soil question

DrFever said:

well if you did just get a ice pick an break up some soil being its winter hahahahaha i would suggest sterilizing it by stickin it in the oven at 180 degrees for like 25 mins cause believe it or not you will get bugs

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hahah i think this is what changed my mind because there is about 5 inches of snow outside right now! and BUGS? no thanks haha. but the impatient person i am i went out to wally world this morning and got MG planting soil that says will keep my plant happy up to 3 months, a bag of perlite and fertilizer sticks that i think may come in handy somewhere down the line? I did go with the party cups to start with. I have to poke holes in the bottom of the growing containers right? any suggestions as to what i would have the water drain into my plants will just be sitting on a table.

If you have any bowls a tad larger than the cups, that would do. A good freebie would be a couple of those small square white foam containers that you take leftovers home in from a restaurant. Just snip the hinged part and you have two nice deep bowls to catch drainage. Don't let the plants sit in a lot of water though. Give them an hours time to suck up some of the extra, and if theres any left you should dump it out. As they say...plants don't usually like 'wet feet'. I'm pretty sure those fertilizer sticks are a bad idea though. You would be better off with a bottle of liquid that you mix into your water. That allows you to adjust fert levels according to the age and needs of the plants. You can get a bottle of Schultz in the garden section at Home Depot. Walmart may have it too - and its only about $4 for enough to last you a LONG while. Start when your plants are at least 3-4 weeks old, and mix at 1/4 strength at first (gradually going up to 1/2, etc over a few weeks time).

great, i like the idea of using the to go foam containers i can get my hands on a bunch of those. i will take the sticks back and pick up the stuff in the bottle, i wasnt sure of them anyway.

One more thing i have a bag of the MG regular potting soil and a bag of perlite how do I mix the perlitr and how much do I put in. Right now I only have the seeds so should I add any yet at all?

I used a party cup as a scoop and mixed 1 cup of perlite for every 3 cups of soil...so you'd end up with approx. 25% perlite and 75% soil in your mix. Put it in a bucket or some other larger container where you have the room to mix it up well so the perlite is distributed fairly evenly. Just keep tumbling it with the cup, or use your hand if you don't mind getting dirt under your nails. Fill your party cups with the mix and you should have good drainage qualities - just don't forget to punch a few holes in the bottom of the cup for the excess water to run off or you'll get root rot or worse.