Well, an important question -mostly because costs-
Is there a difference between hidroponics expanded clay an construction one?
Just to be safe that I can use what I alreaady have :D.
PD: Tried to find this question on the subreddit, but to no avial.
I did find this : https://www.maximumyield.com/is-construction-grade-expanded-clay-safe-for-growing-plants/7/3315
But I was regarding more for my safety; tho. I tried a medium this year and my plants prospered; but i didnt eat any of my plants since they were lufas.
In aeroponics, I gather that the cup and medium are pretty much only there for 1) support of the plant and 2) separation of the "above-mist" and "below-mist" parts of the plant and universe.
So, what are some good ways of doing that?
I'm a bit strapped for my usual materials when mixing up succulent mix, so I bought a pre-made brand I trust and have a few other add-ins around. I'm making some snake plant soil, but since this is my first Pleiospilos I wanted advice on soil construction.
What I have available is the succ. mix (likely peat based), Orchid mix (very big fir chunks with Charcoal and Coarse perlite), LECA, and smooth pebbles. No sand or perlite/pumice around, and after running around all day looking for Coarse Sand and not getting anything, I'd rather not have to try again tomorrow if I can make a mix out of anything here.
I'm willing to grind up the LECA and/or sort through the Orchid mix if need be.
I keep my carnivorous plants in a tray of distilled water but want to add a growth medium. Before adding the pellets to the tray I noticed a large amount of dust on the pellets and rinsed them thoroughly. Is this enough to prevent any dissolved minerals from damaging my plants? Are althere any minerals that are safe or particularly unsafe?
Showerthoughts time!
Anecdotally it feels as if scores have been inflated recently. With the rise of AnyDecentMusic? as well, which seems to be more conservative in its scoring, this has been more noticeable to me. But it is a perception after all, so I'm open to disagreement.
For example --
Sawayama by Rina Sawayama
Metacritic: 89/100 (approaching GOAT status)
I picked that example because I recently listened to that album, but yeah. One can also see it with Run the Jewels' RTJ4 which is sitting at 92 on Metacritic and 8.7/10 on AnyDecentMusic?.
The real motivator for this post (since I put 'expanding the basket' in the title) is that it feels as if scores on Metacritic are inflating because of niche review sites and, well, click bait newspapers. But it might be, at least in part, due to reviewers being looser nowadays across the board. What are your thoughts on that?
I have very hard clay soil, and am looking to solve surface water run off with a combination of catch basins draining out solid piping (solid corrugated and/or PVC) underground to daylight out a natural slope.
I do not have a soggy-soil problem around the yard to where I need perforated pipe and water to "build up" from ground level up into the pipe.
If I just have solid pipe with only entries at the catch basins and the outlet at daylight, can I just lay my corrugated pipe directly on the hard clay soil I've trenched out? Without a fabric or aggregate surrounding it?
(The benefits of surrounding aggregate seem to be to filter out infiltration into perforated pipe - which I won't have - and/or allowing subsurface water to have a pathway out and down the drain - again which I don't have).
Everything I can find follows the typical french drain design - fabric + aggregate + pipe (usually perforated) + aggregate + fabric + backfill. The previous drainage system here was just corrugated into the clay directly and it stayed clear except for the fittings where they weren't sealed properly and roots got into the fittings. Thank you!
Hey folks! New to the no-till protocols but am eager to give it a shot or two. I’m trying to avoid perlite but cannot source pumice without going broke in shipping. Has anyone relied solely on mvp calcined clay and/or expanded shale? I know they hold water but think it might be a good thing since I can charge them with compost tea up front. I’d be grateful for any insight!
