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Photo Essay: Calcined DE as Rooting Medium

O

OrganicOzarks

Have you or anyone tried this in place of using perlite for soil aeration? If so what have your results been like? I have read on the interwebs about rinsing this with water, and using the rinse as a mechanial pesticide. Have you tried this at all? There seems like a lot of possibilities for this stuff.
 

mad librettist

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Veteran
Cool, could you compare it to other methods you've tried maybe? I've got a 60 site EZ cloner currently but need to get more room for clones and thinking about trying this out.


it's by far the easiest way to clone I have tried.


organicozarks - it's my perlite replacement in soil too
 
O

OrganicOzarks

I like the idea of the pest resistants along with replacing the perlite. I am going to try this.
 
I just ordered some of this from the napa website and it checked me out at $0.00 for the 8822.
Shipping is $8 but that's cheaper than what I can drive to the closest napa for.

Below is your Order Summary:
Item: Oil Absorbent, 25 lbs; Diatomaceous Earth
Product Number: XXX 8822
Quantity: 1
Price: $0.00
Item Total: $0.00

[DiscountTotal]
Subtotal: $0.00
Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $7.95
Total: $7.95
 

supermanlives

Active member
Veteran
so do you consider it a top notch substrate for cloning or is this just an experiment for fun? do you consider this medium your best for cloning?
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
Now there's salt water and fresh water? Is there a difference and how does one tell? I bought some at Autozone. Rinsed a couple of times, didn't sift. Mixed the rinse with my tea. Figured it contained a fair amount of silica. Didn't pH it. It doesn't seem alkaline.
Not quite the same as the silica rocks. Seems a bit more porous.
Running a hybrid mad box with infused air, using rubberized shelf liner to separate the reservoir.
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
I tried it with a species I knew would indicate any alkalinity (liming)

The plant died promptly.

It is alkaline stuff.
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
I guess I should say, not as alkaline as I thought it might be. I didn't use any lime in my soil mix so I felt I could use a bit anyway.. Been using a lot of fallen desert willow flowers and a bunch of recently acquired EWC and my tea has been a bit on the acidic side lately so it's kind of like using part A with part B, just a whole lot cheaper.
 

TACOE

Member
+k for this one.*
I tried it a week or two ago. All rotted stems in a few days. All well in promix next door.

I try not to use *domes or mats or spray. I will go for a dome next round w. Tomatoes

They were not supported well and lots of air between particles. *I need to water them in I guess. Thanks.


Do you use hormone? *Or does it just run off when u water?

Domes for the whole process?

Can u pull em out and put new ones right back in? *Or does it need a rinse or change?

Thanks again. Good timing
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
Photo Essay: Calcined DE as Rooting Medium

I don't do anything between rounds. yank out the old cuttings and put in new ones.

I also use a heat mat.

the dome I use except in summer.

did your tray have drainage holes?


air between particles should not matter. actually air is good.

They were not supported well and lots of air between particles. *I need to water them in I guess. Thanks.

how could this happen? bulk density of Napa 8822 when wet is higher than promix. For your cuts to not be well supported doesn't make sense to me. The stuff is like gravel.
 
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