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Opinions On Washing

I read Tamlin's stickied tutorial on washing peat, sand, etc before using it and I have noticed how peat will stain water if it isn't rinsed well first and I am probably going to start rinsing my peat before using it just to block out the possibility that it could be keeping my CPs from growing the best that they can.

I just want to know how many people actually rinse and if they have noticed a big difference and also if they'd reccomend it. Like I said, regardless of what comes of this topic I will start rinsing, but the opinions to back it helps to motivate me. (Not that Tamlin's word isn't good, I just like to get as much info as possible on the subject.)

I was going to make this post a poll but I can't seem to find the right button. >_>
 
Chrono I do not agree with rinsing the peat, but I do rinse the sand if I use it on rare occasions. I don;t see a need for it, and let me tell you why. When you rinse peat you loose the brown water and your washing out some of the good stuff to I think. Bugweed uses black tea to help color his sarrs back up if they start to fade on him. Others use a peat tea made just like sun tea, but using some fresh peat instead. In essence getting the brown water that your rinsing away when you wash the peat the first time. So I do not rinse. My utrics and dews planted in straight peat are happy as can be. My capensis are getting huge and even my outdoor bog looks good dormant but good. I do not have the algae growth on my outdoor bog you would normally think of having with unwashed peat. I just think it is a waste, and my plants have not suffered from it. Now my Nepenthes that have peat will eventually get rinsed out because I run copious amounts of water through them when I water since I water with tap water on those. Everything else I use rain water.
 
I think the color is from tannins and provide much of the acidity- hence good body presrvation in peat bogs, in addition to the low nutrient content and lack of oxygen
 
I rinse everything... sand, peat, LFS, Perlite,... There's a lot of dust or other fine particles in the media. Can't really compare to having not rinsed the media, but I feel safer knowing that whatever might be in there is either removed or diluted or cleaner.
 
Lol, So many jokes ran through my head when I saw the title lol

I don't wash peat because i'm lazy. I used to not wash sand....until I did was it and saw how much dust there was. Now I wash sand and profile.
 
The brown stuff coloring the water is tanins which help acidify the peat. No amount of rinsing will completely remove them as they are constantly released as the peat breaks down. The purpose of rinsing is to remove nutrients that incourage the growth of algae and moss. I have found these nutrients to be most common in the small bags of peat you can get at the gardening section of your local DIY store. The nutrients are usually contaminants from the equipment used to bag the peat as the machinery is also used to bag peat with fertilizer added. I haven't had a problem with algae or moss since I started using the baled sphagnum peat.
 
So the coffee water is good then? :p

Interesting... I think the main reason I thought that stuff was bad because in undrained containers, like if you have an utric and you flood it, it stains the leaves. I have a U. livida like that and I suspected that's why it looked so ugly... "dirty peat". I remember hearing that the brown stuff contained acid.. I need to stop taking breaks from CPs cuz I forget half of the things I learned every time. x_x; I might starts rinsing the sand and perlite now though cuz I KNOW that stuff sends off some nasty dust, the perlite does at least. I hate having to breathe that crap in. It's bad stuff. :/ Although... don't you think that stuff gets washed out by rain eventually? With drained containers I mean.
 
Tannins are a natural part of peat and are not bad. They get pretty concentrated in the wild sometimes. Just because the turn the water dark does not mean its bad or dirty
 
So I guess I'll just wash my sand a perlite since washing peat is a bad thing. Should be easier this way since I don't use as much sand and perlite as I do peat.

Thanks for the replies. :D
 
  • #10
Rinsing peat is not bad. Peat can contain lots of dissolved solids.

Washing it to remove tannins is pointless, however.
 
  • #11
I've been giving fresh pots a couple good top water flush and emptying the trays for the first couple weeks. After that I just go with the normal tray watering (depending on species). A flush now and then isn't a bad idea in my opinion, especially for me since I live near enough to the ocean that salt spray gets into everything.
 
  • #12
That's probably what I'll do, just rinse it from the top occasionally. Rain does it naturally when my plants are outside though.
 
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