Perlite some question?

hello i want to ask is perlite its good idea for drainage.I use it on the bottom about 5 cm to fill the drainage holes and its turning yellow shoud i fear of that?Plants are in 2 and half week of growing sitting in 11 liters pots .Thanks for reply and sorry for my english lol

You should mix it with your soil to improve soil aeration.

yea but my soil have already perlite mixed in it.I just used perlite for drainage and im asking its good or wrong and if it hurt my plants ?

mix extra perlite with the soil next time. if you layer the bottom of the pots with perlite, its just gonna get washed out the drain holes. if you really feel the need for extra drainage, use some river rock about 1" layer thick on the bottom. I used to layer rocks in the bottom of my pots, but after 2 harvests it was not worth the time and the drainage was about the same rocks vs soil. or if your having drainage issues, put more holes in the bottom of your pots.

and perlite on the bottom will discolor due to the water changing colors form the soil and nutes. mine turns brown when I add molasses to my water.

When I'm fixing a 5 gallon pot its 3 parts soil and 1 part perlite. Sometimes even 2 parts soil to 1 part perlite. I got one of those big industrial size sacks of perlite from an Agway store.

purplehaze211 said:

yea but my soil have already perlite mixed in it.I just used perlite for drainage and im asking its good or wrong and if it hurt my plants ?

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I won't hurt your plants, just a waste of space in your pot.

Ok thanks for answer.I dont have problem with drainage and i secured holes before leaching substrate and perlite from the bottom, I noticed that my plants grow better at this than clay pebbles that i used before.cheers

If you're worried about it just used clay pellets on the bottom they won't go through the holes and get all over the place as bad as the smaller Perlite will. As far as the perlite by the drain holes turning yellow or orange that's quite common no big deal if you start growing a bad science project on the Perlite then I would worry otherwise you're good

I just searched some info about using perlite on the bottom and they write to water more often is this true ?I was using clay pellets before and they are good, but i wanted to try something different in my present project thats why i changed on perlite this time and see how the plants wil grow.

This is just a little tip for anyone that looses soil (or perlite) through thier drainage holes:

Before you fill your pot with soil - cover the drainage holes. I use little 1" or 2" squares of recycled window sceen (free!), even new screen from the hardware store is dirt cheap! Just lay the squares in the bottom of the pot, the soil will hold them in place. Badda-bing, problem solved.