Can you "dilute" potting soil?

I bought this Raised Bed COM soil & was told it’s too hot for seedlings. I just started some White Widow Fem in those peat pellets & was wondering if I could just drop the pellets into the straight Raised Bed mixture or if I could mix in some peat moss to dilute the nutrients, it would work better ?

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Saturation style watering is a diluter. You could run a bunch through it and watch the runoff ppm’s until your satisfied

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You could mix it with Strawberry Fields or Happy Frog.

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Ditto, I do the same thing with my FFOF before I use it to start seedlings in. It usually starts around 2400ppm and after 3-4gal (of run off) h2o / 1gal soil it drops to around 1200ppm I add some microbes and mycorrhiza back in, mix well, let it dry out a few days and it’s good to go for the little ones.

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Pull a sample and run a slurry test, I’ll do this occasionally if I use a bag medium like FF coco loco :love_you_gesture:

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Or you could switch to a very good soil that doesn’t cause these issues. I started using the Roots Organic Original. Same high quality soil type but without all the Ph spikes or ppms issues. Since going to Roots i have had zero issues over 4 grows and the quality of bud is far better and no. Losses in yeald. Easy piesy also i use it with my seedlings as well with no issues.

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I have never used COM raised bed mix but the Stonington blend is not to hot have used many grows with good results

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There are some threads where they talk about layered soil around transplants so you let your plants grow into the hotter soil over time. The pictures look like a glass half empty/full with a seedling divot in the top.
So if you took something like a solo cup to a 1 gal pot mix it 50/50 your coco coir and hot mix and transplant your peat pellets into it for a couple months before moving to the big girl pots you should have that gradual ramp up without needing to flush all the expensive nutrients you bought in your designer soil away.

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Thanks, all. I used to grow indoors back in the 80s & 90s but had to quit when they started urine testing at my job. I started the seeds the same way; glass of water >>> peat pellets, but then transferred them into 6 gallon buckets that were 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 perlite & 1/3 vermiculite. Never had to worry about the soil being too hot, unless I overdid it with the Miracle-Gro. Anyway, it’s like 25 years later & it’s like the whole indoor weed growing world is…well, I feel like Rip Van Winkle !

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Yeah, thought of that but my wife bought these Lowes gift cards last year and demanded I use them. Raised Bed was the only decent soil they had there. Anyway, I emailed COM & Cameron there said although it wasn’t designed for starting cannabis seeds, it should be fine, & OK to mix in som peat moss if I wanted.

I understand. But im old and have come to the point in my life where i dont want to complicate things. Instead of going and getting a bigger hammer to force a square peg into a round hole (which can be done) i just go and get a round peg. Less effort and better results. Use the cards on something else. Ok thats the last old man crap for today.

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I would drop those peat pellets in the trash for starters, and start your seeds straight into some moistened soil.

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I have not had alot of problems with seedlings and FFOF. You can flush it out but seems like a waste of nutes you paid for. I always cut FF with 25% med grade perlite. As mebtioned above you can start with Happy Frog or Strawberry Fields if your concerned about OF being too hot. I think that a while ago FF had a change in the OF mix and it caused alot of problems but Im 2 yrs in Feb and not had this be a problem so its likely since been corrected. For reference each FF soil has different uses. For example, HF has mycorhizae for seed starting and root development, OF is high N but low P and K for vegging, SF is low in N but high in P and K for flowering. Alot of auto growers, myself included, will layer their pot bottom 1/3 SF, top 2/3 OF (or mid 1/3 OF top 1/3 HF) and always cut FF soil with perlite but especially SF as it is poor draining.

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Welp, I already have 6 seeds sprouting in the peat pellets, so 86-ing them is out. Next soil purchase will definitely not be a raised bed mixture. The variety of opinions I’ve been getting here & elsewhere has also been quite engrossing & enlightening for this old fogey !