How to Fix Pre-fertilized Soil?

Hi There

I am currently 2 weeks into my indoor grow, I have 4 fem trainwrecks on the go from The Green House, things are going well and they all look healthy but im predicting probloems with soil in the future.

I live on a small tropical in the Indian Ocean and I can not get hold of good soil. I managed to find one shop that sold potting mix for seedlings. I have been using this and so far so good. When testing the run off, my EC is in the range of 2 to 3 and PH is at 5.5. I have read to use lime to up the PH but sadly can not buy lime here, would bakeing soda do the job? and I was thinking of completely flushing the new soil to try remove the pre nutes of the soil before transplanting the seedlings and then using the Green House powders to reintoduce the right amounts of nutes. Im not sure if this would work.

I apreaite any advise and ideas how I can sort this out.

Many thanks

Why are you predicting problems with the soil? What brand is it?

Don't try to flush the soil. Save that action for the toilet. If everything is going well then let it keep doing what it's doing for now.

JimmiP said:

Why are you predicting problems with the soil? What brand is it?

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Because the EC and PH readings are not ideal and im thinking when going into flowering this harm yeild and quailty of harvest. its call Gromor Seedling Mix

Coral sand, oyster shell meal will work as an adequate substitute for dolomite. Any coral sand beaches, or dredged harbors? Both not nearly as fast acting but as effective over long term. You'd also be surprised where lime is sold and what else they call it.

Dont bother pre flushing. A seedling soil should have enough food for the very young plant. At most kelp with 0-0-0 fertilizer values would be used for them.

JimmiP said:

Don't try to flush the soil. Save that action for the toilet. If everything is going well then let it keep doing what it's doing for now.

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Yeah I know what you mean but you I want to give the girls best chance of sucsess I can and have the correct EC and PH will surley help in this.

Don't pay attention to runoff in soil. You are going to need something other than seedling mix though. What other available potting soils did they have ?

It's a line repeated on here all the time. Don't flush your soil...Flushing is for toilets...

You can actually build your own good soil too if you get a little crafty. There are numerous threads that can assist you with doing just that on this site. And welcome to the fun.

I looked up that company and they sell potting mixes and compost too.

Right.....and by pre flushing and fiddle fucking with an adequately made soil you can easily increase your chances that a young plant is retarded in its growth. EC is more a function of your soils organic matter and the ions absorbed-stuck to it. Not fertilizing. Fresh bagged soil and compost are excellent ways to have good EC. Pre emptive fiddle fucking can get pHs trending towards not good. Dolomite, coral sand, oyster shells help maintain a slightly acidic soil, ideal. Which a fresh bagged soil likely contains these types or other buffers to not need fiddle fucking from day -4 thru at earliest 1 month. While pH and EC can have a correlation to soil chemistry, EC wont tell you what is giving you your value, only a soil sample test. Your pH may be within tolerable limits and good EC but your base cations may not be in favorable ratios. Good luck

Big_Budah said:

Yeah I know what you mean but you I want to give the girls best chance of sucsess I can and have the correct EC and PH will surley help in this.

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If I had the money I would ship 'general compost' to all these countries where it is missing, we take so much for granted, and obviously there is a lot of money to be made it seems

Snoopy808 said:

Coral sand, oyster shell meal will work as an adequate substitute for dolomite. Any coral sand beaches, or dredged harbors? Both not nearly as fast acting but as effective over long term. You'd also be surprised where lime is sold and what else they call it.

Dont bother pre flushing. A seedling soil should have enough food for the very young plant. At most kelp with 0-0-0 fertilizer values would be used for them.

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Hi Snoopy

Many thanks, we have plenty of coral sand here, I will give it ago. What eles do they use lime for?

Run a crop of tomatoes in it. Let those use the nutes. Then grow cannabis in it.

Big_Budah said:

Hi There

I am currently 2 weeks into my indoor grow, I have 4 fem trainwrecks on the go from The Green House, things are going well and they all look healthy but im predicting probloems with soil in the future.

I live on a small tropical in the Indian Ocean and I can not get hold of good soil. I managed to find one shop that sold potting mix for seedlings. I have been using this and so far so good. When testing the run off, my EC is in the range of 2 to 3 and PH is at 5.5. I have read to use lime to up the PH but sadly can not buy lime here, would bakeing soda do the job? and I was thinking of completely flushing the new soil to try remove the pre nutes of the soil before transplanting the seedlings and then using the Green House powders to reintoduce the right amounts of nutes. Im not sure if this would work.

I apreaite any advise and ideas how I can sort this out.

Many thanks

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Hello and welcome.
Definitely do not put baking soda in your soil. It has sodium in it.
Not sure why you want to leach the soil before you transplant, it’s not necessary.
As mentioned let the plants use the charge in the soil, and then you can add your nutrients in a couple weeks once they have been used up.
As far as flushing, or more accurately “leaching”, it’s not just for toilets.
A simple Google search for “leaching soil” will tell you all you need to know.
It is a viable tool when you want to neutralize your medium.
While you can’t “flush” a plant, you can absolutely leach soil.
In most cases it is not recommended, but if you have a buildup of nutrients/salts that are affecting your plant, it can help.
In your case, it’s not needed.
Good luck on your grow.

drsaltzman said:

Hello and welcome.
Definitely do not put baking soda in your soil. It has sodium in it.
Not sure why you want to leach the soil before you transplant, it’s not necessary.
As mentioned let the plants use the charge in the soil, and then you can add your nutrients in a couple weeks once they have been used up.
As far as flushing, or more accurately “leaching”, it’s not just for toilets.
A simple Google search for “leaching soil” will tell you all you need to know.
It is a viable tool when you want to neutralize your medium.
While you can’t “flush” a plant, you can absolutely leach soil.
In most cases it is not recommended, but if you have a buildup of nutrients/salts that are affecting your plant, it can help.
In your case, it’s not needed.
Good luck on your grow.

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Thanks mate, I will keep going and see how it goes. Thanks for the advise.