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chelsea_2016

Pumice, expanded shale, or turface for hot climates?

chelsea_2016
10 years ago

Hi,
I live in Texas with crazy hot, long summers and plan on growing 10 blueberry plants and 6 raspberry plants in Fabric pots. I am worried about the pots drying out incredibly fast even if I water every day and then running into the issues associated with rehydrating a mixture of pine bark, peat moss, and perlite.
So I was considering replacing the perlite with either turface, pumice, or expanded shale if I can find it in less than 3/8" size. I've read if you go higher than a 8:1 ratio of pine bark to turface then growth is impeded and that Turface is also very difficult to rehydrate.

Recommendations for increasing moisture retention?

Comments (18)

  • nil13
    10 years ago

    "... if you go higher than a 8:1 ratio of pine bark to turface then growth is impeded..."

    Could you put up a link to that study? I'd like to read it.

    Turface definitely rehydrates from a bone dry state more easily than peat, ime. Not floating helps, lol.

  • chelsea_2016
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Sure. I got it from another post here about Al's 5-1-1 mix from shazaam:
    http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=184730

  • greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
    10 years ago

    If hydration is your main concern, why use a fabric pot?

    I might try a self-watering type system if I were gardening is such a hot region. Pumice or turface will both maintain structural integrity, durability, and water retention in a mix, with turface having the edge. I haven't used expanded shale, so I can't speak to its performance in a mix.

    Josh

  • Ernie
    10 years ago

    The nice thing about fabric pots is that you can use heavier mix without the compaction/perched water issues that you encounter in plastic, etc. (as long as the pot has ground contact, that is). So, if you want to increase water retention (and nutrient retention), adding turface is a good idea, but you can also increase the peat fraction, add some coir, or, as I've tried, incorporate some compost and/or soil. I'm adding a few new blueberries in fabric pots this year, and I'm trying out a mix that's 63% aged pine bark fines, 22% peat, 10% NAPA oil absorbent, 5% compost, and 5% soil (clay loam, to be precise). If I were growing them in plastic, I'd stick to the 5-1-1 mix (which has served me well), but fabric gives me more options.

  • Ohiofem 6a/5b Southwest Ohio
    10 years ago

    I don't have the climate challenges you do, but I have experienced long spells of temps in the high 90s with no rain. I used 5 parts pine bark fines to 1 part NAPA Floor Dry (product #8822) to 1 part compost to increase water retention in my large smart pots. The NAPA product holds more moisture than Turface. I believe it's pH is closer to neutral than Turface. I never had a problem rehydrating this mix or the standard 5-1-1 that I use in solid containers.

  • nil13
    10 years ago

    Did you read the study or just the abstract?

  • nil13
    10 years ago

    ok, so here is the study. Not to hijack the thread, but let's see who can figure out why they might have seen a growth falloff at 12%.

    Here is a link that might be useful: owen 2004 (pdf)

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    BTW: I looked at that study, briefly. In that study they used Oil Dri (DE) not Turface. I think Oil Dri (DE) retains more moisture than Turface. It also indicated that 12%(7:1) was optimum.

    I tested water absorption of oil dri(100% DE). It has a 100% by weight absorption. E.g. One pound dry weight will absorb one pound water.

  • nil13
    10 years ago

    That's not it. They used calcined clay from the Oil-Dri corporation, which isn't the same as the DE made by that same corporation.

    Anyone else?

  • Ernie
    10 years ago

    I'd guess that particle size was the problem -- the calcined clay that they used was screened to a size range of approximately 0.01" to 0.03".

  • Ohiofem 6a/5b Southwest Ohio
    10 years ago

    I read the study, and if you look at the figures at the end you will see that adding any clay (which Turface is) gives better results than no clay. The best results come from 12% or a 7:1 ratio, but even 20% clay or a 4:1 ratio is better than 0% clay. So Turface does not impede growth. Also note that the study is only comparing 100% bark to bark with some clay.

    But the OP's question is which amendment is better at increasing water retention without causing problems. Of the three choices offered, I would choose Turface. Other choices that might be more effective would be peat, DE or compost. But too much of any one of them (more than 20%) might cause drainage problems.

  • nil13
    10 years ago

    shazaam wins the prize. They were looking at the addition of sand sized calcined clay as a water retention additive. I would imagine as a substitute for actual sand. Turface is a much coarser calcined clay and as such the calcibed clay used in this study is not analogous.

    And this is why you have to carefully read the study and not just the abstract.

    :edit: what's really interesting is they were getting the effect of about 30% sand with half the material. And let's remember the reason growers add sand to container media is because it facilitates even wetting of the media. It is not for increased drainage like some people think.

    This post was edited by nil13 on Fri, Feb 28, 14 at 12:02

  • nil13
    10 years ago

    Based on the research coming out of Missouri, 40% Turface (they don't screen it) is an upper bound. Now that's with gravel so with pine bark I wouldn't go anywhere near that high. I have had success at 25%.

  • chelsea_2016
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks, people. I feel better about using more Turface in my mix, skipping perlite completely. Since I am using a fabric pot I'm not worried about the mix holding too much water. Besides, the "course grade" perlite had a ridiculous amount of powder that I was not looking forward to sifting through :)

  • Ernie
    10 years ago

    I'm curious, Chelsea -- what size and brand of fabric pots are you using?

    Thanks for encouraging everyone to take closer look at that study, nil13. I completely glossed over the small particle size when I first read it last year.

  • chelsea_2016
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Shazaam,
    I'm using 2 black 10 gallon smart pots, 15 7-gallon tan with handles GeoPots, and I just ordered 10 black fabric pots from BountifulPlantPots on Etsy.com 16" x 12" (10 gal) because although I really wanted tan pots with handles, the BPPs were so cheap I couldn't resist. $3.26 per pot!!! The geopots were $7.05 for 7 gal.

  • Ernie
    10 years ago

    Those sound like good choices. I've found that 5 gallon pots dry out much too quickly for my liking, but 10 gallon pots are much more manageable. In the heat of summer, I can get by with watering 10 gallon pots every other day (and that's with the standard 5-1-1 mix).

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    If you want to retain the most water use Diatomaceous Earth. Ultrsorb or optisorb are excellent products.
    DE seems to hold more water than anything else. Also has a pore size which works well to supply water when needed. Seems turface pores are a little small and hard for plants to access. Pumice is a little too large and gives up water easily. DE seems to be somewhere inbetween.

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816212001841

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0341816211001615

    http://scihub.org/ABJNA/PDF/2010/5/ABJNA-1-5-1076-1089.pdf

    Here is a link that might be useful: Axis

    This post was edited by Drew51 on Wed, Mar 5, 14 at 9:48