perlite after planting?

[sgibson8]

Okay. Well I messed up and just planted with straight soil and someone suggested that I use perlite. Is it possible to cut around the plant, take it out and add perlite to the original soil or would that be too dangerous? Will it make a huge impact and save some trouble in the future.

sgibson8 Reviewed by sgibson8 on 03-07-2008. perlite after planting? Okay. Well I messed up and just planted with straight soil and someone suggested that I use perlite. Is it possible to cut around the plant, take it out and add perlite to the original soil or would that be too dangerous? Will it make a huge impact and save some trouble in the future. Rating: 5

[Mr. Clandestine]

What sized pots are your plants in now? If the plant is young, I'd be wary of cutting the roots, which might slow growth down considerably for a few weeks if disturbed badly enough. If they're in small pots (6" starter pots, for instance), I'd wait until they're ready to be transplanted, then adding the perlite to that soil mix. Regardless, perlite does wonders for poorly draining or excessively soggy potting soils. If you're pots are retaining too much moisture, I'd agree with whoever recommended adding perlite. My soil is pretty light, but I still add at least a 30% mix for nearly all stages of growth.

[sgibson8]

Its a big pot. Not too familiar with size but here is a photo. Plus I just put them into the pots about 1 week ago so I'm not sure if they root spread too fast yet.

[Mr. Clandestine]

That's tough to say. Even though it's only been a week, your roots will have certainly dug deeper into the soil by now. I didn't know you were talking about clones, I thought maybe you were referring to seedlings in your first post. Those plants are going to need some nurturing to bring them back to health, and another transplant may be rough on them.

If the soil is staying overly soggy when you water, and is obviously stressing the plant, then it may be worth the time/risk of a transplant. But be prepared to possibly shock the plant more than it already looks to be. Are you currently using any fertilizers? Also, do you know what your pH is like? Looks like you've got some other issues besides soggy soil.

[sgibson8]

I am not using any fertilizer on these plants yet becasue the soil already has some and my ph was around 7.3 but I have lowered it to 6.5 now. These photos were taken about 3 days ago and the plants look a little better now. If you want to read a little more about them I have a post because I was having problems with some other things and still kinda am. http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-pro...ds-advice.html also thanks for the help

[Mr. Clandestine]

Hey, no problem. I added another response to the post you linked to. Hope it answers a few more of your questions.