thanks, that's helpful
-
ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!
Perlite and beyond: the pros and cons of various drainage and aeration amendments
- Thread starter mad librettist
- Start date
You may already know this, but it's become common for bonsai growers to use DE alone as their planting medium. Soil collapse, perched water and lack of oxygen are more serious problems when selecting long-term mediums for shallow pots containing high root mass, whereas the short lifespan of most cannabis plants is more forgiving to varying mediums.
Hmm my lavalite kitty litter is on clearance at my local super(shitty)market...
Better go and grab it all while i still can. Its now 1$ per litre. Not bad.
Better go and grab it all while i still can. Its now 1$ per litre. Not bad.
TACOE
Member
I'd like to get into bonsai culture, and was thinking the sifted napa would be a good medium
Perlite and beyond: the pros and cons of various drainage and aeration amendments
my soil is a bit like bonsai soil in that it is expected to see many many seasons of use without being remixed.
my soil is a bit like bonsai soil in that it is expected to see many many seasons of use without being remixed.
TACOE
Member
So I went into carquest yesterday. Just to verify in person that they don't have 8022 or whatever. They just had 7240. It is montmorillite (sp) clay aka 100% fullers earth. The bag says potting soil addition so I picked it up cas it was cheap and if no good for soil I could use it for the kitties. Anyway.
What do we do with this? Drainage? Or will it turn to mush? I'll give it a test when I get outta bed
What do we do with this? Drainage? Or will it turn to mush? I'll give it a test when I get outta bed
make sure you screen out the fines.
it's basically turface.
it's basically turface.
At Lynso a building supply store in my area, they sell 1/4" lava rocks. I love this stuff, it seems to be the perfect size and weight for a great drainage amendment. They sell it for 4 bucks a bag, 30 bucks a yard or 66 bucks a ton. Just about the best and cheapest fill I have found. Hope this helps somebody in my area.
hey scrappy, read this thread
That's my goal. I've tried rotating 5G buckets and the soil definitely didn't get the plants as far through the second round, or rather they just didn't seem as vigorous and healthy. I had better results dumping used soil in a huge pile.
I plan to grow a single plant at a time for the next few grows, in an 18G tub. Start a second tub, and rotate between the two to give each one time to recover and be watered by teas, maybe put them outdoors and grow a cover crop of alfalfa and vetch. At harvest I'll cut each plant right at the soil, and let nature do its thing for a few months, without destroying the funkifungi.
I've been experimenting with lots of soil mix variations with outdoor potted plants. I'm rather biased towards chunky perlite, but perhaps one of the soil mixes will change my mind.
so it's even more like bonsai soil than bonsai soil is
http://www.higromite.com/Sizes___Availability.html
If we are discussing alternatives other than floor sweep. Recently promoted by Botanicare, it's not really new. Quite old actually.
A bit heavier than perlite, it is also less destructible.
Any creditability to the claims of air/water transference and are they a viable spurce of silica?
If we are discussing alternatives other than floor sweep. Recently promoted by Botanicare, it's not really new. Quite old actually.
A bit heavier than perlite, it is also less destructible.
Any creditability to the claims of air/water transference and are they a viable spurce of silica?
looks very similar to calcined DE. it's actually DE plus volcanic ash, called pozzolana.
looks good!
looks good!
looks very similar to calcined DE. it's actually DE plus volcanic ash, called pozzolana.
looks good!
looks good!
Mad(fillinblank)-
So I went to my local (well as local as it gets in this part of the country) NAPA store. I called before hand and verified that they had part number 8822 in stock. Of course, when I get there, they don't have it. I ended up picking up some other brand as it was only $9.99, and a quick cost benefit analysis of maybe doing another 40 mile round trip....
Anyways, the product is called "Oil-Dri" and says "natural earth product" on it, but it doesn't seem to have the appearance of DE. I did a google image search for "turface" and that's exactly what it looks like. I put a little in water, and it seemed to sizzle a little bit and generate heat. This alarmed me. I have a 1/4" mesh screen to sift it through, but all of the particles seem to be smaller than that.
Help Help
So I went to my local (well as local as it gets in this part of the country) NAPA store. I called before hand and verified that they had part number 8822 in stock. Of course, when I get there, they don't have it. I ended up picking up some other brand as it was only $9.99, and a quick cost benefit analysis of maybe doing another 40 mile round trip....
Anyways, the product is called "Oil-Dri" and says "natural earth product" on it, but it doesn't seem to have the appearance of DE. I did a google image search for "turface" and that's exactly what it looks like. I put a little in water, and it seemed to sizzle a little bit and generate heat. This alarmed me. I have a 1/4" mesh screen to sift it through, but all of the particles seem to be smaller than that.
Help Help
errr.. if it generates heat when wet, save it for your next oil spill!
turface reacts with vegetable oil I think, but not water.
turface reacts with vegetable oil I think, but not water.
I'll just ship it down to the gulf. I got rid of my car :/
Trying to source things locally is always a blast!
/e: eeek. I just bit the bullet and paid to have some of the good stuff shipped. With gas what it is, I'm not so sure that's a bad decision. Que sera.
/esquared: Put it in a sealed container with little bit of water. Not only did it generate heat, but it off-gassed ALOT. Don't use this stuff lol
