By Luke Sumpter


If you’ve ever ripped open a bag of potting soil and noticed white dots strewn throughout, you’ve seen perlite with your own eyes. But why are they there? Are manufacturers trying to improve their bottom line by including less soil? Or does perlite have a function that makes it a useful and worthy addition?

These dots are actually little glass particles, and they do wonders in the cannabis grow room or garden. In fact, horticulturalists of all flavours appreciate perlite, from vegetable gardeners to flower growers. It may not look like much, but neither does soil to the naked eye! Despite its underwhelming aesthetic, perlite is an excellent amendment that helps to improve soil structure and ultimately optimise the health of your cannabis plants.

What Is Perlite?

Perlite begins life as obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass that forms as lava rapidly cools. When obsidian becomes hydrated, the presence of water causes it to form into perlite. Naturally occurring perlite glass looks a lot different to the type you’ll find on shop shelves. After crushing the material, manufacturers heat it to 980°C, causing it to soften. This process releases trapped water and causes the glass to expand up to 20 times its original size[1]. In a popcorn-like process, the expanded perlite takes on a white colour and porous texture.

How Does Perlite Benefit Cannabis Plants?

Does Perlite Count as an Organic Amendment?

Yes and no. From a chemist’s perspective, the lack of carbon in perlite makes it an inorganic substance. However, from a gardener’s perspective, perlite contains no unnatural additives. You can go ahead and use perlite in your cannabis grow room or garden and still claim to grow completely organically.

What Does Perlite Do for My Soil?

Now that you know the basics about perlite, why should you use it when growing weed? There are a bunch of advantages to throwing some perlite in your soil. But since we like to keep things honest and objective at Royal Queen Seeds, we’ll also inform you of some of the downsides too.

Advantages of Perlite for Cannabis Plants

What does perlite do, exactly? How does adding tiny white particles of volcanic glass to your soil give your cannabis plants an edge? You’re about to find out.

Enhances Drainage

Optimal soil drainage helps plants to avoid potentially fatal pathogens and suffocation. Pooling water provides a haven for smelly anaerobic bacteria, and fungal diseases such as damping off thrive in wet conditions[2]. Adding perlite to the soil creates a structure that enhances drainage, helping to reduce the risk of root rot and stagnation.

Improves Aeration

Roots get up to a lot down in the soil. As well as taking up nutrients and water, they also need to breathe! Gas exchange takes place between the root zone and the atmosphere, and poor soil structure can negatively impact this key process. Adding perlite to the soil creates many small pockets of air, providing the roots with an ample supply of oxygen to facilitate respiration.

pH-Neutral

As a pH-neutral product, perlite won’t mess with the acidity or alkalinity of your soil, helping you to prevent issues such as nutrient lockout.

Reduces Compaction

Soil compaction takes place when the pore spaces between soil particles are reduced[3], which inhibits drainage and aeration. Because perlite features a solid structure and contains many small holes, it helps to resist compaction and works as a superb amendment for already compacted soils.

Disadvantages of Perlite for Cannabis Plants

You heard that right. Adding small balls of volcanic glass to your soil really does bring all of those benefits. So, where are the faults? Although perlite works pretty flawlessly in soil, it does pose a threat to the gardener and the environment as a whole.

Irritating Dust

Perlite can break up into tiny dust particles during transport. These minute, sharp pieces can irritate the eyes and throat. We recommend wearing goggles when working with large quantities of perlite to protect your eyes, and a dust mask when working in an enclosed space to protect your lungs.

Environmental Toll

Perlite also takes a toll on the environment. Huge mining operations strip the glass from the ground, and international shipping operations bring it to your local shop. Although many gardeners love the stuff, it doesn’t so much appeal to cannabis growers looking to close the loop with a permaculture approach.

How To Use Perlite When Growing Cannabis

You know the pros and cons of perlite. But how should you use it in the garden? Perlite works best as a soil amendment. Simply weigh up how much soil you need, add the desired amount of perlite, and give it a thorough mix.

How Much Perlite To Use?

You need to alter the amount of perlite you use depending on your goals. Check out the benefits of two different quantities:

  • 10–20% perlite: This quantity works great if you want to aerate and enhance the drainage of your soil without having to continually feed your plants with nutrient inputs.
  • 30–50% perlite: Using this quantity of perlite will ramp up drainage, but you’ll need to add more nutrients during the growing cycle, as the material leaches nutrients from the soil. The positive side? Your plants will grow nice and fast, as long as you stay consistent with feeding.

Using Perlite With Coco Coir

You don’t have to limit perlite to one growing medium. The material also works great at bulking up coco coir. When using the two together, aim for a perlite volume of 30% to enhance drainage and create pockets of air.

How Does Perlite Benefit Cannabis Plants?

Growing in Perlite Only

Can you grow weed using nothing but perlite? We don’t recommend it. Perlite alone lacks the key microorganisms, nutrients, and water-holding capacity of soil. Without these factors, your plants won’t reach anywhere near their full genetic potential. However, perlite alone works as a viable growing medium when used in hydroponic net pots. It provides adequate room for young roots to penetrate through to the reservoir below, and keeps them aerated and supported throughout the growing cycle.

Perlite vs Vermiculite

Perlite and vermiculite have a lot in common. Mining companies also go to great efforts to acquire the latter, shipping it to gardeners all around the world. The naturally occurring mineral also features a neutral pH and holds on to nutrients well. However, perlite boasts more porosity, meaning it works slightly better at draining and aerating growing media.

Perlite Makes a Great Soil Amendment for Cannabis and More

If you want to improve soil structure, drainage, and aeration, you should give perlite a go! Of course, cannabis growers can achieve this without importing expanded volcanic glass from afar. By focusing on improving the life in your soil, you can create an excellent growing medium in only a few seasons. However, perlite works as a great shortcut, offering these benefits in a much shorter time frame.

External Resources:
  1. Perlite toxicology and epidemiology – a review https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  2. How to prevent seedling damping off | UMN Extension https://extension.umn.edu
  3. Soil compaction | UMN Extension https://extension.umn.edu
Disclaimer:
This content is for educational purposes only. The information provided is derived from research gathered from external sources.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: