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Post by Kate on Feb 11, 2015 17:09:08 GMT -5
I was at my local hydroponics store today looking for perlite substitutes and the lady recommended this as a completely inert growing medium. She did not have a product sheet there to tell us what was in it and couldn't find ingredients on the bale. I was no help at all because I did not have my glasses with me. My internet search turned up nothing, I found products made by Canna, none of whiich matched as far as packaging. My question is, has anyone heard of this stuff and/or knows what is in it? It comes in a large bale (like peat) and has a label that looks like or possibly (I am not completely sure which due to the lack of glasses but it was definitely the teal text in that font). I am intrigued by this stuff if for no other reason than it supposedly being a complete, light, airy, moisture retentive, inert mix. With my Chiari Malformation anything which could help avoid worsening shoulder pain would be welcome and I know from my annual veggie seed starting mixing soil hurts a lot in very short order. Unfortunately I have zero past experience with this store and they have zero experience with CP. All the staff was baffled that there were plants out there which would prefer not to be heavily fertilized and outright didn't believe me when I explained for most CP species their fertilizer regimen would be quickly fatal. Obviously I am not inclined to trust them about the safety of this product for CP.
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Post by hal on Feb 11, 2015 17:17:24 GMT -5
Canna? At a hydroponics store? Wonder what it's used for? I think it's some sort of coco fiber. Coco fibre is light and holds water well but it can be very salty, and it might have fertilizer added. I've got some of the Miracle grow brand and it has little fertilizer pellets in it. But peat is tried and true for CPs, and it's relatively light until you add water.
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Post by Kate on Feb 11, 2015 17:33:28 GMT -5
LOL it is the adding water part I am concerned about. I need to be able to lift the pots! I would just go with perlite if I could find any that wasn't Miracle Grow brand.
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Post by hal on Feb 11, 2015 18:15:55 GMT -5
Once you add water to coco fiber, it's heavy. Go easy on the perlite. It floats to the top and looks messy in pots. I put a thin top layer of gravel on top to keep it down.
You can get little wheeled trays if you want to roll the big pots around the deck or balcony. I use a dolly to get my big pots of sarrs in and out of the garage each spring/fall. And they are in those light fiberglass pots, too.
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Post by lloyd on Feb 11, 2015 18:47:35 GMT -5
Coir would not be any easier than peat. It would be more expensive and possibly toxic to CP's. I would never use coir for any plants without washing and testing which is tedious and involves lots of water.
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Post by Dennis A(cook1973) on Feb 11, 2015 19:20:53 GMT -5
If these people cannot grasp the concept CP's do not like fertilizer apply the DTA(Don't Trust Anyone)there lol !!
I went to a home depot looking for unfertlized perlite they were sold out(fair enough) I went in the garden center and asked the garden center employee if they sell Venus Flytraps he brought me flypaper!.I said no,its a plant that catches and eats bugs he did not know what a CP was!! I had 10 dollars in plastic pots, put them on his desk and walked out.
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Post by Devon on Feb 11, 2015 19:31:44 GMT -5
I have been experimenting with coir with a lot of my plants, rinsed of course. I rinse until the ppm is below 20 - The rinsing process is rather tedious though as Lloyd said. Coir is lighter than peat when wet, at least with the brand I use.
Sarracenia and VFT's do very well in it, but sundews do not seem to like it as much unless I mix it with some peatmoss. I prefer coir or a 1coir:1peatmoss:2sand mix to 1peatmoss:1sand for VFT's and Sarracenia because it is very light and provides excellent drainage, therefor rot is less likely.
I plan on posting more definitive results with coir later this year. You can always trust peat though. . . Just not pure peat imo. Needs some sort of aggregate.
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Post by Kate on Feb 12, 2015 18:38:58 GMT -5
I suspect it is a coir based mix, knowing what else is in it would be kind of nice though. To that end I have sent an email off to (as far as I could narrow down) the manufacturer hoping to find out. I am not opposed to experimenting with coir based mixes down the line and I am well versed in the rinsing routine. We use coir as the substrate in the snake vivariums, so I have some knowledge, just not with CP's in particular.
I have been advised by my doctor to avoid perlite whenever possible, mask on or not, so the hunt for a suitable, light weight alternative continues. Is not so much the lifting of the soil that is the issue, though that is a consideration with larger amounts, it is the mixing. Even marginally repetitive motions are painful. Hmmm, perhaps I should also be looking for a different way to mix the assorted soil ingredients as well.
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Post by amanitovirosa on Feb 12, 2015 18:47:54 GMT -5
...try this...get a 20L bucket with a lid. Put all of your ingredients inside, don't fill the bucket up more than 3/4. Put the lid back on nice and tight and rock 'n roll! You should achieve a nice, thorough mix with little physical effort. Happy Growing!
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Post by Devon on Feb 12, 2015 20:48:45 GMT -5
Wetting the mix also keeps particles from becoming airborne.
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Post by Kate on Feb 12, 2015 21:25:26 GMT -5
...try this...get a 20L bucket with a lid. Put all of your ingredients inside, don't fill the bucket up more than 3/4. Put the lid back on nice and tight and rock 'n roll! You should achieve a nice, thorough mix with little physical effort. Happy Growing! That is so simple and will probably work .... thank you!
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Post by amanitovirosa on Feb 12, 2015 21:28:28 GMT -5
...I do this on a somewhat larger scale and use my electric cement mixer. The bucket is the same thing, only smaller. It works.
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Post by lloyd on Feb 12, 2015 21:58:39 GMT -5
I wouldn't trust the manufacturer, they might not know. I'd test the ingredient before risking your plants.
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Post by Kate on Feb 14, 2015 15:22:35 GMT -5
I thought I would update this is the information I received from the manufacturer this morning. Hi Kate,
Thank you for the email, very interesting question about the big bail as we do not have sent any of those to north america. So I am wondering what you did see at SunBeam either it was the pallet of COCO bags in their backyard or the giant beanbag with the TerraPro+ print out, which is filled with Styrofoam beans and meant to relax, not work
in any case, to answer you question, we do not manufacture nutrient free growing medium that would suit carnivorous plants. Actually we do the opposite, TERRApro and BioTERRA pro are both very rich peat based mixes that already contain a very strong nutrient charge. Then, our COCO coir does not contain nutrient per say, but is buffered to make it suitable for regular crops, meaning it is treated with various mineral nutrients to bring it's pH to +/- 6.0 (which is too high for your type of plants) and limit it's interaction with nutrient solutions. But even if you'd wash the buffer away, the ongoing release of Potassium and Sodium by the coco coir would likely be harmful to your carnivorous plants.
Sorry we can't help you more, hopefully you find what you are looking for and have great fun with your carnivorous plants!
Good luck and Happy gardening Eric, CANNA CanadaSo the mystery of what was in those bales has not been solved because they were bales of growing medium and not beanbags or a pallet of smaller bags. Usually I would be all over solving this mystery, this time, I am so completely disgusted with the staff I won't ever be going back, mystery to solve, or not.
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Post by lloyd on Feb 14, 2015 22:49:16 GMT -5
People at these places aren't mean, just clueless. They want so hard to be nice that they just say stuff to be polite even though it's just random speech.
If you ask anybody in Mexico directions they will give them to you even if they don't know. It would be very rude to say you don't know.
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