Soil turned to Mud...Please Help!

Sooo I think I might have made a big mistake with my plants, I transplanted about 12 plants into 3 gal pots over the weekend and picked up just some simple plain potting soil with no additives or perlite. The other stuff I was using seemed to stay too moist and not drain well, so dumb noobie I am thought I would try to keep it simple and use good ole dirt (I can’t afford the FoxFarm and others yet, as this is my first grow). Once watered I immediately realized this was prob not such a good idea since I now have 12 pots of mud that has since stayed mud! It’s not drying and I’m worried I’m going to get root rot…so I need help! What do I do now? Can I re-transplant this soon? Should I just pull as much mush out as I can and add in the original soil I was using “which now doesn’t seem so bad”? Any advice would be great! Thanks!

FYI - 2 of the pots with the mush are currently Flowering, the others are still Vegging.

Get some perlite. The 4cf bags are the cheapest way to go if you can source them locally.

Wet

Soil composition is a critical issue. I would repot again using perlite ^^^as he said^^^ and maybe a little peat moss too. Use lots of perlite. I use about 8-10%!!

Good luck....

EDIT: don't forget 10% lime with the peat moss.

Wetdog said:

Get some perlite. The 4cf bags are the cheapest way to go if you can source them locally.

Wet

Click to expand...

^^^^Yeah what dat duid said.^^^^

If it was me...pull each plant,as your transplant wasn't that long ago you should be able to remove the majority of the "NEW" soil from around the old root ball with no issues.You snatch a few roots off here and there no biggie.Remix wit your perlite.....repot.

You can submerge the root mass in a bucket of water and most of the bad (muddy) soil will wash away. There is nothing wrong with dirt as long as you have additives for aeration (such as perlite) to help along. When I was soil growing I used a mixture called Sunshine mix #1, bought by the 3 cubic yard bale and it was much cheaper than the designer soils and I just added more perlite. It always served me well.

dirt generally does that with water, just make sure you have sufficient drainage..

drill a few holes in the bottoms of your pots so they will drain some of the water away.

heathaa said:

drill a few holes in the bottoms of your pots so they will drain some of the water away.

Click to expand...

Won't help.He needs better drainage IN the soil.

Clay based dirt + water = mud, it happens. You want to use a peat/bark based dirt, ie. potting soil. I'd transplant into some good soil.

Thanks everyone! I'll transplant today into a better soil mix...

here is my rough soil recipe that has served me well indoors and out for years.
4 parts coco peat/peat moss/inert growing medium (if using peat moss i suggest adding dolomite lime to balance acidity) + 2 parts compost/worm castings/organic matter + 1 part perlite/sand/clay pellets for drainage.
all proportions relative to consistency of organic matter plus more of the perlite and less of the inert medium in wet weather.
hope some of thats helpful for the future.