That is a prettty juicy mix. The proof is in the eating of the pudding as they say and they look great. Shrimp meal is a good source of chitin as well. I use tons of char. I think the emphasis on proper biochar over random cinders and charcoal is not that important. I've used mostly open burn char in my garden and cactus mixes and it seems to work fine. There are two things people say are different about biochar, how it is produced and that it is charged ahead of time with nutrients and microbes. Good, hard, industrial charcoal used for cooking, smelting and forging etc, is made the same way as what some say is proper biochar, by being mostly pyrolyzed in a low oxygen environment. I've used almost none of that and produce most of mine in open piles or in trenches. I've also gathered it after forest fires and out of the woodstove and firpits. I'll just use any clean wood that is chared basically. It may be that char made by pyrolization is better in some way, but in the quantities I use, it does not seem to matter much, if at all. As far as precharging it with nutrients and microbes goes, that can aslo be done after it is in the soil and I don't always do it. It will absorb nutrients though at first, making them unavailable to plants, so that has to be adjusted for with extra fertilizing in the early going if it is not precharged. If you can get it, I think you will be happy replacing the pumice and zeolite with charcoal. It has many of the properties you described for zeolite. It is very light when it dries out, which is handy for handling pots. good drainage material, but absorbs water, and dries out pretty quickly. Holds nutrients very well. It does float, and can be a bit messy. Otherwise, it's all good news. I typically use about 50% mixed into premixed potting mixes that already have some pearlite. If I'm using raw coco coir or something like that, I will add more, closer to 70%. For organic matter, I really like coco coir. Here in the US, you can buy blocks of it pretty cheap. It has good qualities for potting mix and does not rot away as fast as peat, or forest based stuff which is usually mostly bark. I'm planning to experiment with mixes that have very little to no organic matter other than fertilizers. They will be mostly charcoal, a measured percentage of clay, shell and I'm not sure what else yet. But as far as aggregate goes, I'm happy with just char. I have actually been growing desert cacti in straight charcoal ua-cam.com/video/8JVel3rMke8/v-deo.htmlsi=1tYwu-LmoZqh4NXM They seem to thrive with adequate fertilizing. I think trichos do better with other stuff added though.
I have heard you don't exactly need pure pyrolysed biochar and it can be charcoal. And I will probably make it myself at some point. But I buy it off a company at the moment and they claim that it's correctly pyrolysed so in my head it makes me feel better haha. The charging of the charcoal I don't do and will just fertilize at so me point. When it's already in the pot. Well I was looking to replace pumice with biochar but from what I understood they were still doing different things. I had the impression the pumice was giving more aeration and drainage than the biochar would. But id love if you could convince me that I can replace it with more biochar haha. But the zeolite I feel I would still use that as well as biochar. So I don't like using coco coir or peat because I feel it's purely just a filler and there are no nutrients coming from it you would have to give basically all the nutrients the plant needs and I feel using garden soil or something for the organic part holds onto more nutrients and also holds onto more microbial activity. I think a key thing for all plants is having a healthy soil with lots of microbes in there can you still do that by using coco coir as the organics? And with growing them in straight charcoal I have seen a couple people do it and it seems to work but you have to fertilize more?. Because my goal is to make the soil as healthy as possible so the plant is healthy. But I suppose potted plants are different than when in ground which I'm planning to do soon. Very interesting. Thanks for the comment I'm always trying to learn more.
@@CurtsCactus you can absolutely use coco as a base for a living soil. like you said it doesn't contain nutrients but it holds onto them like a sponge and fungus and bacteria will eventually and in my experience rapidly break it down into humus. like you said it does take extra steps. i add 10-20% worm castings for a base fertilizer and bacterial inoculant - 5% insect frass, 2% wheat bran (fungal food). the rest of your base can be as you please depending on your aeration needs for example 75/25 coco/pumice 50/50 coco/pumice ect and any micro or macro nutrients you would like to add (rock dust, meals, dry fertilizers ect.) as far as getting the mix off the ground running feeding kelp or fish hydrolysis will feed the microbes and if you have the set up compost teas will super charge the soil. with your type of set up i feel you are doing it right as it's more hands off with your volume and coco can be a pain in rain season as it holds too much moisture IMO it's the great for dry season and the worst for rain season kinda deal i live in mexico where we to have wet/dry seasons like you and coco batches always lead to fungal issues late into the season (scaring, black rot, root rot) where mineral heavy and leaf compost/peat blends never tend to have issues just from my experaince.
Great vid, Curtis! I need to start using pumice, been using perlite and course sand (tiny gritty pebbles). Problem is it's never available in stores for some reason and I have to order online. Guess I will. All my cacti are very happy in my mix so far.
Thanks heaps. Yea everything I've read pumice seems to be better . But I find if your gonna use a lot just buy in bulk or buy bulk and sell some to fellow growers for cheap. That's what I'm gonna do
Yea I would still use scoria but I can't find a bulk supply of it. And I think the pumice I'm getting is slightly cheaper and better for cactus. I am happy with the mix, the only thing I would change is remove any woodchips in the soil but I'm not bothered. I think majority of my cacti have looked healthier and have had a lot of growth out of this last season. They seem healthier in general.
@@CurtsCactus Sweet! I spotted your pumice is from NZ. It's $33.50 over here. Kings Plant Barn has Promix Pumice for $18.99 for 8L which is pricey! The other pumice I thought about getting is Daltons which is 15L for $9.50 but is wetter and probably needs a wash first.
