Does compacted soil damage the growing seedling

HI,

I've just started growing indoor, with soil. For the first week the 2 plants grew too tall and i read that the light source had to be closer, so i coiled the stem under the soil and left the top sticking out. The plant is about 2 weeks old and still small but seems to be growing healthy the only problem i have is the soil, i took some soil from outside and planted my germinated seed in there but currently the soil is very hard and seems that water retention occurs as no water comes out the 3 holes beneath the pot.

i would just like to know if i should leave the soil as is and water as normal or aerate the soil regularly, i' ve used a tooth pick to aerate it once and then left it back. i cannot buy pearlite or anything else anytime soon because of transport and money issues so id like to do with what i have.

I've been thinking of testing a plant using a few small round rocks ive seen in the soil outside. i want to add some into the soil and hope that helps with aeration but I'm not sure. if i do test this ill only get results in a few weeks.

Also for one plant i've been using normal water, well rainwater, and the other nutrient water to see the differences. i made a really small grow box for the nutrient plant. ill attach some pictures.

You need not to compact soil to tight, it needs to be kinda lose ish.
I crumble my soil to rid any clumps which in turn will allow better drainage which will help with the roots not incuring any root rot at a later date.
They have also stretched due to the light being to far away.
When they come to repotting pot them right up to the cotyledon leaves
Good luck

Aerating with a toothpick is silly. Adding rocks is also no benefit. Get some perlite in your mix for next grow. Until then, they will do what they will do. Compacted soil will slow growth a bit but they look good so far so maybe you'll do okay. Good luck!

Perlite is your friend .....I like my seed starter soil to be airy and fluffy .....regular dirt from outside depending where you are can have lots of clay and pack even tighter as it's watered.....IMO a cheap bag of organic patio plus with no ferts would have been a better option for starting your babies......when I was younger with little money...I'd get the cheap organic soil from Home Depot and add perlite as well as a few amendments and grew just fine with that .......of course I used bottled nutes as well ......however it is a plant and will probably grow in the dirt you used......It may just grow slower than it would of with better soil ......GL

Compacted soil is a beautch to water. Fuxing water flows over the side's.

Add some microbiology to that soil, not so tight after that.

Gonna have to agree that you need corse pearlite added in there a bit.

Thanks for all the responses guys, i guess im gonna have to let it grow in that soil till i can acquire some pearlite.

One more thing ive been having problems with germinating seeds in oasis cubes i cant get rockwool where i stay so the only alternative was the green oasis cubes. both methods, germinated seeds in paper towel and just adding seeds to the oasis cube gave no growth it took really long for a little roots to show then died