diatomaceous earth

[Gary McCarthy]

For those of you using DE for your bonsai trees are you using just DE by itself? Or are you using it mixed in with other soil ingredients?

At the risk of starting another soil thread I don't need to know what those other ingredients are. Just curious if people are having success using DE as a stand alone soil.

 

[sorce]

I used about 40% pine fines once and it dried out too fast.

Pretty sure it was half the soil, half because the trees were so happy and growing like mad!

But I had wilting Buckthorn by the time I got home so I went to 100% .

I went looking for the Home Depot pine fines again and couldn't find it anymore.

Anything smaller AND more absorbent than sifted 8822 negates the properties of 8822 and shouldn't be used.
Not that it's bad, but 8822 becomes the "aggragate" then....
But it is useless as such, so stick with just potting soil, or use something like turkey grit.

100% unsifted 8822 IS a death sentence in time.

You might get away with it till you get to the settled part of the bag, but eventually, the dust WILL create a water block and give you dead dry patches.

Always sift with a mask.....

At night with a headlamp so you're neighbors think you'e a terrorist mixing up ......

Sorce

 

[Gary McCarthy]

Thanks @sorce.

And yes, I ALWAYS sift. Anything that passes through my 1/8" sieve does not get used.

 

[sorce]

does not get used.

Not for soil.....!

But for drying out wet boots, killing bugs, uh...oil!, and keeping a leaky water heater from running further across the floor!

Sorce

 

[wrcmad]

Been using it for years in my grow pots (I use pumice and Akadama in my bonsai pots).
We get it under the name diatomite. Awesome stuff for development. Excellent cation exchange and water retention. Excellent fine root development.
The size we get here is about 0-1/4 inch.
I mix it around 50/50 with small pine-bark nuggets.
If I don't use it here, I inevitably end up fending off curl grub, which can easily kill trees.

 

[BrianBay9]

I've used it straight and mixed. No complaints.

 

[coh]

The only soil component I've used "straight" is pumice. A collected spruce I purchased was already planted in 100% pumice, and I was advised to leave it that way for a couple of years at least. It is now being transitioned to a more typical mix, but it developed great roots while in the pumice. DE as in NAPA 8822 (or whatever), in my opinion, is a little small in terms of particle size to use at 100%, though I'm sure a lot of plants will survive in it - at least for a while.

 

[M. Frary]

I love the stuff so much I now have food grade powder that I add 1 tsp to glass of water every night for my joints.

 

[M. Frary]

I used to snort it but dissolving it in water is easier on the nose.

 

[coh]

I used to snort it but dissolving it in water is easier on the nose.

But think of the benefit...no more problems with those pesky nose aphids.

 

[milehigh_7]

I have been using sifted Optisorb 100% for a bit and as long as you get rid of the dust and fines it's the bee's knees. If you don't it will kill your stuff. Best advice is when repot is done, rinse until clear and free draining then wait a bit and do it again.

Don't throw any of it out. Even if you sprinkle it on your grass or around your house it's a fungicide and pesticide, darn near magic sauce if you ask me.

 

[Gary McCarthy]

I have been using sifted Optisorb 100% for a bit and as long as you get rid of the dust and fines it's the bee's knees.

I bought a bag of both the Napa 8822 and the Optisorb. I do like the little bit bigger particle size of the Optisorb. I thought the Optisorb also had fewer fines. And at $10 for a 25 lb bag I couldn't beat that price.

I also ran some tests on the DE using the method Brian talks about in this article he wrote for the The Journal of the American Bonsai Society - https://fingerlakesbonsai.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/6/3/39634557/abs_vol_48_no_4_brian_heltsley.pdf . In the article he recommends an ideal soil mixture has having 25% water retention and 35% air retention. With the testing I did the Napa 8822 was 24% water retention and 33% air retention. The Optisorb was 21% water retention and 37% air retention.

 

[twisted trees]

I love the stuff so much I now have food grade powder that I add 1 tsp to glass of water every night for my joints.

Add some gin and you may have something.

 

[sorce]

Add some gin and you may have something.

No drinks for Googerah.

Joints for joints!

Sorce

 

[twisted trees]

The diatomacious death is for the joints. The gin is for a sound sleep and good dreams.

 

[sorce]

The diatomacious death is for the joints. The gin is for a sound sleep and good dreams.

Joints....sounder sleep....no dreams!

Sorce

 

[twisted trees]

Joints....sounder sleep....no dreams!

Sorce

Too much gin.

 

[Dav4]

Too much gin.

That explains it, then...I've been doing it all wrong.

 

[M. Frary]

Add some gin and you may have something.

I'm not nice when I drink.
Alcohol turns me into an animal and I'm getting too old to enjoy jail anymore.

 

[M. Frary]

That explains it, then...I've been doing it all wrong.

Less gin,more joints.
It's never too late.