crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

Wondering if anyone has knowledge of this.

I bought a bag of smashed oyster shell chicken grit from the farmers
coop. Chicken grit has been recommended as a good way to increase
drainage for young maples in pots. (I also use sepiolite or other
mineral cat litter to hold water, oxygen and make rougher structure.)
But they may be talking about gravel, not shell.

I'm worried about increasing pH or getting too much calcium to the roots
as some of the mix is quite dusty, although most pieces are several mills.

Am I worried for nothing? I potted up 10 good 2 liter palmatums as an
experiment, but actually I'd quite like to use the stuff and not have it
sit around for a year...

Thanks,

-E

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

"Emery Davis" wrote in message
...
Wondering if anyone has knowledge of this.

I bought a bag of smashed oyster shell chicken grit from the farmers
coop. Chicken grit has been recommended as a good way to increase
drainage for young maples in pots. (I also use sepiolite or other
mineral cat litter to hold water, oxygen and make rougher structure.)
But they may be talking about gravel, not shell.

I'm worried about increasing pH or getting too much calcium to the roots
as some of the mix is quite dusty, although most pieces are several mills.

Am I worried for nothing? I potted up 10 good 2 liter palmatums as an
experiment, but actually I'd quite like to use the stuff and not have it
sit around for a year...

Thanks,

-E

It is lime (calcium carbonate). Just keep it away from your azaleas.

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 02/11/2011 17:25, Emery Davis wrote:
Wondering if anyone has knowledge of this.

I bought a bag of smashed oyster shell chicken grit from the farmers
coop. Chicken grit has been recommended as a good way to increase
drainage for young maples in pots. (I also use sepiolite or other
mineral cat litter to hold water, oxygen and make rougher structure.)
But they may be talking about gravel, not shell.

I'm worried about increasing pH or getting too much calcium to the roots
as some of the mix is quite dusty, although most pieces are several mills.

Am I worried for nothing? I potted up 10 good 2 liter palmatums as an
experiment, but actually I'd quite like to use the stuff and not have it
sit around for a year...

Thanks,

-E

I've used fullers earth cat litter in the garden and it behaves like any
other clay. Goes rock hard in summer so that water runs off it.

The best additive to improve structure, moisture retention, and oxygen
would be vermiculite IME. The coarse builders' grade will do if the
horticultural stuff isn't available at a reasonable price.

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On Nov 2, 5:25*pm, Emery Davis wrote:
Wondering if anyone has knowledge of this.

I bought a bag of smashed oyster shell chicken grit from the farmers
coop. *Chicken grit has been recommended as a good way to increase
drainage for young maples in pots. *(I also use sepiolite or other
mineral cat litter to hold water, oxygen and make rougher structure.)
But they may be talking about gravel, not shell.

I'm worried about increasing pH or getting too much calcium to the roots
as some of the mix is quite dusty, although most pieces are several mills..

Am I worried for nothing? *I potted up 10 good 2 liter palmatums as an
experiment, but actually I'd quite like to use the stuff and not have it
sit around for a year...

Thanks,

-E

Get your builder's merchant to send you a big bag (about 800Kg) of
sharp sand. Park it up somewhere and you have a lifetime supply of
sand very cheap. Some "sand" is crushed limestone. You need to
examine it to see if this is the case..

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 11/02/2011 07:18 PM, Janet wrote:
I use shell grit (from the beach, rinsed) but only on lime lovers like
clematis and brassicas.
For potting acid lovers I buy a sharp grit from the gravel quarry.


My hope was that the shell grit would be coarse enough that it would
only slowly leach into the soil. I didn't look closely enough to see
that there was lots of powder in the bag...

Lucky you to have a gravel quarry at hand! The shell is cheap, about
0.80 EU/kg, as opposed to fine aquarium gravel -- which would do the job
admirably -- at around 3 EU/kg.

Most maples, including the Japanese varieties, are not particularly acid
loving, contrary to popular opinion. They do fine in neutral to lightly
alkaline soil.

Our soil is naturally quite acid, 5 to 5.5 depending on the spot. So we
don't have a lot of lime lovers. I guess I'll need to give the shell to
someone who keeps chickens. Probably get a few dozen good eggs out of
the deal, anyway!

-E

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 11/02/2011 08:24 PM, stuart noble wrote:
On 02/11/2011 17:25, Emery Davis wrote:
Wondering if anyone has knowledge of this.

I bought a bag of smashed oyster shell chicken grit from the farmers
coop. Chicken grit has been recommended as a good way to increase
drainage for young maples in pots. (I also use sepiolite or other
mineral cat litter to hold water, oxygen and make rougher structure.)
But they may be talking about gravel, not shell.

I'm worried about increasing pH or getting too much calcium to the roots
as some of the mix is quite dusty, although most pieces are several
mills.

Am I worried for nothing? I potted up 10 good 2 liter palmatums as an
experiment, but actually I'd quite like to use the stuff and not have it
sit around for a year...

Thanks,

-E

I've used fullers earth cat litter in the garden and it behaves like any
other clay. Goes rock hard in summer so that water runs off it.

The best additive to improve structure, moisture retention, and oxygen
would be vermiculite IME. The coarse builders' grade will do if the
horticultural stuff isn't available at a reasonable price.

Cat litter is widely used by bonsai people, and if you get the right
sort is really an excellent (and very cheap) soil additive. I know a lot
of maple people who use it for container growing.

