Can I add perlite to my soil after seedling have sprouted?

My seeds are all planted and most of them are up, problem is I have no perlite in the soil and I'm worried about overwatering them, can I try to add some in or should I just wait till transplant.

Wait til transplant.

They are delicate right now and you don't want to damage the roots.


Be vigilant with watering and just make sure you add some when the time comes to pot them up to a new container.



J

You could, but it would be problematic.

I would wait till potting up.

Ya that's what I figured, I'll be careful watering.

As far as I know, using Perlite is a total waste of whatever you've put into using it. Nothing beats using high quality grow medium. Perlite won't help improve low quality soil and it also creates dry spots. It soaks in moisture from soil and contains it within the granules.

You can best understand this by sticking moist finger into a bag of Perlite. The granules will suck in the moisture so rapidly that they will literally stick to your finger. Now imagine your finger is the root of a plant. How much good can this sucking effect possibly do to roots?

If your goal is to prevent soil from compacting, get soil with high peat content or maybe use coco. Using perlite in soil for growing pot is highly overrated.

Disagree but just me. Vermiculite is a water magnet. Not a coco person so that maybe true.

the truth about pearolite, some PEOPLE not saying who lol ,,,,,,,,, buy the ceapest soil on eatch ,shhhhhhh , ide wate to add pearolite when your ready to put plant into bigger pot,. thing youll notice when you water you will not have to wate for the water to soak into the soil 2 minits for a half gallon,. pearolite. youll be able to dum that half gallon in a few seconds. what it does is seperate the soil from it self spaces it out , roots will breath better , easier watering, i strongly recemend the use of it in cheap soil. but not the spol does seam to dry out a lot faster wich is a good thing you will not get root rot , it will not make the plant grow any bigger or fater , its a convience thing well worth the extra dollar per pot mixxed, my opinion only,

Maybe I'll do some experimenting with this, try it in a pot and see if it does dry it out, I do have lots of peat in my soil, and I've heard good things about coco, I've heard that coir is good for holding O2. Ya I'm worried abuot root rot, that's just it.

kinddiesel said:

the truth about pearolite, some PEOPLE not saying who lol ,,,,,,,,, buy the ceapest soil on eatch ,shhhhhhh , ide wate to add pearolite when your ready to put plant into bigger pot,. thing youll notice when you water you will not have to wate for the water to soak into the soil 2 minits for a half gallon,. pearolite. youll be able to dum that half gallon in a few seconds. what it does is seperate the soil from it self spaces it out , roots will breath better , easier watering, i strongly recemend the use of it in cheap soil. but not the spol does seam to dry out a lot faster wich is a good thing you will not get root rot , it will not make the plant grow any bigger or fater , its a convience thing well worth the extra dollar per pot mixxed, my opinion only,

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I agree with this.

tetrahydrofail said:

As far as I know, using Perlite is a total waste of whatever you've put into using it. Nothing beats using high quality grow medium. Perlite won't help improve low quality soil and it also creates dry spots. It soaks in moisture from soil and contains it within the granules.

You can best understand this by sticking moist finger into a bag of Perlite. The granules will suck in the moisture so rapidly that they will literally stick to your finger. Now imagine your finger is the root of a plant. How much good can this sucking effect possibly do to roots?

If your goal is to prevent soil from compacting, get soil with high peat content or maybe use coco. Using perlite in soil for growing pot is highly overrated.

Click to expand...

Perlite is primarily added to improve aeration and drainage, and increase soil moisture holding capacity. It has high permeability, but low affinity for water, meaning it will readily take in water and hold it, but also easily release it back into the soil solution where it is available to plants. When it sticks to your wet finger it is trying to do one of the things it was meant to do, suck up some water for release at a later time when needed.

It will definitely improve a soil especially one with dense structure. One down side is that it will necessitate watering more often if that is an issue. Think there might be a reason why virtually all greenhouse grown plants are potted with perlite or v-lite as part of the medium? The reason is that it has proven to be effective as a soil amendment for decades.

Ya I agree, I would rather be safe and have good drainage, no big deal extra watering. When they're in the ground I shouldn't have to worry bout this too much should I?

New Age United said:

Maybe I'll do some experimenting with this, try it in a pot and see if it does dry it out, I do have lots of peat in my soil, and I've heard good things about coco, I've heard that coir is good for holding O2. Ya I'm worried abuot root rot, that's just it.

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Perlite won't prevent overwatering nor will it help you with CO2. On the other hand a smart and steady waterring schedule with good drainage WILL prevent overwaterring, and talking to your plants for 45 minutes every day WILL help you with CO2 more than perlite, even though it doesn't sound as fancy. I'm not joking.

