Compacted Soil and its too late

Martibacardi

Active Member
So im sure this has prolly been posted before but i couldnt find anything related to this so i waas wondering what is a guy to do if he happened to have about a 1.5 to 2 footer growing and notices the soil seems pretty compacted? Im bubbling my water because it seems to help get the O2 to the roots but other than that is there some handy trick to aerate my soi without transplanting or shocking the plant at all?
Many thanks to any responses.
 

Martibacardi

Active Member
What i mean with the bubbles is i ran an aquarium stone at the bottom of my watering just. I had the theory of it and looked it up and it seems to be pretty common. I noticed it really helped with the sprouts. But i wanna get the round discs because i dont think my bar is working so swell anymore. And the best thing i can come up with is running a long ass screw through the dirt essentially stabbing a crapload of holes in the dirt to aereate it.
Any better methods or tricks?
 

riddleme

Well-Known Member
Get some earth worms my friend, one or two per gallon

This kind of info can easily be found if you lurk in regular garden forums :weed:
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Hey, I like the worm idea. Cool. :cool: I used to used bagged topsoil for my first grow, and I had the same problem. My grandma had these 12" knitting needles that worked great for aerating the solid, and loosening it up. They're really thin and pointed, so I never had a problem with any root damage effecting the plants. If you're going to try it, make sure you do it before you add the worms, so you don't kill them.LOL
 

DoeEyed

Well-Known Member
I tried nightcrawlers in my very first grow, they didn't work so well - died and smelled to high heaven. lol Make sure to use the smaller, earthworm. In the future, add extra perlite to your soil - roughly one cup per three huge handfuls of soil. (Really scientific there, I know, but it's how I do it, lol).

BTW - it's never too late, to transplant your girl into a new pot, or soil.
 

mcpurple

Well-Known Member
ok i just found like 5 worms outside today and their not nightcrawlers just regular worms i put them on top of my soil and they seemed to just stay their do i need to water before i put them in or what steps do i take with the worms
 

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FreeLeaf

Active Member
Hey great advice. I have a friend that just got back from being gone for 10 days. I had to go and take care of his 20 GDP plants. They were 2 weeks into flower. he has them in 3 gal pots under 1400watts and I went over their every day to not only feed his animals but check on his garden and water it. The soil he is using is so compacted that I did not water them once. They were heavy as hell and still moist at the bottom holes. Every day I would talk to him and he would tell me to water them! I would say NO! They are still to heavy! It is day 13 now since they have been watered. I was not sure how to help him until i read this post. Thanks guys ;)
 

Martibacardi

Active Member
Awesome thats a bunch of help. So i dont have to buy worms right i can just grab some from my yard? I was wanting to do this a while ago anyways because i was reading up o vermiculture and stuff so yeah. Alright well its raining so im gonna go worm hunting!!
Thanks again and im +repping y'all
 

FreeLeaf

Active Member
Alright well its raining so im gonna go worm hunting!!
Thanks again and im +repping y'all
Wait till the lawn in nice and wet. Then place two steel rods in the ground a few feet apart. Then take a car battery and attach some jumper cables to the posts. Watch them worms fly out of the grass ! Great for fishin :)
 
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