New Grower Compacted soil ??

[Papa Munch]

I am growing in 3 gal. Pots using Fox Farms Happy Frog with 30% (approx) vermiculite. (I don't think vermiculite was the way to go but anywho...).

I have 5 girls. 3 almost 2 weeks old and 2 almost 1 week.

I watered the 2 week old girls pretty good last Sat. 1 of them concerns me. I have an Accurate 8 meter. In all the pots but one, the probe inserts very easily and tells me that they are close to another watering as well as the pots are feeling light. The other pot on the other hand, still feels fairly heavy and the probe is harder to push into the soil. The soil feels almost compacted. The meter also reads very wet. ??? They are in identical pots, 9x9 square with drainage in the bottom as well as the corners on the sides at the bottom.

i know transplanting should not be done with auto's and I don't know what to do. I feel as if this could be a big problem later.

What can I do? She is my biggest although only 2 weeks along.....She has Daddy very concerned.

 

[Trapper]

Sounds like that plant just isn't drinking as rapidly...inserting the A8 into wet is going to
give more resistance than dry soil. Get after the bottom of it through the drain holes
with a chopstick or something to break it up a little and see where that gets you.

Don't know much about vermiculite so I don't know if it's a factor.

 

[Papa Munch]

Thanks for the reply. I will do that now. I can't beleive how much stuff like bark and pebbles are in this soil.....

 

[Weedman30]

Yea id try to easily break it up if ya can. As it could be a heavy vermiculite area. I try to stay away from verm due to its nature to retain water.

I compact my soil lightly but if its hard to Probe im thinking to Tight.

 

[Weedman30]

Thanks for the reply. I will do that now. I can't beleive how much stuff like bark and pebbles are in this soil.....

Yea it all helps with Drainage im not a fan of a ton of it in my pots. Iv found a piece of bark the size of a dollar bill once in OF/ HF mix

 

[Trapper]

Gadzooks, a little bit of lumber I'm okay with, but the rocks tick me off...I grow in HF as well.

 

[Papa Munch]

Thanks guys. Perfect newby mistake, not sure if this is it but while I was poking through drainage holes.......I'm thinking that perhaps I didn't drain the pan after I watered so she's been wicking. Not sure but good possibility.

now I need,want to find something to lift them off the drain pans more.....she needs to dry out.

 

[Trapper]

That's where the elevated bottom of an airpot comes in handy...

Did it not feel compacted down there when you were "rooting around"

Sorry, sorry.... bad pun.

 

[Papa Munch]

It didn't feel too bad. I used a wood shishkabob skewer and it actually felt pretty much okay which got me to thinking about the possibility of wicking. There's a lot of drain holes so I'm really hoping that's the issue.

 

[Papa Munch]

...next time around I want some airpots!!!