1; check the weight of your plant when the soil is quite dry
2; water sensibly and make a note of how much water you've used
3; check the weight of your plant every day until it is the same+10% of when the soil was dry and make a note how many days have passed (10% should account for plant growth and remaining moisture. You don't want your soil bone dry.)
4; water again with the same amount of water as before
5; check wight after the previously noted number of days
6; use common sense to adjust watering schedule as per steps 3 and 4. You could also use a soil-moisture meter.

Do not stress your plant by experimenting with urban myth procedures like adding Perlite. If you have a problem with your growth, ask for help and always remember the saying 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

I will start keeping track of my water schedule, right now my top 2 inches is nearly bone dry bc I'm so paranoid about overwatering. I just got a moisture meter yesterday, keeping an eye on them.

How's that labrador treating ya anyways LMAO

AimAim said:

Perlite is primarily added to improve aeration and drainage, and increase soil moisture holding capacity. It has high permeability, but low affinity for water, meaning it will readily take in water and hold it, but also easily release it back into the soil solution where it is available to plants. When it sticks to your wet finger it is trying to do one of the things it was meant to do, suck up some water for release at a later time when needed.

It will definitely improve a soil especially one with dense structure. One down side is that it will necessitate watering more often if that is an issue. Think there might be a reason why virtually all greenhouse grown plants are potted with perlite or v-lite as part of the medium? The reason is that it has proven to be effective as a soil amendment for decades.

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Are you advocating for the use of dense soils to justify the use of perlite? lol

I do not question perlite's physical properties, I do, however, question it's benefits as an additive to soil for growing weed. If you've chosen soil as your grow medium, you should go for the best possible soils and pots with good drainage. If you do that and if you establish a good watering schedule, you won't need perlite. Why use dense soil for weed anyway?

Perlite is no miracle cure for watering or drainage. The simple capillary action, caused by its internal structure, creates suction. If the action is reversed, it means the surrounding soil is bone dry. The plant's roots will be the last thing to dry out, so any perlite touching roots will try to suck moisture out of them, as it releases moisture to dry soil. Why risk that?

Perlite's been popular for decades, because it's big business and people are very suggestible. Whatever doesn't kill your plants, you're likely to believe it's highly beneficial. Sad but true.

The only real benefit of perlite in soil is to help with soil compaction if used on a large scale. In your flower pots you can simply use good soil with peat or coco mixed in and your compacting problems are solved.

You do make some good points tetra, I think I might take a runt or a male and test this theory out, if I give them plenty of water and it still dries out I'll prob just stay away from perlite.

Perlite, common in all the popular soil for growing MJ on this side of the pond, sucks up excessive water and releases it again when needed (when possible actually, which is around the same time). And since over watering is something many growers do (unless using drippers or watering many times a day. Ie. many growers over water in the morning so the plant has enough to last for the entire day). If you're going to test make sure (sorry can't resist) you get a real tensio meter.

I agree perlite is no miracle cure or anything, but it's cheap and convenient.

New Age United said:

You do make some good points tetra, I think I might take a runt or a male and test this theory out, if I give them plenty of water and it still dries out I'll prob just stay away from perlite.

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Not sure what you mean by plenty, but keep in mind the rate at which the water is absorbed depends on surrounding conditions like heat and air movement, as well as on the size of the pot, the plant and its root system.

So using 'plenty' of water on a small or underdeveloped root system may indeed cause root rot. The roots are drowned in water, they use up all oxygen, gas exchange is compromised, roots suffocate to death and then they rot.

You need to water sensibly and make sure your pots have good drainage. Ideally, no water should be dripping out when you water. That's because the usual watering cycle is nutes, water, water, nutes, water, water... You would be flushing out your nutes if you've had excessive drainage when watering.

Good luck.

Ya for sure tetra

Perlite WILL help quite a bit with good drainage if you have cheap soil, even "Potting soil" not "Planting mix", but try it with one plant if you have 2 identical pots, and leave the other without, and see what works best for you and your habits/ plants.

tetrahydrofail said:

Are you advocating for the use of dense soils to justify the use of perlite? lol

Perlite's been popular for decades, because it's big business and people are very suggestible. Whatever doesn't kill your plants, you're likely to believe it's highly beneficial. Sad but true.

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Dense soils ? No I did not even hint of that.

Go back and read, slowly if you must. I said it will definitely improve a soil, especially one with a dense structure. It is a soil amendment.

If I'm gonna put a plant out in natural soil and it's kind of clayey and tight, I'll put some organic matter in (peat, potting mix, compost etc) and some perlite or vermiculite. Makes all the difference in the world.

How you decided I was "advocating the use of dense soils" is beyond me. I was just trying to pass along some facts about perlite.

Peace - AIM