What is the mixing ratio for Ocean Forest and perlite? I will be placing the soil into a 5 gallon container. Should I mix a qtr of the 8Qrt bag of perlite, more?
^ Adding more perlite is just a personal preference some people have. There really isn't any need to add anything additional for starting seeds in little cups. If I was going to add anything to Light Warrior or Ocean Forest it wouldn't be perlite. Light Warrior is more conducive to seedlings; it has mycorrhizal fungi in it also which is good for young plants. If I was going to add anything to it in general it would be coco coir (~25%). There are different kinds of coir, I like the kind that is less fibrous and more like soil. Coir has better pH characteristics than sphagnum, and also an excellent air-to-water ratio so it is aerated even while wet. Coir also has what is known as Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), which means ability to loosely hold onto nutrient ions (mainly cations, the positively charged ions plants take up such as NH4+, K+, Ca++, Mg++, etc). Other materials such as sphagnum, vermiculite, and especially clay\humus (compost, earthworm castings) also have CEC. However, perlite has virtually no CEC, it is totally neutral and inert not supplying nutrients or holding onto them.
Seeds planted in solo cups wont be in there very long and will be transplanted. When going into larger containers more permanently you'll want to worry more about structure and how it may compact over time.
If you do feel you need to add perlite, check the labeling very carefully because as somebody mentioned some like the Miracle Gro kind contain synthetic fertilizer.
If you'd like you could try taking some of the Ocean Forest, perhaps mix in a bit of LW, put down a layer in the bottom half of the cup. Then fill in the rest with just the LW. Plant your seed directly in (within the top half). The roots will be allowed to grow more slowly into the richer Ocean Forest layer.
Try not to obsess over watering or anything. The time to water is when the containers have
mostly dried out and become light. You can tell by picking them up. Just try not to wait until they are overly dry- and you'll know it is too dry when the medium has pulled away from the sides of the container and the water pools\beads on the surface, running off and straight down the sides.
