The APS Disaster Poem:
Dear God it killed off all my plants,
that APS is so bad,
Now I have to buy all new,
as my old plants look so sad!
So I better go get lots of cash
but I've spent all that I had,
Now what on earth am I gonna do,
Oh there you are, "Hey Dad...."!
On a more serious note,
I haven't had any issues with it, especially with Pings, Neps & Sarrs.
I don't notice much difference with it on my Dews,
although I only have it in a few of their pots & I top water them.
As for the VFT's, I only have a couple where I used it (a couple of B-52)
and haven't noticed anything either, but then I am not using it all over across the board.
When I plant up, I put down a layer of hydroton in the bottom, a layer of landscape fabric
(to keep the small particles from getting into the hydroton & also from possibly leaking out)
and then a layer of APS/Turface. This acts as my drainage, above that I do a mix of sand, APS/Tf and peat, with a top of peat & sand.
Perhaps since I have it in the lower layers, I don't notice any issues. (In fact this has worked a lot better for me than when I used to use LFS on the bottom (or other organics) to keep the drainage route open & preventing any draining of media.
ALso, most my plants are in a greenhouse or outdoors (in summer)... it is possible that with a smaller closed system, the small amounts of nutrients build up & show up faster.
Keep in mind, we are trying to grow a variety of plants that are often NOT from the same locale.
Small differences can mean a big difference sometime.
I hope you haven't lost any plants from it Gil. (If you have, contact me!)
At least if you are wanting to do a slime mold thesis, you will know how to be ahead of the game!
As everyone will realize someday, what works for one may not work for all. (One size DOESN"T fit all!)
People (especially new growers) often get into the "tell me exactly what to do so that I may have success" syndrome. And this may be an ideal situation to show that what works great for one person, may spell disaster for another. Hard to say.
There are so many variables to growing CP's, it can get hard to tell what to do or not do, unless a person learns from their own growing experience. That alone is the proving ground.
People need to remember this when trying to learn by advice & opinion instead of by experience.
Good luck all!
Again, I am all out of poetry.