That is a prettty juicy mix. The proof is in the eating of the pudding as they say and they look great. Shrimp meal is a good source of chitin as well. I use tons of char. I think the emphasis on proper biochar over random cinders and charcoal is not that important. I've used mostly open burn char in my garden and cactus mixes and it seems to work fine. There are two things people say are different about biochar, how it is produced and that it is charged ahead of time with nutrients and microbes. Good, hard, industrial charcoal used for cooking, smelting and forging etc, is made the same way as what some say is proper biochar, by being mostly pyrolyzed in a low oxygen environment. I've used almost none of that and produce most of mine in open piles or in trenches. I've also gathered it after forest fires and out of the woodstove and firpits. I'll just use any clean wood that is chared basically. It may be that char made by pyrolization is better in some way, but in the quantities I use, it does not seem to matter much, if at all. As far as precharging it with nutrients and microbes goes, that can aslo be done after it is in the soil and I don't always do it. It will absorb nutrients though at first, making them unavailable to plants, so that has to be adjusted for with extra fertilizing in the early going if it is not precharged. If you can get it, I think you will be happy replacing the pumice and zeolite with charcoal. It has many of the properties you described for zeolite. It is very light when it dries out, which is handy for handling pots. good drainage material, but absorbs water, and dries out pretty quickly. Holds nutrients very well. It does float, and can be a bit messy. Otherwise, it's all good news. I typically use about 50% mixed into premixed potting mixes that already have some pearlite. If I'm using raw coco coir or something like that, I will add more, closer to 70%.
For organic matter, I really like coco coir. Here in the US, you can buy blocks of it pretty cheap. It has good qualities for potting mix and does not rot away as fast as peat, or forest based stuff which is usually mostly bark. I'm planning to experiment with mixes that have very little to no organic matter other than fertilizers. They will be mostly charcoal, a measured percentage of clay, shell and I'm not sure what else yet. But as far as aggregate goes, I'm happy with just char. I have actually been growing desert cacti in straight charcoal ua-cam.com/video/8JVel3rMke8/v-deo.htmlsi=1tYwu-LmoZqh4NXM They seem to thrive with adequate fertilizing. I think trichos do better with other stuff added though.
I have heard you don't exactly need pure pyrolysed biochar and it can be charcoal. And I will probably make it myself at some point. But I buy it off a company at the moment and they claim that it's correctly pyrolysed so in my head it makes me feel better haha. The charging of the charcoal I don't do and will just fertilize at so me point. When it's already in the pot. Well I was looking to replace pumice with biochar but from what I understood they were still doing different things. I had the impression the pumice was giving more aeration and drainage than the biochar would. But id love if you could convince me that I can replace it with more biochar haha. But the zeolite I feel I would still use that as well as biochar. So I don't like using coco coir or peat because I feel it's purely just a filler and there are no nutrients coming from it you would have to give basically all the nutrients the plant needs and I feel using garden soil or something for the organic part holds onto more nutrients and also holds onto more microbial activity. I think a key thing for all plants is having a healthy soil with lots of microbes in there can you still do that by using coco coir as the organics? And with growing them in straight charcoal I have seen a couple people do it and it seems to work but you have to fertilize more?. Because my goal is to make the soil as healthy as possible so the plant is healthy. But I suppose potted plants are different than when in ground which I'm planning to do soon. Very interesting. Thanks for the comment I'm always trying to learn more.
@@CurtsCactus you can absolutely use coco as a base for a living soil. like you said it doesn't contain nutrients but it holds onto them like a sponge and fungus and bacteria will eventually and in my experience rapidly break it down into humus. like you said it does take extra steps. i add 10-20% worm castings for a base fertilizer and bacterial inoculant - 5% insect frass, 2% wheat bran (fungal food). the rest of your base can be as you please depending on your aeration needs for example 75/25 coco/pumice 50/50 coco/pumice ect and any micro or macro nutrients you would like to add (rock dust, meals, dry fertilizers ect.) as far as getting the mix off the ground running feeding kelp or fish hydrolysis will feed the microbes and if you have the set up compost teas will super charge the soil. with your type of set up i feel you are doing it right as it's more hands off with your volume and coco can be a pain in rain season as it holds too much moisture IMO it's the great for dry season and the worst for rain season kinda deal i live in mexico where we to have wet/dry seasons like you and coco batches always lead to fungal issues late into the season (scaring, black rot, root rot) where mineral heavy and leaf compost/peat blends never tend to have issues just from my experaince.
@@Buzzinn420 very interesting really appreciate your comment, i am definitely learning more and more from the community and comments like this. 😁👍
don't forget to rinse the pumice first. its covered in sea salt
Oops yea I haven't done that hahaha I'll haveto rinse the rest thanks for that.
Great vid, Curtis! I need to start using pumice, been using perlite and course sand (tiny gritty pebbles). Problem is it's never available in stores for some reason and I have to order online. Guess I will.
All my cacti are very happy in my mix so far.
Thanks heaps. Yea everything I've read pumice seems to be better . But I find if your gonna use a lot just buy in bulk or buy bulk and sell some to fellow growers for cheap. That's what I'm gonna do
How are the cacti liking the soil? Are you happy with it? I think in an earlier vid you used a bit of scoria but left it out of this mix
Yea I would still use scoria but I can't find a bulk supply of it. And I think the pumice I'm getting is slightly cheaper and better for cactus. I am happy with the mix, the only thing I would change is remove any woodchips in the soil but I'm not bothered. I think majority of my cacti have looked healthier and have had a lot of growth out of this last season. They seem healthier in general.
@@CurtsCactus Sweet! I spotted your pumice is from NZ. It's $33.50 over here. Kings Plant Barn has Promix Pumice for $18.99 for 8L which is pricey! The other pumice I thought about getting is Daltons which is 15L for $9.50 but is wetter and probably needs a wash first.
Could you write down your mix in the description?
Yes will do
Actually don't know the ratios so I can only really write down what I use in it is that ok?
Thank you 😊🌱