compacted soil

[shimmz22]

hey all, a few days ago i transplanted my cell plugs into 4 inch pots with happy frog soil. When i first watered them the water just stayed on the top and slowly seeped through. I feel like i have a drainage problem. Today also when i watered, the water just stayed on the top and slowly leaked through. I know this can cause problems. Has anyone had similar problems and have a solution? Any input = +REPS to you.

 

[mr. b]

not a problem, i use happy frog when cloning, how many days between watering? i use 6in. pots first transplant and give aprox. 8 oz of water and a week later i up it to 16oz i do like runoff just to make sure by the 3rd week they get 24 oz with maybe a 4 or 5 oz runoff my lights are about 2-3 in away floro's i get some nice plants from clone, i use a similar process for seedlings as i wait about 3 days after transplant before the first watering and i bottom feed them the first time as i want roots to start searching for water bigger root mass JMHO

 

[load3dic3]

my plants drain kind of slow also, buy i really dont think it would cause any problems. my plants seem to be doing just fine like they are. but if you are worried about it, you can put some perlite in your grow medium. (I recommend fox farms perlite) Hope that helps a little.

Good luck :aok:

 

[Rosebud]

This may be a dumb question, but before you transplanted did you wet your happy frog and mix it up with water?

 

[BBFan]

This may be a dumb question, but before you transplanted did you wet your happy frog and mix it up with water?

:yeahthat: I've used Happy Frog. I found it needs a real good drenching when first planted into it. I can't imagine how it could get "compacted". It's a pretty light mix right out of the bag.

I had better luck using it as a base soil that I amended.

Drench them till you get a good run-off like mr. b said.

 

[Wetdog]

This may be a dumb question, but before you transplanted did you wet your happy frog and mix it up with water?

:yeahthat: :goodposting:

Not dumb at all, and I'd bet shake to buds he used it dry, or just slightly moist.

Wet

 

[Killuminati420]

yep a lot of the time when using new or older soil that hasnt been messed with for a while it will drain slow or abnormal at first but will drain normaly after a couple waterings.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Yup yup...

If you don't moisen your soil before using it you'll often have lots of issues with air getting trapped in the soil mix and resulting surface tension not allowing the moisture to fully penetrate the soil in your pot. :cry:

But hey... cheer up~! One thing you can do for dry soil is bottom water your plants and just let them wick up the moisture... Bottom feeding helps saturate the soil when it won't let water penetrate from the top and that can happen when you're newly xplanted in dry soil or just have some really dried out pots during your grow. All ya gotta do is put your pot in a slightly larger container and fill the outer container with a few inches of water and just let it sit for a while... if it sucks it all up, add more. I like to do that and after I've let it soak for a while then I'll also add water to the soil surface and really soak down the substrate...:hubba:

Peace~!