Post by alexintx on Mar 5, 2020 17:00:45 GMT -5
So, I really firmly believe that every plant out there is going to be more healthy with more oxygen to the roots. Some plants (like many of our canivores) are more tolerant of poor oxygenation than others, but they’d still probably benefit from more oxygenated media. A soil mix with better drainage is going to be more oxygenated because the water drains out of the spaces between soil particles, allowing air to get in. The bigger the individual particles are, the better drainage there is: think of the difference between gravel, sand, and clay when you pour water on them.
I normally think of the regular peat/perlite mix I use with peat right out of the bale as fairly poor draining. When I pour water on top of it, it pools for a bit before draining.
I recently got some soil sifters, so I decided to see what the particle distribution of a (fairly low quality) bale of peat moss. I’d thought it would be mostly fine particles, but was surprised to see that it ended up fairly evenly divided between particles smaller than .5 mm, particles between .5 and 1 mm, particles between 1 and 2 mm, particles between 2 and 3 mm, and particles bigger than 3 mm. The biggest portions was the super fine ones and the smallest was the super coarse ones, but there wasn’t that huge of a difference.
Here’s what each of the fractions look like.
The smallest (< 0.5 mm):
0.5 - 1 mm:
1 - 2 mm:
2 - 3 mm:
The biggest (> 3 mm):
This growing season, I’m experimenting with using media without any particles less than 1 mm in diameter. I potted up some flytraps a while back and have been incredibly impressed with how good the drainage and water holding capabilities are. They drain very well, but it seems like it doesn’t dry out all that much faster than my regular mix.
I just got some nice sarrs from meizzwang (thanks a ton!), and I decided to pot them up using a media without any peat or perlite particles less than 1 mm wide. I’m really curious to see about how they perform in this better draining medium. There’s a pretty huge difference in drainage between this and my regular mix, so I’m hoping these are much better oxygenated.
The biggest issues I foresee are potentially needing more water in the summer and tray watering not being as effective (because the bigger particles won’t wick up water as well).
Have any of y’all tried sifting out the fines from your media to improve drainage? I’d love to hear about your results! I’ll definitely share photos of my sarrs and VFTs in this medium here.
I normally think of the regular peat/perlite mix I use with peat right out of the bale as fairly poor draining. When I pour water on top of it, it pools for a bit before draining.
I recently got some soil sifters, so I decided to see what the particle distribution of a (fairly low quality) bale of peat moss. I’d thought it would be mostly fine particles, but was surprised to see that it ended up fairly evenly divided between particles smaller than .5 mm, particles between .5 and 1 mm, particles between 1 and 2 mm, particles between 2 and 3 mm, and particles bigger than 3 mm. The biggest portions was the super fine ones and the smallest was the super coarse ones, but there wasn’t that huge of a difference.
Here’s what each of the fractions look like.
The smallest (< 0.5 mm):
0.5 - 1 mm:
1 - 2 mm:
2 - 3 mm:
The biggest (> 3 mm):
This growing season, I’m experimenting with using media without any particles less than 1 mm in diameter. I potted up some flytraps a while back and have been incredibly impressed with how good the drainage and water holding capabilities are. They drain very well, but it seems like it doesn’t dry out all that much faster than my regular mix.
I just got some nice sarrs from meizzwang (thanks a ton!), and I decided to pot them up using a media without any peat or perlite particles less than 1 mm wide. I’m really curious to see about how they perform in this better draining medium. There’s a pretty huge difference in drainage between this and my regular mix, so I’m hoping these are much better oxygenated.
The biggest issues I foresee are potentially needing more water in the summer and tray watering not being as effective (because the bigger particles won’t wick up water as well).
Have any of y’all tried sifting out the fines from your media to improve drainage? I’d love to hear about your results! I’ll definitely share photos of my sarrs and VFTs in this medium here.