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#1
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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 |
#2
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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. |
#3
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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. |
#4
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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.. |
#5
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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 |
#6
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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 |
#7
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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 |
#8
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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 |
#9
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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 |
#10
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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. |
#11
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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 |
#12
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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. |
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