Soil Preparation?

[RedGoblin]

I have Scotts Potting Soil/Mix (can't remember which), as I was told this had a better ph than, say, Miracle Gro. I have no interest in rock wool or any other medium at this time, so do I absolutely need to add things to the soil before I plant, such as Perlite? I have begun growing three plants, with moderate success (up until now with the oldest one, but that's because I didn't feed) and nothing besides the soil itself as the grow medium. Thanks

 

[MIKE JONES]

premier pro-mix is the cheapest and best soil i have found, nothing compares to fox farm, but its too much $, pro-mix is 10 to 11 dollars at homedepot, and is loaded with perlite, all it needs is bat guano, worm castings, epson salt, and if you can get some rabbit shit is also good, follow the directions on the labels and you will have a bad ass soil, just as good as foxfarm!, then use the ferts you put in the soil and make a tea to feed evey other week, i thinks theres threads on how to make tea on here, add a table spoon of mollases to ever other feeding, will help giv it a bud boost!

 

[northerntights]

I like to use the FoxFarm Starter Fertilizer, a couple tablespoons per bag of soil and it gives your plants a great start. It also has the soil born fungi that colonize the roots and really help your plants. I use Pro-Mix as well, it is great stuff and much cheeper than Fox Farm soil. I do like to add some washed builder's sand and pertlite to aid in drainage, I do that regardless of what brand of soil I use (+- 10% by volume).

 

[RedGoblin]

Guys, I appreciate the help, and while we're on it, how exactly does one go about "feeding" one plant? Do you mix a small amount of the nutes with the water everytime, or do you make a lot of the mixture and distribute from a larger container over time?

 

[MIKE JONES]

just mix when you water

 

[babygro]

Do you mix a small amount of the nutes with the water everytime, or do you make a lot of the mixture and distribute from a larger container over time?

Mix up the irrigation water and nutrients fresh each time you're going to fertilise the plant and don't let the water/nutrient mix stand around evaporating any dissolved oxygen it contains.

As a general guide, you shouldn't need to fertilise your plant for about 3-4 weeks after potting into a fresh set of soil. If the plant is going to be in the same pot of soil longer than that time you'll need to start fertilising it after about 3-4 weeks or according to what the plant tells you. Don't feed every watering, feed a little (1/4 recommended dose or less) but regularly (say every other watering, interspersed by a plain watering), but watch the plants for 1-3 days after using chemical based nutrients and up to a week if using organic nutrients to see how the plants taking up those nutrients.

Don't automatically assume that the nutrients are not having an affect if you don't see any immediate change - have patience.

 

[RedGoblin]

So I'm getting ready to move my plants to their final pots, 15" that claim to hold 1.25 cu. ft. of potting soil, for flowering. I'm still using the Scotts and have had noteworthy success with it, and without using Perlite. I went and purchased some Perlite with these new, bigger pots today, however, and am curious as to how much Perlite I should add to the soil for the correct mixture. Anyone got any advice for me? Thanks to those that helped me figure out how to fertilize, by the way, it seems to be going well, but they definitely need to be transplanted, and I'm eager to do that once I know how much Perlite to use.