How often do you water houseplants in gritty mix?
14 years ago
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- 14 years ago
- 14 years ago
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Need Advice. Gritty Mix (minus bark) and Houseplants
Comments (14)Jala - Ah, that makes *much* more sense for fertilizer amounts. :) Re vinegar vs. lemon juice, I don't use either of them, but lemon juice tends to be a bit more acidic than white vinegar, so I'd theorize you'd use a bit less... If you're really worried about odors, though, you might check a hydroponics store for what they call "pH Down". Depending on the brand, it's highly concentrated citric or phosphoric acid; you'd need to be a bit careful with it (don't get the concentrated stuff on your skin!) but the non-organic forms are completely odorless and keep indefinitely. It might look expensive at first (I paid around $15 for a quart), but you don't use much at a time (1/8 tsp per gallon drops me to around 5.5) so it'll last you a long time... Longer than an equivalent volume of vinegar or lemon juice, since both of those eventually go bad. You will need to invest in a pH testing kit to measure how much acid you need to add, though. (Which isn't too bad... You can get a small pack of full-range pH testing strips from Hong Kong for $2 or less on eBay, shipping included.) Note, if you don't fertilize at every watering, you should check pH with and without fertilizer -- you may need to add different amounts of acid depending on your fertilizer status. Joe - Thanks for the info! So you can get away with 1:1 for Sans? I'll have to experiment with this next time I see Sans on sale at Home Depot... Put one in "classic" gritty mix, one in 1:1 turface:grit, and one in hydroculture, just to see which one does better in my conditions....See MoreHouseplants in gritty mix-will I have to water every day?
Comments (4)If you're root pruning when you repot, and the roots of your plant only occupy the upper couple of inches of the soil mass, it might be best to water daily for a few days until roots begin to colonize the lower reaches of the soil. After that, there really won't be much difference in watering frequency between a well-aerated bark-based soil (like the 5:1:1 mix) and the gritty mix. For a while, there was a campaign of intentional disinformation being waged against the well-aerated soils so often discussed here. GW eventually made some 'adjustments' and those waging the campaign were prevented from doing so, and things have been rather peaceful since. Still, some residual fallacies linger, and to some degree the disinformation continues on other forums - usually by one or two individuals, neither of which have any experience using the gritty mix. What Al said above is true. The fact of the matter is, when you take steps to improve aeration and eliminate as much perched water as possible, the reduction in water retention means more frequent watering. You can't have it both ways, except to the extent that the gritty mix uses ingredients that allow you to ADJUST water retention by increasing the volume of particles that hold water internally (the Turface). That way, you sacrifice very little in the aeration offered in macro-pores, so it's a healthy way to increase water retention. You really need to weigh the pluses against the minuses and decide if the gritty mix is for you. If grower convenience is more important than plant health, you might want to stick with a more water-retentive mix. I would say that the year round average watering interval of established plants in the gritty mix will range from every 2-6 days, with by far the largest % falling in the every 3-4 day slot. Al...See MoreTell me how you adapted to watering your plants in gritty mix
Comments (12)Tracy, I still weigh them on a digital scale and keep a log if I really want to be on top of it. But when they are left for more than a week, I'll just drench the mix and at the instance I would definitely hear the sizzling sound, which is a big indication for me that the mix is definitely dry/part dry. I usually watering until I stop hearing the sizzle. I did notice though, that some pots dry much faster than others, knowing that the plants take in more water. ie my Gollum Jade, it shows the deflation pretty easily when I neglect on my watering. I'm with k8 as well on dunking if you want to ensure the mix is completely hydrated. Sometimes I can still hear the sizzle after my 4th time watering the mix. - Bernard...See MoreHow often do you change gritty mix?
Comments (10)If you pour it all into a tray full of water the oil dry should sink and the bark/perlite should float (which I would toss)? Perlite holds a lot of water, much more than grit. So in theory I think it can replace the bark in soil mixes (especially if bark is expensive). However, you then end up relying on the oil dry to hold all the nutrients (if you fertilize). Doesn't seem like many of us are using the grit/turface/perlite combo except Rina? I think she's onto something there but I don't know what ratios are best to use. I have a pot of her mix but I'm too reluctant to just dump it out! Plus, it works well. I've made two grit/perlite pots (20% grit : 79% perlite : 1% soil) which I'm growing my Schlumbergera cuttings in. They seem to be working alright so far. The rest of my pots use some amount of repti-bark. I'm a long way from decomposition as my mix is fairly new....See MoreRelated Professionals
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)