How to prep my coco coir/perlite mix

I just mixed some coco with perlite and added a little worm tea I made to give it something(have my own vermicompost). I keep seeing cal mag and didn’t know if it was something I needed to add to the medium prior to transplanting from the solo cup. I read the seedlings don’t require nutrients so I’m not sure if there should even be worm tea where it’s germinating.

I also have some craft blend and wasn’t sure if that was something I should add prior to planting (like two weeks in advance).

From my understanding there is no nutritional value to coco it just breaks down nicely and good water retention.

1 Like

Generally there’s enough nutrients in the tiny cotyledons from sprout. Regardless I feed at 800 PPMs the first 3 weeks above ground. When I drop the seed or transplant using coco I run enough mixed nutrients through the coco to get run off then transplant or drop the germinated seed. Starting in solo cups is much easier for watering practices and root growth. What nutrients are you using and would suggest a cannabis friendly line that has all the macro and micro nutrients needed. I would skip the worm casting tea for the above :love_you_gesture:

2 Likes

I was unaware of just how frequent I needed to water the coco and have fertilizers with every feeding. I currently only have craft blend by buildasoil



but I was thinking instead of going coco and perlite maybe mixing in this living soil I e been making.

I’ve top dressed the soil I’m considering using once with craft blend and about two work tea waterings. It’s a mix of my compost and some worm castings. There are worms inside,soil mites and springtails.

Would it be better for me to include this in my coco and perlite mix to keep feedings down? I keep seeing people with these watering systems and I can’t afford that after the initial startup.

Here’s a picture even though it won’t really help you to know how the soil is.

1 Like

With the craft blend soil is your grow going the organic route? I would recommend not mixing coco with any soil. 2 different PH needs :love_you_gesture:

1 Like

Yeah I really wanted to go organic and have my own vermicompost. The compost was made with coco as the substrate and it’s just been processed into compost.

I was hoping the worms would aerate and fertilize the plant. The soil mites and springtails and whatever other critters in the soil to eat decaying matter. The pot you see there has a decent amount of life going on it.

Should I just mix some perlite into that pot to help with drainage and continue to do the living soil route? I figured the soil would have a fair amount of nutrients for a couple of weeks and I would just have to top dress with craft blend every other week or so.

Just when I thought I was ready to start germinating I’m finding more ways to complicate this :smiley:

1 Like

It’s not pure compost I mixed my compost in with some Kellogg organic raised bed and potting mix. Seems more like dirt from outside so was considering adding the perlite to make it work. I’m sure I could keep the stuff alive in a 5 gallon with mulch layer at the top

Best method to test the nutrients in your soil is through a soil slurry test. The soil should remain slightly damp to keep the soil alive. Most likely too late for perlit, you could damage the roots trying to get this down into the root zone and mixed in :love_you_gesture:

1 Like

I don’t have any plants growing at the moment and should be expecting seeds this afternoon. The soil does stay consistently moist at the moment which I know the microbiology needs. I just didn’t know if needed more perlite since as you can see there’s practically none in there. I figured I have roughly 2-3 weeks of letting the mix sit and establish whatever I destroy with mixing up the soil.

I also planned on instead of the big wooden pot to use a 5 galling fabric pot but unsure if the soil would dry out too quickly

1 Like

I would blend in 20-30% perlite Growmie. Go with the fabric pot :love_you_gesture:

1 Like

Thanks bro, people like you keep me coming back to the forum

1 Like

Anytime Grow Bro, keep me posted :love_you_gesture:

1 Like