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Soil

Bejaming

New member
I'm a new to the growing scene. I bought some 420 potting soil and worm casting. I mix 2/3 potting soil to 1/3 worm castings. I didn't compacted the soil. Mix it in a wheelbarrow. I'm using 5 gallon containers I drilled at least 8 holes in the bottom of each container for drainage.I didn't compact the soil when i put in the containers. Planted Black Jack clone in one and in the other Blue Dream After watering the soil seemed to be really dense and it didn't drain real fast. Did I do something wrong with the soil or is this common after watering. If I have fix it what would be the answer. Sorry about all the questions. Just want to do this right. Thanks Bejaming
 

BOMBAYCAT

Well-known member
Veteran
You did nothing wrong. Can you tell me more about the soil you bought? I looked up "Recipe 420" soil on the internet and it has some instructions in Cyrillic so I assume it is European? It has excellent ingredients in it. This spring I tried a new potting soil with the same ingredients in it and it seemed a bit muddy to me. After a week or so it dried out and was a good soil. Next time throw in a little Perlite to loosen it up. I also think you are a bit heavy on the worm castings. Most recipes I have seen go 15-20% and that makes a big difference to the plants. You are off to a good start. Please watch the leaves to see if that mix is too much fertilizer for the clones (very dark leaves) until they get larger. When
I started growing I fried some plants as I used a mix with too much fertilizer for new plants.
 

Bejaming

New member
I live northern California I bought the soil at my local nursery. Thanks for the reply. I thought I might have put in to much worm castings in the soil. The clones look good .It's been about a week since I put the clones in the soil. The soil looks like it's drying out. I really appreciate the reply. I'm looking forward to see my babies grow. Thanks Bejaming
 

MindEater

Member
How much aeration? I "bought" a bag of "Pro-Mix" from Walmart to check it out, it has such a small amount of perlite and coco fiber its equivalent to zero aeration, and the ph was 5.25-5.5, so they even skimped on the lime. Pretty typical of premixed retail soils to suck for growing pot in a pot. Add some pumice rice hulls or perlite.
 

Bejaming

New member
Thanks for all the reply's. I added perlite and let the soil dry and everything seems great with the drainage. I'm thinking about bending my plants. I'm growing outside and don't want the plants to get to big. At what age should I start the bending process. There about 8 inches tall. About five nodes on each plant. Any help would be helpful. Thanks bejaming
 
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