Container Soils - Water Movement & Retention VIII
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
14 years ago
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Container Soils - Water Movement & Retention X
Comments (153)Not at all, and I don't remember writing anything that should leave anyone with that impression. If I had to identify the crux of the thread, it would be that to take advantage of highly aerated media and their sharp drainage, it's essential to start with a very large volume of coarse ingredients, and there should never be enough fine material to fill all the spaces between the large particles. When you add a marble/perlite) to a jar filled to the rim with sand or peat), aeration of the medium in the jar DECREASES, and continues to decrease as you add more marbles/perlite. It is only when you have added a volume of marbles/perlite) so large there is not enough sand/peat) to fill all the desirable pores between the large particles that aeration begins to INCREASE. This is called the "threshold proportion". Al...See MoreContainer Soils - Water Movement & Retention IX
Comments (35)Mike, Hey sounds like you have a great handle on both the 5-1-1 and gritty mixes! It took me a long time to find all the ingredients and figure out the fertilizer side of things, but once you do some reading of this thread and the previous eight threads it does make sense. Al was most generous with his time, both on and off-list, and answered many of my "newbie" questions. I'm sure your plants should respond much better using these soil mixes next season. My trees are showing huge root growth this season in the gritty mix. Granted, hunting down the ingredients, sifting fines, and mixing the soil it is a bit more work than just buying a bag of MG potting soil, but I have no doubt that in general plants grow better in the 5-1-1 and grit mixes with proper fertilization, watering, drainage and air movemnet through the root zone. The peat in the MG soil acts like a sponge and retains far too much water for far too long, preventing air from getting to the roots and keeping the roots soggy. I agree that typically the big box stores are not very helpful when it comes to finding the right ingredients for the soil mixes. Granted, a few list members have found the right size of pine bark, turface or even silica sand at a HD or Wal-Mart but typically in my area you have to go to local hardware stores, feed stores, etc. to find the ingredients. In my experience, if you go to HD or Lowe's and ask for turface no one has any idea what you are talking about. Sounds like you've already found some great sources for your materials! Good luck next season and be sure to keep us posted on how your plants do in the new mixes. Thanks Dave...See MoreCONTAINER SOILS - WATER MOVEMENT and RETENTION XXII
Comments (1044)Over the years, I've saved a ton of word documents that answer common questions. One of those documents is about particle size: Particle Sizes (ideal) In a perfect world, the mineral fraction for use in the gritty mix would range in size from 1/10 - 5/32" (.100 - .156", or 2.5 - 4.0mm). The bark fraction would be slightly larger to allow for some breakdown over the life of the planting ........ from 1/8 - 1/4 is about ideal (.125 - .250" or 3.25 - 6.25mm). For the 5:1:1 mix, particle size should be from dust to 3/8". (0 - .375", or 0 - 4mm), with most of the bark ranging in size from 3/16 - 3/8" ( .188 - .375", or 4.8 - 9.5mm). The perlite should be on the coarse side - something like the all purpose or super coarse shown below. If you read the size gradation next to the images, you'll see the images are misleading as the product appears to be much larger than the size listed in print. starter: 1/16 - 3/32 inch (1.6 - 2.4mm) you can sub #1 cherrystone/quartzite if available grower: 3/32 - 3/16 inch (2.4 - 4.8mm) you can sub #2 cherrystone/quartzite if available developer: 3/16 - 5/16 (4.8 - 8.0mm) you can sub #3 cherrystone/quartzite if available turkey: 5/16 - 7/16 inch (8.0 - 11.0mm) turkey finisher: 7/16 - 5/8 inch (11.0 - 16mm) The last 2 sizes of grit can be used as ballast in the bottom of shallow pots by mixing 3 parts of grit to 1 part of your soil; this, to avoid water perching above the layer. The layer should be as tall/deep as the PWT your soil supports. Skip this if using a properly made gritty mix. Al...See MoreContainer Soils - Water Movement and Retention 4/11/20
Comments (123)Since I am new to Al's gritty mix, I got to start fresh looking for sifting solutions for the Turface. I thought I would share what I found. It may be useful to others, or it may be me doing it wrong and you can let me know. I ordered these screens off of Etsy, https://www.etsy.com/listing/1019347355/18-classifier-sifting-pan-stainless?ref=hp_rv-4 for about $28 each. I got the 1/8 and 1/12 sifter. They stack and are advertised to fit in a 5-gallon bucket. I don't have that but it fit in one of the larger planters I have. It is fairly easy to rock the bucket/sifters and the Turface grades pretty quickly. This is the material sizes you get: Complete dropthrough fines Caught by 1/12 screen Caught by 1/8 screen Because a significant amount falls through as fines, I decided I would use the two larger sizes and just sift with the 1/12 screen to separate the fines. This leaves a mix that looks like this: Hopefully this is not too great a variation in size and I hope you let me know. But if I sift to only use the largest size, then a significant amount of a 50lb bag of Turface is not usable. Here is the breakdown of the amounts I got. For the amount I sifted to both screens, I got a huge amount of fines (on the left). Two pots of the 1/12 sift, and only one pot of the larger 1/8 sift. That is not much useable material unless I accept everything but the fines. I am planning to use the fines in the drainage for another rain garden I am planning as part of an absorbent filter along with maybe a thick layer of peat moss. My theory is the layering of Turface with peat will help excess rain filter more efficiently into the ground. We have pretty heavy clay soil in our area....See Moreyellowthumb
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