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Eggshells as a growing medium mix?

  • #21
Cool -- Mark and SG -- Please Keep us posted on your findings! Im really curious as to see how your results will turn out. I think I'll pot my other mex pings up in the new batch I made last night.

NAN - thanks for the info!! Pings are awesome lil' plants man!!

BTW, how alkaline is vermiculite anyway? Just curious if it has that much of an affect on the alkalinity of the mix. I was also wondering if pumice is more or less intert and if it had any adverse affect on the alkalinity as well. Sorry for all the questions, I think the world of pings will be my next new "thing" :)

thanks!
 
  • #22
I have a Pietropaulo book that has a chart of which prefer what type of pH. Only a few were listed as liking alkaline soild. The book isn't in front of me but I do remember it listing P. gypsicola and moranensis as likeing alkaline media.

I am also using freezed dried bloodworms and eventually will integrate the use of Iron Oxide.
 
  • #23
Jim, please post the list, I have read that gypsicola likes alkaline media too but i have seen pics of it that disagree. moranensis is one that i have noticed to grow in a variety of soils too.
I have thought about trying iron oxide....

RCO I have never tested vermiculite but i think it is relatively neutral, as for pumice the alkalinity will depend on where it is from. I got a bunch of crushed pumice from a local mine, it was a little acidic, another piece i got from my dad was very alkaline. I think the alkalinity has to do with the gasses and minerals that are trapped in it when it is formed.
 
  • #24
I have used crushed coral and didn't really see any great benefit and it was so coarse and...well...I didn't like it.
 
  • #25
SG - ahh, thanks for that! Hmm.. i wonder where mine is from then.. oh well. Its a commercial brand of pumice i purchased from a local hydroponics shop.

I've also wondered about that rock wool stuff... i know they use it in propagation methods n the like. As I passed by that aisle, i was like "hmm, i wonder what this would be like in a mix?" I am all for trying new stuff.

PAK, thanks for that. Idunno, the stuff I saw at the pet shop was "100% calcium carbonate"... I think i'll give a shot anywhooo - just to give it a shot. Looks like some shells n stuff that were crushed with coral fragments. Watch - a hermit crab pop outta there and get stuck on one of my pings... LOL

Jim, if you have that list available, that would be awesome!! I'd like to see it to0p, if you had time to post it... very interesting!!!
 
  • #26
It wasn't a big list for those he had categoraized as alkaline, but when I can get book and computer in the same room I'll write them down
 
  • #27
The only Mexicans listed as liking alkaline media, aside from gypsicola & moranensis were oblongiloba and macrophylla. And even then, they were also listed as liking acidic soil. I guess they're pretty tolerant of pH. Other than Mexicans, also listed are: balcanica, grandiflora, leptoceras, macroceras, vallisnerifolia, and vulgaris.

What I didn't like reading was that they had the media as being inverted to what I have. I have the white stuff on top of LFS and they have it reversed. Perhaps I made a mistake?
 
  • #28
What I didn't like reading was that they had the media as being inverted to what I have. I have the white stuff on top of LFS and they have it reversed. Perhaps I made a mistake?

Who knows? Maybe it will turn out you've got it right - at least for your situation.
 
  • #29
There is no such thing as mistakes when it comes to science, they are called learning experiences and conclusions. I have really been trying to pin down which Pings Like which media and it seems that every Ping has an exception. I was asking a friend who just got back from a few P. heterophylla sites, he said they were all on alkaline soil except at one location. In my mind that means that they will grow in both.... I am now totally confused. I think i am going to have to go to mexico and find out for my self.
Any one up for a road trip?
 
  • #30
The way I perceived it explained to me is that the lower layer of LFS is designed to provide moisture to the roots, while the top layer of perlite, etc... is designed to provide drainage. At least that seemed logical to me. Does that seem reasonable? Hey. they didn't react to the new conditions.
 
  • #31
I've only really used long fiber sphagnum and perlite on the bottom of pots to keep the mix from going out the drain holes.

If I fill a pot with only live Sphagnum moss I'll put a layer of perlite on the bottom. The very first Venus Flytrap I had came potted this way and if it worked for the 10+ years I had the plant why not repeat a winning combination. If pushed for a reason why I'll ??? and say "drainage?"

Joseph is the grand master of layering and sandwiching media types. Perhaps if he has the time he'll share his thoughts and experiences in this regards.
 
  • #32
Sounds like a very good place for calcium. I give them to my hermit crabs all the time because it helps them harden their exo skeletons after molting.
 
  • #33
Joseph is the grand master of layering and sandwiching media types. Perhaps if he has the time he'll share his thoughts and experiences in this regards.

He hasn't been around lately. :-(
 
  • #34
I think that Joe has been as busy as a beeee!!!LOL
 
  • #35
He's pollinating?
 
  • #36
Yes, a lot of the grand masters are absent - Bugweed and Tamlin to name a couple :(
 
  • #37
Then it's up to we students to carry on the legacy! Either that or we see if Pat Paulsen is still available!
 
  • #38
I know this is an old thread but I sprinkled eggshells on my P. lauena x emerginata and it seems to make it turn more pinky/purple on the edge of the leaves as well as the leaf veins. I was wondering if anyone else noticed anything like this?
On the ones I didn't add eggshells, they remain very green with little or now color on the leaf edges.
 
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