Blaze & Daze

Rsawr said:
I reuse mine. I throw out the thickest part of the root ball, then shake out and keep the rest. It saves like half of a pot. It breaks down eventually and gets a little sludgy. Since I don't use perlite if it gets too sludgy they get overwatered. I hadn't noticed it before. And I think that's why I overwatered my last batch of seedlings!
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Perlite is great......roots love oxygen.
 
Rsawr said:
I reuse mine. I throw out the thickest part of the root ball, then shake out and keep the rest. It saves like half of a pot. It breaks down eventually and gets a little sludgy. Since I don't use perlite if it gets too sludgy they get overwatered. I hadn't noticed it before. And I think that's why I overwatered my last batch of seedlings!
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Isn't perlite essential?
 
shnkrmn said:
Isn't perlite essential?
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Not in my experience. I haven't used it in years, and aside from my last batch of plants have never overwatered a plant in coco. It was very clear the medium was too sludgy this recent go around though, I just hadn't yet experienced it and got quite a shock. I know what to look for now, and will be less cheap and toss it after 3 or 4 uses
 
Rsawr said:
Not in my experience. I haven't used it in years, and aside from my last batch of plants have never overwatered a plant in coco. It was very clear the medium was too sludgy this recent go around though, I just hadn't yet experienced it and got quite a shock. I know what to look for now, and will be less cheap and toss it after 3 or 4 uses
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Rsawr said:
Nah.
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It's not about over watering......it's oxygen. And when you have a medium that can get fresh exchange of oxygen more often it's better for the plant.
 
Rsawr said:
... Are those peat based? ...
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They are both peat based. Basically a mix of sphagnum peat, dolomitic and calcitic lime, mycorrhizae, varying sized perlite and wetting agents. SM also contains some silica.
shnkrmn said:
... plus the Pro Mix is precharged from the previous grow so win! ...
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I was thinking of getting a big garbage pail and putting all the used PM/SM into the pail and letting nature flush the old stuff out over the course of a few months. So I don't have to let nature do it's own flush?
 
DarkWeb said:
It's not about over watering......it's oxygen. And when you have a medium that can get fresh exchange of oxygen more often it's better for the plant.
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Sure. But for me, I experienced results I was happy with without spending the extra money. No seedlings died. No plants suffered (til I pushed it). I don't need to spend an extra 150 bucks a grow to get an ounce more off of each plant. I'll agree that maybe if I used perlite and watered more I would get a higher yield. But my plants are usually healthy and happy. To each her own, and mine is saving a large amount of money for very low loss.
 
DarkWeb said:
It's not about over watering......it's oxygen. And when you have a medium that can get fresh exchange of oxygen more often it's better for the plant.
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That's why you feed multiple times per day in coco. Feeding multiple times per day is all about pulling fresh oxygen into the coco. I too have ditched the perlite and I could not be happier about it. I hate the stuff.
 
Rsawr said:
Sure. But for me, I experienced results I was happy with without spending the extra money. No seedlings died. No plants suffered (til I pushed it). I don't need to spend an extra 150 bucks a grow to get an ounce more off of each plant. I'll agree that maybe if I used perlite and watered more I would get a higher yield. But my plants are usually healthy and happy. To each her own, and mine is saving a large amount of money for very low loss.
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$150 !? I get it in 15# bags and it's not anywhere close to that. You know how much perlite it takes to make 15#........a whole freaking lot lol
 
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