soil is draining horribly

Is there a such thing as too much perlite? I was starting to notice my seedlings looking like they were over fert'd so I did a flush. and I noticed my soil sucks at draining. I already have a shit ton of perlite on the way. Gonna add a shit ton as well. Im thinking 50-60% perlite. is there a such thing as "too much"?
 

BWG707

Well-Known Member
Make sure you get the course perlite. The finer grain perlite tends to float to the top of your soil. I made that mistake when all I could find was the small, fine grain stuff. Now I have a layer of perlite on top of my soil, which probably isn't bad. I've heard it will retain moisture in the soil and that bugs don't like to walk over it, don't know how true that is. As for %, I'm using FFOF soil, which already contains a little perlite, and I add at least 1/3 perlite. But I don't know if that optimum. I've read that perlite is very often over used. If you do a search you could probably find some articles that would better explain how much would be best.
 

fir3dragon

Well-Known Member
I use the red party cups to mix my soil from bag to bucket, I do 4 cups of dirt to 1 cup of perlite. Add a little more if u want.
 
Make sure you get the course perlite. The finer grain perlite tends to float to the top of your soil. I made that mistake when all I could find was the small, fine grain stuff. Now I have a layer of perlite on top of my soil, which probably isn't bad. I've heard it will retain moisture in the soil and that bugs don't like to walk over it, don't know how true that is. As for %, I'm using FFOF soil, which already contains a little perlite, and I add at least 1/3 perlite. But I don't know if that optimum. I've read that perlite is very often over used. If you do a search you could probably find some articles that would better explain how much would be best.
yup mine did the same. I have a layer of perlite at the top.
 
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