Early veg state...watering is compressing the soil...add more soil?

Hey guys. I'm about two weeks into veg of my first grow and have about four inches of growth on two plants. Only had to give a full watering a couple times thus far but I've noticed the soil has compressed a bit after each watering.

I figured this would happen since the potting soil is so light and fluffy when fresh out of the pack (Miracle Grow Moisture Control with perlite mixed in).

Should I be adding some more soil on top to cover some of the plants' "trunks" and build the soil level back up? Thanks for any help!

NoProFoSho said:

Hey guys. I'm about two weeks into veg of my first grow and have about four inches of growth on two plants. Only had to give a full watering a couple times thus far but I've noticed the soil has compressed a bit after each watering.

I figured this would happen since the potting soil is so light and fluffy when fresh out of the pack (Miracle Grow Moisture Control with perlite mixed in).

Should I be adding some more soil on top to cover some of the plants' "trunks" and build the soil level back up? Thanks for any help!

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Hey, first off welcome to RIU!
Soil does condense after watering, it's a natural process. If the soil gets too compact, then the roots can't get oxygenated adequately, so if you see the soil being extremely compact (condensed enough so that it's hard to dig a small hole with your finger) then immediately transplant your babies into a soil mix with lots of perlite.
For now, add more soil to the pots so that the part of the stems that were uncovered get recovered.
Hope that helps.

yeah fill it up...
if u have to go above a set of leaves,take them off...
new roots will grow where the new dirt is...

Could you also post some pics? I wanna see if there's any stretching or anything else I can nip in the bud before it becomes a problem.

Sure! Here's a couple quickies. Raspberry Cough is the first, Northern Lights is the second. Thanks for the offer for other input. My gut says these are not stretching. I've had the lights very close and they both seem to be staying very compact. Nodes seem very close compared to some pics I've seen around here. Not sure if this is good or bad. It's confusing if I decide to top, that's for sure.

NoProFoSho said:

Sure! Here's a couple quickies. Raspberry Cough is the first, Northern Lights is the second. Thanks for the offer for other input. My gut says these are not stretching. I've had the lights very close and they both seem to be staying very compact. Nodes seem very close compared to some pics I've seen around here. Not sure if this is good or bad. It's confusing if I decide to top, that's for sure.
View attachment 1877174

View attachment 1877173

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They look beautiful to me... no stretching and healthy. Props.
How old are they?

How old are they?

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Today they are exactly two weeks from the date they first popped out of the soil.

Well my friend they look very good to me. The soil looks good too, I wouldn't worry about it compressing, there will still be plenty of oxygen for the roots. In a few days you may wanna give it a very small amount of nutes to get it to grow a little faster.
Good luck =)

aquashift said:

Well my friend they look very good to me. The soil looks good too, I wouldn't worry about it compressing, there will still be plenty of oxygen for the roots. In a few days you may wanna give it a very small amount of nutes to get it to grow a little faster.
Good luck =)

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Thanks! Do you think I should give nutes in a couple days even though this is Miracle Grow soil? I figured I should wait a bit to start any nutes since there should already be a decent amount in the MG soil, especially since I've only done a full soaking watering twice (it was just small/light watering before that for the seed and tiny seedling.)

Ah if it's miracle grow definitely hold off on the nutes. Sorry I forgot from your earlier post that it was MG.
I prefer growing in a low nute soil, because then I have more control on the nutrients.. You probably have a slow-release nutrient mix, which is fine, but not my cup of tea. It's hard to say exactly how to give it nutrients when the soil is constantly giving it a low amount of nutes...
My advice would be to wait for another week and see how your plants are growing. If they grow slow, then add a TINY bit of nutrient mix to it (about a quarter of the reccomended dose) and see if that makes them grow faster.

Excellent. Thanks, bud.

For sure. Hope you don't stay a 'stranger' at rollitup =D