it can help.
In your case, it’s not needed.
Good luck on your grow.
Click to expand...
Thanks mate, I will keep going and see how it goes. Thanks for the advise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top