My soil drains horribly

[Dextromaniac]

I think i made a mistake when I decided to put all of the dirt i dug up through a screen. I mixed my dirt with perlite, and peat moss and it drains horribly. I have 20 ounce cups and I threw a 12 ounce cup of water into the soil and it puddled up, seaped down, and did not even drain out of the holes. Up at my grow site I have 2 plants that sprouted in this soil mix, two of them are just poking thru the soil but i had to water them and basically the two seedlings that were just barely poking thru the surface drowned, because the water puddled up right in the middle, did this kill those two seedlings? I also have a 3 week old afghan kush plant that was just planted in some soil i dug up from the ground, and the water i put in there immediately drained out. I have buckets full of the dirt i rubbed thru a screen and its not clumpy its like sand but its dirt. I poured water in a cup that was just dirt and the dirt soaked up every last bit of the water. When I added peat moss and perlite it helped a little bit...but the water sstill did not drain, and it took a minute to drain out. is it a bad thing if the water will not drain out? the soil takes the water and it remians moist not clumpy and theres no soil floating around after a little while but...it cant be good for the seedlings to have all that water dumped on top of them. I probably killed the two of them. I had to water them because the dirt was really dry. I added more perlite but it did not help it was just the same puddle...with perlite floating around. I think the dirt i dug up and screened has a lot of clay in it. what can I get (for free) to make the soil not puddle up so dam much? I am thinking sand.

 

[monkeymun]

What sort of soil are you working with? Sounds like it high in clay except for the texture. Waterlogged soils will kill your plants. You need free draining soils. Peat moss will hold water too. Mixing that with a soil that already retains too much moisture won't help you. Sand, diatomite and perlite are all useful additives in helping to create a free draining soil matrix, but have limitations. Gypsum will help break up clay bonds if your soil is high in clay. Mounding will also help with drainage.

 

[dextr0]

This might help: https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/agave-yucca-cold-extraction-surfactants-saponins-cytokinins-auxins.42729/

Besides that monkeymun is right, basicly calcium will loosen the soil, where as magnesium tightens the soil up. Gypsum is said to take awhile to break down, but I think it starts working fast. Try it and read that link...jus might help understand some shit. http://www.soilminerals.com/Cation_Exchange_Simplified.htm

Nice name by the way.

 

[neverbreak]

yep gypsum is the way to go if working with clay rich soils.

neverbreak

 

[Dextromaniac]

alright cool I'll pickup a 30 pound bag of gypsum its only 14 bucks at sears. what is mounding? I hope this gypsum does the trick, do i just add it to the dirt with clay or do i have to do something special with it?

 

[OctoberDee]

How about some coco coir and more perlite or volcanic rock. If your soil is tight and sand like it'll be dense as hell, coco coir will loosen it and more rock or perlite will allow air to open up the soil.... coco dries faster and is lighter than your dirt so maybe mix 50/50 then add more perlite

 

[Dextromaniac]

hmm, I read about coco coir but i thought it would be expensive. 7 of my plants sprouted, 2 dont look so good but im hopefull that in the next few days they will perk up. my 3 week old afghani is lookin beautifuul, a little dirty but green.

i just planted another seed today that germinated last night, i got 6 more still floatin in a cup some show a small taproot most dont ill give em a few more days.

Since i most likely will have 8, maybe 9 plants, with holes 2x2x2 feet, doing a 50/50 native soil and coco coir, about how much coco coir should i be looking to buy? post any reliable sources if ya got em i dont got any stores that carry this, lowes is sold out ;/

 

[OctoberDee]

hmm, I read about coco coir but i thought it would be expensive. 7 of my plants sprouted, 2 dont look so good but im hopefull that in the next few days they will perk up. my 3 week old afghani is lookin beautifuul, a little dirty but green.

i just planted another seed today that germinated last night, i got 6 more still floatin in a cup some show a small taproot most dont ill give em a few more days.

Since i most likely will have 8, maybe 9 plants, with holes 2x2x2 feet, doing a 50/50 native soil and coco coir, about how much coco coir should i be looking to buy? post any reliable sources if ya got em i dont got any stores that carry this, lowes is sold out ;/

I used to get mine from Home Depot for like $9 for 2.5 cubic ft. Here's a link to buy some around that price. Check around for a better price if you want but this stuff looks official fro $11 a 2.5 cubic ft.


or eBay:

 

[monkeymun]

alright cool I'll pickup a 30 pound bag of gypsum its only 14 bucks at sears. what is mounding? I hope this gypsum does the trick, do i just add it to the dirt with clay or do i have to do something special with it?

Just mix it in as per the directions.

Mounding is the opposite of digging. If you dig a hole into soil rich with clay and fill it with soil that drains well, where's that water going to drain to? The answer is essentially nowhere. The soil to the sides of that hole and at the bottom of that hole don't drain well, so the water will pool inside the hole waterlogging the roots. It's a bad idea to dig into clay heavy soils. So mounding is ofen used in these situations. Mounding is literally heaping soil on the surface of the existing soil, so that the water can drain out more easily.

 

[Dextromaniac]

Hmm, I have not dug into the soil at my grow but I think I'll be needing to use buckets or something. Its a pretty soggy area around the grow i'll have to check that out. Or I can just dig my holes a foot deeper and have 1 foot of rocks than toss the dirt over that.

I think next year I'm going to try out no-till growing ^.^

THIS is the coco coir i will be buying i just got my 45 bucks available in paypal



ANy objections? 5 blocks 650g each expand to 2.5 cubic feet, seems like a good deal to me. This is 7 pounds of coco coir

But this is 11 pounds of coco coir, for a whole bunch cheaper



I guess I'm buyin the 11 pounds!

 

[smartcalyx]

depending on brand, if its some cheaper stuff make sure to give it a good wash first

 

[Dextromaniac]

I just bought the 11 pounds from this guy



I wish I had bought this before i planted my seeds in the cups, right now my seedlings are probably like -_- "c'mon man wtf is this" They look healthy tho currently I no longer just dump water in there i soak a sponge in water and than squeeze it slowly over the cups to drip water in so it wont puddle up. Water is starting to drain out but it takes about a minute. My theroy on my situation here is if i can put enough water in for just the soil to soak up nothing will have to drain out since theres not enough water that needs to escape but the soil gets enough water to be moist for a few days

11lbs should hopefully be enough for my pots.