Does organic soil dry out slower?

Flaming Pie

Flaming Pie

Well-Known Member
42% perlite is right. People are recommending I add perlite to HP and that is 25-35% perlite already. Adding 1/3 more of perlite would jump it to 40-46% perlite because it would be 1.75-2.05 gallons of the entire 4.4 gallons of mix.
 
Flaming Pie

Flaming Pie

Well-Known Member
Shit, I had my numbers wrong.\


Using regular promix it the perlite would be 1.3 gallons of perlite to total of 4.1 gallons of soil mix. Which would be 31% perlite.
 
jacksthc

jacksthc

Well-Known Member
I just use the right pot size and bags of soil, never had any problems, watering every 2-3 days when the top soil is dry
 
Flaming Pie

Flaming Pie

Well-Known Member
jacksthc said:
I just use the right pot size and bags of soil, never had any problems, watering every 2-3 days when the top soil is dry
Click to expand...
We discovered my problem was not prewetting the promix. So say I had a gallon sized container. I fill it with a gallon of promix (dry) and when I water, it would expand to 2 gallons. Effectively squeezing out ALL the oxygen.
 
whitebb2727

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
Check the link in my Sig. I planted seeds straight to 7 1/2 gallon pots. They been there for a couple or three weeks and haven't been watered yet. Well I just put a couple large solo cups of water around the drip line today.
 
Carolina Dream'n

Carolina Dream'n

Well-Known Member
Flaming Pie said:
We discovered my problem was not prewetting the promix. So say I had a gallon sized container. I fill it with a gallon of promix (dry) and when I water, it would expand to 2 gallons. Effectively squeezing out ALL the oxygen.
Click to expand...
I have never pre soaked promix. Sounds like a good way to get root rot.
 
jacksthc

jacksthc

Well-Known Member
Flaming Pie said:
We discovered my problem was not prewetting the promix. So say I had a gallon sized container. I fill it with a gallon of promix (dry) and when I water, it would expand to 2 gallons. Effectively squeezing out ALL the oxygen.
Click to expand...
lol are you for real
 
jacksthc

jacksthc

Well-Known Member
say I am potting up from a 2ltr pot to a 10ltr pot, I would drop the 2 ltr pots in a bucket of water for a few minutes, so the root mass is soaked.
then pot it up into 10 ltrs pots with dry soil out the bag
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
I'm just wondering if this is a joke thread or something.

Flaming Pie said:
Pro mix is dried and compacted. Add water and it expands. True or false.
Click to expand...
Yes, sorta. Most of the expansion comes from un-compacting it. Some comes from the absorbing of water, but not all that much.

Dry peat actually repels water and MUST be pre wetted before use. Using it dry from the bag is a typical noob mistake and then they blame their ignorance on the pro mix, peat moss.

BTW, over the years I've noticed peat moss expands by ~1/2. A 4cf bale when 'fluffed out' expands to a bit under 6CF. No where near the double some claim.

I've been making my own mix from scratch for over 40 years... I do a bit over 2cf at a pop (wheelbarrow full), mix dry till I get to the perlite. I'll use tap hot water with a squirt of Ivory liquid in a watering can to both keep the perlite dust down and to get the peat moss absorbing water. For the 15 gal (2cf), of mix, it takes 5-7 gal of this soapy water to get it moist. Moist enough to initiate the microbes for the 'cook' and moist enough to where it will absorb water when plants go in it.

The simplest way I can put it is, think of a dry mop vs a damp mop AFA picking up water.

Wet
 
jacksthc

jacksthc

Well-Known Member
Wetdog said:
I'm just wondering if this is a joke thread or something.



Yes, sorta. Most of the expansion comes from un-compacting it. Some comes from the absorbing of water, but not all that much.

Dry peat actually repels water and MUST be pre wetted before use. Using it dry from the bag is a typical noob mistake and then they blame their ignorance on the pro mix, peat moss.

BTW, over the years I've noticed peat moss expands by ~1/2. A 4cf bale when 'fluffed out' expands to a bit under 6CF. No where near the double some claim.

I've been making my own mix from scratch for over 40 years... I do a bit over 2cf at a pop (wheelbarrow full), mix dry till I get to the perlite. I'll use tap hot water with a squirt of Ivory liquid in a watering can to both keep the perlite dust down and to get the peat moss absorbing water. For the 15 gal (2cf), of mix, it takes 5-7 gal of this soapy water to get it moist. Moist enough to initiate the microbes for the 'cook' and moist enough to where it will absorb water when plants go in it.

The simplest way I can put it is, think of a dry mop vs a damp mop AFA picking up water.

Wet
Click to expand...
lol you sound like the noob

if you take a plant in a 2ltr pot and repot it up into a 10ltr pot with pre soaked soil it will stunt the plant for 7 days and often take the soil upto 2 weeks to dry out
if you soak the 2ltr pot and put it in a 10ltr pot with dry soil, the dry soil will absorb most the water from the soaked 2 ltr root mass and then the soil will dry out a lot quicker
and the plant will keep growing and it will cause min stress to the plant

this why a lot of growers pot up a week before flower and I don't need to
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Oh my! Guess I've been doing it wrong these last 43 years. But, then again, there was no internet in 1972, and certainly no "internet experts" (Thank God!).

Sorry to have bothered.

Later

Wet
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
jacksthc said:
this why a lot of growers pot up a week before flower and I don't need to
Click to expand...
i still think it's a good idea to pot up a week, or even 2 before. I like the plant to take hold in the new container. just a personal preference. and usually i take a few clones before transplant, if i can, and i like to give some healing time. I do agree about only watering the root zone though for the new container. i usually just water the plant thoroughly before i take it out of the container it's in. that helps, i find, to release it from the container, and just plant into the new container and try and water in the soil so it settles around the rootmass. definitely don't water for runoff in a new container.

oh yeah, watering the root mass before pulling it out of the container, helps the fungi spores stick right to the roots of the plant as well, which is the best application of endo/ecto myco spores IMO.
 
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jacksthc

jacksthc

Well-Known Member
Wetdog said:
Oh my! Guess I've been doing it wrong these last 43 years. But, then again, there was no internet in 1972, and certainly no "internet experts" (Thank God!).

Sorry to have bothered.

Later

Wet
Click to expand...
never too late to learn fellow
 
jacksthc

jacksthc

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
i still think it's a good idea to pot up a week, or even 2 before. I like the plant to take hold in the new container. just a personal preference. and usually i take a few clones before transplant, if i can, and i like to give some healing time. I do agree about only watering the root zone though for the new container. i usually just water the plant thoroughly before i take it out of the container it's in. that helps, i find, to release it from the container, and just plant into the new container and try and water in the soil so it settles around the rootmass. definitely don't water for runoff in a new container.

oh yeah, watering the root mass before pulling it out of the container, helps the fungi spores stick right to the roots of the plant as well, which is the best application of endo/ecto myco spores IMO.
Click to expand...
The main reason why I don't veg the plant after potting up is because the plants get too big in flower, 600w hps light can only penetrate the canopy 18 inches, I don't want my plants growing more than 2ft high.
 
drekoushranada

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
Only time I wet my peat before putting plants in it is when its time to drop some AACT in the initial "cook/composting". I personally don't feel the past expands that much. When breaking it up yes but after that not much. Most certainly not like coco. I'm actually moving towards using more coco in my mixes. Getting pretty tired of the hydrophobic characteristics of peat.
 
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