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Post by daniello on Aug 14, 2007 22:35:33 GMT -5
well, i was repotting part of my mat of capensis seedlings into separate containers today, and i decided to create an ~experiment~. i mixed up a bunch of different media combinations, and planted 8 seedlings in each type.
a. 100% peat b. 1:1 peat/sand c. 2:1 peat/sand d. 1:1 peat/perlite e. 2:1 peat/perlite f. 1:1:1 peat/perlite/sand
now i have to wait and see if there are any interesting results. i'm not altogether sure that d. capensis *cares* what it is planted in, so the different pots may end up indistinguishable and i might not learn anything. but even if there are small differences in the amount of growth and such, it will give me some idea of whether any particular mix has an advantage over the rest, in my particular setup. has anyone else tried anything similar? i'm pretty excited to watch them grow...
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Post by lloyd on Aug 15, 2007 9:56:08 GMT -5
Sounds like a good idea.
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Post by daniello on Aug 16, 2007 22:11:33 GMT -5
i can't for the life of me find any "pure" silica sand around -- i went to canadian tire and asked for sandblasting sand, and a 20 kg box was $40! so i just got some play sand, and rinsed it out really well. the experiment will hopefully give me some idea of how well the plants will tolerate it...
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Post by boris on Aug 16, 2007 22:37:16 GMT -5
Im trying something similar though with tap water, so far some d.capensis p.primuliflora and vft's seedling are doing fine using tap water.
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Post by lloyd on Aug 17, 2007 12:42:21 GMT -5
Tap water is different everywhere. Toronto's pH is 7.4-7.6 and is fairly hard and probably would kill most CP's after a few weeks.
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Post by boris on Aug 17, 2007 13:33:57 GMT -5
The water here might be acidic and I cant see it being alkaline since I'm pretty sure theres so lime anywhere here.
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Post by lloyd on Aug 17, 2007 14:35:08 GMT -5
I think they make the water alkaline to avoid damage to the water distribution system.
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Post by daniello on Aug 17, 2007 15:37:02 GMT -5
that's a really good idea too, boris. i am going to try that with our tapwater and see what happens. it'd be nice if i didn't have to bum a ride to the store for water every few weeks...
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Post by daniello on Aug 22, 2007 22:56:33 GMT -5
so far, the 3 mixes which contain sand aren't doing so well. the others are thriving, but the sand ones seem to be slowly dying off, or at least doing markedly more poorly.
i guess this means that the play sand available here, even when rinsed well, is not of a high enough quality to use for cps...
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Post by lloyd on Aug 23, 2007 8:30:45 GMT -5
Here's a method I use to check if a medium ingredient is possibly toxic. Buy one of those green watering meters you see everywhere for about $8. Mix the ingredient with distilled water thoroughly. Put the meter into the water. Compare the reading with tap water. The reading is sensitive to dissolved salts. The higher the reading the more toxic it will be.
For instance, Toronto tap water is around 5-7 (depth and temperature increase the reading by the way). Distilled water and rain water are 0 (zero). I won't use anything for CP's if the reading is above 1.
Cocofibre (coir) is super salty as it is washed in sea-water. I give it 7-8 daily soaks in tap water (changing the water daily) until the reading is no higher than tap water. Then 2-3 more daily soaks in distilled or rain water until the reading is about 1. Then I consider it safe for sensitive plants.
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Post by insectivore on Aug 25, 2007 10:54:05 GMT -5
Must be your sand because when I ran out of perlite I used sand (Horticultural Sand) and it was fine! Cya
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Post by daniello on Aug 25, 2007 16:10:04 GMT -5
yeah, lloyd, i definitely didn't do quite as thorough a rinsing as you did! i'm not sure what "watering meter" things you are talking about (they are not "everywhere" here, i guess), but i will look into that. in the meantime, perlite seems to work okay for me. what exactly are the advantages of sand over perlite, anyway? also, you mentioned coco fibre, and i'm just wondering in what situation you use it -- in place of peat?
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Post by daniello on Aug 25, 2007 16:12:36 GMT -5
none of the plant stores in town sell "horticultural" sand. i have only found a few places that sell sandblasting sand and it is $$$!
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Post by lloyd on Aug 25, 2007 19:15:07 GMT -5
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Post by barvinok on Aug 25, 2007 22:54:51 GMT -5
Did you try "Lordco" for silica? I got 35kg bag of very course(#16) send for about $10.
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