Personally my only objective with potting soil is to not drown a plant
before it can get to the next size or into the ground. But I started an
experiment in 2008 using the sepiolite litter with some Solanum which
have not been repotted since: it has not broken down at all an retains
water as well as when it came out of the bag. I've been using it in my
maple potting mix for a couple of years now with no negatives. So I
think you just tried the wrong stuff.

Vermiculite would be nice, but it's not widely available here and is too
expensive. Sepiolite costs around 0.25 EU/kg.

-E

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 11/03/2011 10:12 AM, harry wrote:
Get your builder's merchant to send you a big bag (about 800Kg) of
sharp sand. Park it up somewhere and you have a lifetime supply of
sand very cheap. Some "sand" is crushed limestone. You need to
examine it to see if this is the case..

Sand (even sharp sand) makes a bad soil additive IMHO. It makes the
soil very heavy and doesn't really increase drainage. I have tried it
and had a lot of pseudomonas problems in the sandy pots, presumably
because of water retention.

I use sharp sand in seed beds, indeed I get it from the builder supplies
in 40 kg bags. Hard on the old back... ;)

-E

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 03/11/2011 11:24, Emery Davis wrote:
On 11/03/2011 10:12 AM, harry wrote:
Get your builder's merchant to send you a big bag (about 800Kg) of
sharp sand. Park it up somewhere and you have a lifetime supply of
sand very cheap. Some "sand" is crushed limestone. You need to
examine it to see if this is the case..

Sand (even sharp sand) makes a bad soil additive IMHO. It makes the
soil very heavy and doesn't really increase drainage. I have tried it
and had a lot of pseudomonas problems in the sandy pots, presumably
because of water retention.

I use sharp sand in seed beds, indeed I get it from the builder supplies
in 40 kg bags. Hard on the old back... ;)

-E
yes, it's odd how sand holds water despite the particles not being
absorbent. I guess the good thing is it can only hold so much and any
excess drains straight through. Same principle with vermiculite, which
holds more, but never compresses or becomes water logged. Great for pots
in the summer

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 11/02/2011 08:24 PM, stuart noble wrote:

I've used fullers earth cat litter in the garden and it behaves like any
other clay. Goes rock hard in summer so that water runs off it.

Hi Stuart,

Someone just sent me this link which may be of interest:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2008/100908/log.html

The good stuff is "Tesco Premium Cat Litter." Interesting discussion
about the cost of cat litter versus identical horticultural additive
(litter is 3 times cheaper).

-E

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 04/11/2011 09:33, Emery Davis wrote:
On 11/02/2011 08:24 PM, stuart noble wrote:

I've used fullers earth cat litter in the garden and it behaves like any
other clay. Goes rock hard in summer so that water runs off it.

Hi Stuart,

Someone just sent me this link which may be of interest:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2008/100908/log.html

The good stuff is "Tesco Premium Cat Litter." Interesting discussion
about the cost of cat litter versus identical horticultural additive
(litter is 3 times cheaper).

-E

Many thanks. Our cat is sadly no more, but I shall be off to Tesco asap :-)

The photo looks like gravel and I'll be interested to see what happens
to it when it has been wetted and then dried out again. I suppose the
clay ball type of growing media used in hydroponics might be similar?
I'll google the molar clay.

Although I'm a big vermiculite fan, I do wonder whether in winter it
maybe holds a little too much moisture. I use it 1:4 with general
purpose compost, but a little goes a long way.

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 04/11/2011 09:33, Emery Davis wrote:
On 11/02/2011 08:24 PM, stuart noble wrote:

I've used fullers earth cat litter in the garden and it behaves like any
other clay. Goes rock hard in summer so that water runs off it.

Hi Stuart,

Someone just sent me this link which may be of interest:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2008/100908/log.html

The good stuff is "Tesco Premium Cat Litter." Interesting discussion
about the cost of cat litter versus identical horticultural additive
(litter is 3 times cheaper).

-E


Seems like it's very popular in certain quarters. I wonder if anyone
actually buys it for their cat!

http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter.htm

Someone on that site says that the diatomite version he's tried can
withstand cycles of wet and dry. Now that would be interesting

crushed oyster shells as potting soil additive?
 

On 11/04/2011 05:31 PM, stuart noble wrote:
On 04/11/2011 09:33, Emery Davis wrote:
On 11/02/2011 08:24 PM, stuart noble wrote:

I've used fullers earth cat litter in the garden and it behaves like any
other clay. Goes rock hard in summer so that water runs off it.

Hi Stuart,

Someone just sent me this link which may be of interest:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/wisley/2008/100908/log.html

The good stuff is "Tesco Premium Cat Litter." Interesting discussion
about the cost of cat litter versus identical horticultural additive
(litter is 3 times cheaper).

-E


Seems like it's very popular in certain quarters. I wonder if anyone
actually buys it for their cat!

http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicscatlitter.htm

Someone on that site says that the diatomite version he's tried can
withstand cycles of wet and dry. Now that would be interesting


Thanks Stuart! That's the page I originally had, but lost it some time
ago. Bookmarked now.

Actually I started out using My-Cat as referenced in the page, but it
disappeared so I switched to sepiolite which is not quite as good. But
now I see it was available at Mutant (not Mutan as the article wrongly
references) one of which has opened near here; so I'll go check it out
tomorrow. I need more anyway, just potted a lot more 3 liters...

The products I've been using certainly withstand many cycles. It really
is good stuff.