Ratios

Alright so I have promix veg & herb which contains Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, Peat humus, Perlite, Gypsum, Limestone, Organic fertilizer (mycorrhizae Glomus intraradices). I also have decent worm castings(light fluffy), pumice, ricehulls and Venus biochar.. not sure of the ratios that I should use for this soil mix with what I have. the promix already has perlite in it but not very much at all.

No pro at all but what are you trying to accomplish. Some of those are for water holding some for drainage. I personally would add pumice if i felt porosity was weak. Ewc for biology

Well I've used this promix for 2 other runs and have never used pumice or ricehulls in it. The run I'm doing now seems to have hydrophobic spots and soil pH is very unbalanced.. And after I water there seems to be pockets in which the water runs thru but doesn't soak up into the soil. So I'm tryna figure out how to prevent this.. I have 4cuft of this promix left and don't want to waste it but I feel like it's the reasoning for this. My plants right now look very sickly. I actually ripped two up this morning lol. My first two grows I used coco with the promix and I didn't have this problem but I don't have any more coco and was trying to streer away from it anyway..

Have you tried any surfacant like yucca to help with the hydrophobic issue. Do you wet the media before potting it up? Maybe bad batch if last runs didn’t act like that or did they?

Rice hulls can act as a drainage improver but can hold moisture too

Nope, I have never used yucca. Yes, I wet the soil before potting.. Could be a bad batch, I suppose..

Bill_Nye said:

Nope, I have never used yucca. Yes, I wet the soil before potting.. Could be a bad batch, I suppose..

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Add a little Dawn dish soap
Just a drop

Herb & Suds said:

Add a little Dawn dish soap
Just a drop

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For wetting agent purposes?

Bill_Nye said:

For wetting agent purposes?

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Yes
It evens out water dispersal as well

Herb & Suds said:

Yes
It evens out water dispersal as well

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Nice. Now. Should I use more water or the same as I have been. My plants are in 5gallon pots I been giving them roughly half a quart each watering. Here's a pic of my worst looking plant.

I would be watering a 1/2 gallon, probably explains the dry spots. Have you ever watered to runoff?

Five gallon with well rooted plants =1/2 to a gallon each depending on need

HydoDan said:

I would be watering a 1/2 gallon, probably explains the dry spots. Have you ever watered to runoff?

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I was trying to go by the 5%-10% rule for organic soil. And I apologize I meant a whole quart(when they were in 2gal pots I gave a half quart). Still I assume I should be watering with more water every time.. Yesterday, I did give two plants 2quarts of water and got some run off and 8hrs later I stuck my finger in the soil at a few different spots and just a couple inches down there was bone dry soil. So I got the soil probe out to see if there were dry spots deeper in the soil and sure enough there was more spots like it's hydrophobic. I know they might not be the most accurate but my probe pH readings were also very very low(4.0-5.5) in the lower wet spots of the soil.. idk wtf is going on. But all my pots are starting to get like that. Before I transplanted(10days ago) I did give them water with molasses and may have over done the molasses as I was in a hurry to get to work so maybe that's what's causing the pH issue?

Now that there's a couple members here who seem to know something and much more intelligent than I am lol. Would it be safe to use a mix like:

50% promix veg and herb
20% more aeration (pumice, ricehulls or bio char)
30% ewc

And would it be safe to amend that with Dr earths 463 and Gaia green 444 at 50/50 ratio. Should I feed occasional teas thru out the season too?
I appreciate everyone's input and suggestions BTW.

The best thing I've found for hydrophobic soil, is to water to big runoff and let the pot sit in it for a couple hrs.
Let it soak! Get rid of the dry spots.

Bill_Nye said:

Now that there's a couple members here who seem to know something and much more intelligent than I am lol. Would it be safe to use a mix like:

50% promix veg and herb
20% more aeration (pumice, ricehulls or bio char)
30% ewc

And would it be safe to amend that with Dr earths 463 and Gaia green 444 at 50/50 ratio. Should I feed occasional teas thru out the season too?
I appreciate everyone's input and suggestions BTW.

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I would do 25/25 for the aeriation and ewc.. I used Dr. Earth 444 and 394 this last run with good results. Mixed at 50/50 for veg then top-dressed with 25/75 when you flip to flower. If they show def it will be late and a flower girl 394 tea will pull them thru. Stay with the recommended 2tbl to a gal of soil.

HydoDan said:

I would do 25/25 for the aeriation and ewc.. I used Dr. Earth 444 and 394 this last run with good results. Mixed at 50/50 for veg then top-dressed with 25/75 when you flip to flower. If they show def it will be late and a flower girl 394 tea will pull them thru. Stay with the recommended 2tbl to a gal of soil.

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that's a big 10/4! I don't have any 394 but I do have Gaia green 284 that I can use for bloom