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So...perlite is no good.

  • #21
I have never rinsed my peat and use perlite in most of my mixes. Never had a problem with either and my plants generally grow fantastically.
 
  • #22
Well I wash my peat and swear by it. It has helped my growth dramatically,of course I guess it all depends on your bag of peat???
 
  • #23
You know...I wasn't expecting to light up such a passionate exchange.... take it easy guys. You're all doing your best.
 
  • #24
This is the first and only year that I have washed my peat. I found it was contaminated with timed release fertilizer pellets. Not many but enough that it cost me a couple of plants before I figured out what the problem was. So much for truth in packaging.
 
  • #25
I've had wildly fluctuating peat quality. Some of it LOOKS like it needs washing, and leaves a slimy muck, and some brands look perfect right out of the bag. I wash it all just to be on the safe side, but take extra care with the lower quality stuff, and just use the "floater" peat. Oh, I microwave, too.

Capslock
 
  • #26
I microwave peat, but I have never washed it. I have been washing perlite, which the ICPS page suggests, but I have never bought other than horticultural perlite, so maybe that is not necessary.
I sort of came to Tamlin's conclusion on adding milled sphagnum to the peat/sand combo, as our silica sand is very fine(what I have found), but it comes in 50# bags pre-washed.
I guess if you use perlite and you don't want it to turn green, you can always vover the surface with something(like a thin layer of fine orchid bark, or LFS, ect).
I find myself delaying planting dangerously at times, because I am starting to worry about washing and soaking EVERYTHING!!!
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Cheers,

Joe
 
  • #27
I forgot. How much of a % of peat is "floater?" I mean for aqautic Utrics, aren't you suspposed to throw some peat in the water and when it sinks, put your plants in?

Joe
 
  • #28
I`ve found a mere 10-20% will be floater peat:( So the floater peat goes to the more delicate species and the sinker peat goes to the "tougher" ones. By delicate I mean as far as there soils go such as Drosera. I have found non washed peat formms a black hard crust on the surface of the plants pot and Drosera especially seem to dislike this.
 
  • #29
Algae loves microwaved peat. At least at the equator where I lived. I wanted to kill off microorganism in the peat but ended up having to scrape off algae before the young seedlings can establish themselves.  
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Just a side note, perlite is IDEAL for my pings. No perlite, no pings.
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  • #30
Whats the difference between floater, and sinker peat? (by that, i mean what makes it float and what makes it sink) I soak my peat but never rinse it.. logically rinsing with water (which has a neutral pH) would raise the pH of the peat. Maybe the slightly less acidic pH of the soil helped your plants grow faster? I think it looks kinda cool when my perlite gets algea, especially when its mixed with sphagnum... looks more natural than white spots in your soil
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  • #31
Hmmm. good question,it seems the less decomposed(and therefore more sphagnum like) peat is what floats while the finer sludgeyes stuff sinks.
 
  • #32
Hmm, I honestly never washed or microwaved my peat or any media. Is this really a problem? I use peat packed in a large chunk and it looks like dust (not the best peat) and it seems to work fine. Zongyi
 
  • #33
No it`s not a problem(lots of people grew the plants before washing was instituted). But it would be better if you washed it:)
 
  • #34
what about "Scotts Perlite"?
They sell it at homedepot in the plant section.

so therefore isnt it horticultural perlite?
I want to know before I setup my terrarium with the perlite in it. cause that will be a b**** to take apart and fix.
 
  • #35
The Scotts should be fine. Just double check the package and make sure there are no other additives in it. Some companies like to toss in slow release fertilizer and what not..

T
 
  • #36
It's a good idea to check your peat carefully. Even the stuff that is supposed to be 100% Canadian Sphagnum peat can have contaminants in it. Especially if it is bagged at a plant that also bags the stuff with fertilizer in it.
 
  • #37
I have to be one lucky son of a gun then. For 42 years I have placed plants in straight peat, and they grew like crazy. I do not do anything special, just add water. Joe Mazrimas, who started the ICPS along with Don Schnell, has always told me that I have the finest plants he has ever seen. I HAVE to be one lucky fellow! Washing the peat is , no doubt, a good idea, just from the safety aspect. But, sometimes, you can be fortunate, like me, and not have anything too drastic happen to your plants. One gentleman I know, bought some peat from Lowes, and planted merrily away. Used the bulk of the peat for seed. I have to say, whatever was in this particular brand of peat, I don't know. It was the calcium stuff mentioned earlier, and it grew and spread all over his pots and plants. This garbage grew completely over his seedlings, destroying many little sarracenia and drosera lives. I surely won't use the brand he got. I will stick with the stuff I have been using forever. I have never had problems with that. Maybe brand has something to do with it as well.
 
  • #38
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Bugweed @ Oct. 20 2004,12:26)]I surely won't use the brand he got. I will stick with the stuff I have been using forever. I have never had problems with that. Maybe brand has something to do with it as well.
Well what brand was he using, and what brand do you use Bugweed. And to some extent I thing growing plants is like playing the guitar. Great tone comes from the player's hands and the gear just accentuates it. Likewise beautiful plants comes from the growers thumbs. the tecnique, and media just accentuates it. But there's alwas something to be said for quality media......and gear.
 
  • #39
i buy those gargantuan bales of canadian peat they sell at wall-mart..
 
  • #40
A yes, I buy those too, JustLikeAPill. Did you ever have any troubles with it? Zongyi
 
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