Soil question...

[immaculate]

I bought a potting soil from this company: http://www.licompost.com/spoil_your_soil.htm

When I purchased the bag, the soil was wet (fresh), but super compact. I had to break up large "chunks" of soil. It's a heavy, black soil. I transplanted for veg into this soil...and I'm wondering if it is too dense.

They are calling it a "loam"? But this soil is HEAVY, dense, and drainage didn't seem quite adequate?

I did not have any perlite to mix into the soil, but bag instructions do not mention need anything of. But the soil is SUPER dense, and I noticed slow growth the first several days. It seems to retain LOTS of water, the pots haven't been watered since transplant (several days). As the soil is drying, it's drying into a hard chunk...almost like a black brick....the plants appear to be happy, I just didn't notice any growth until now. Do I need to take them out, mix perlite and re-plant?

Thanks.

 

[Sat X RB]

from yr description what you bought doesn't sound suitable to me.

I 'd wonder about the ethics of a company that sells watery soil. I mean how much did you pay for that water ... which weighs heavy ... when you set out to buy soil!

also sounds like you've answered yr own question because if it doesn't drain well then it's not what you need.

if yr soil is holding lots of water ... and perlite does too ... might you be better adding sharp sand/fine gravel instead?

cheers!

 

[s00thsayer]

Jorge Cervantes says loam is good in his book but I've never tried it.

 

[Granger2]

Looks like you bought a "soil" that is intended for spreading on and tilling into a garden or for topdressing a lawn. Totally unsuitable for container growing.

Since you are in an early stage, I would carefully scrap this soil, and buy a good potting mix. I guess you could add perlite, but I would use a LOT of it-like 50%. And BTW, perlite holds little moisture. It is mainly for holding air, even when the rest of the medium is moist. Good luck. -granger

 

[señorsloth]

loam is suitable for cannabis, that's basically what dirt is in nature, it's decomposed stuff...but usually potting soil has pearlite added for extra drainage, pure loam will stay wet forever...there is no reason you can't just go buy a bag of pearlite and mix it in, just because weed can grow in it doesn't mean it wouldn't work better in a pot if you added some drainage...

 

[cannachef]

you can go 50% perlite in your pots for more airation. personally roots organics is the best way to go. give that a try and see what happens. you will not be dissapointed. i use roots right out of the bag, and feed with plain water, and my plants are happy as can be. when it comes to transplanting into its final bucket, thats when you should use nutes of some sort. I go upto 2 months on just plain water with roots.

 

[s00thsayer]

Let us know how it goesif you use it. cervantes - " Dark, fertile loam soils are ideal for growing marijuana. They are easy to work and hold air and nutrients well."

 

[cannachef]

Let us know how it goesif you use it. cervantes - " Dark, fertile loam soils are ideal for growing marijuana. They are easy to work and hold air and nutrients well."

Jorge also recommends pouring H2O2 on your buds.

 

[s00thsayer]

Jorge also recommends pouring H2O2 on your buds.

yeah....for powdery mildew. your comment is not relevant to the discussion about soil. loam should work fine....many people recommend it.

 

[howske]

mate the way that has always worked for me is wetting my soil mix and then grab a hand full and squeeze if it stays compact then the soil mix is to dense and you need to add something for aeration.. i normally use perlite and diatomite

 

[cannachef]

yeah....for powdery mildew. your comment is not relevant to the discussion about soil. loam should work fine....many people recommend it.

My comment is very relevent to the conversation. That is a horrible thing for him to tell people to do. Someone giving that type of advise isn't someone I'd listen to, and that's what makes it relevent.

 

[immaculate]

Hey guys. Thanks for all of your replies.

Plants stayed healthy, but I bought another bag of soil, by the same company (they're big at the 99 cent stores in the city) and retransplanted. ("Hampton's Estate Professional Potting Mix" listed here http://www.hillsidegardencenter.com/Soils-Mulch/) I did the retransplant yesterday, and already they are too big for my container. My first round of clones is gonna be half a plant, LOL. They were just about rootbound in the strictly loam soil.

One thing I didn't like about it is that it dries out and forms like a cinder block that cracks all the way down the middle...and it still feels heavy when it's dry, so the lifting method gets deceiving...it was hard for me to tell just how much they were drinking. The original root ball is still in the loam, but I added the new mix where I could.

Thanks again guys.

 

[bigleek]

hi im

i look to buy my compost like that it tells me it is fresh
it does not take long to brake it up and you get a good look at the mix
if its a little heavy try 2 parts compost one part coco