SOIL
After running out of soil and desperately needing some after some weird incidents with some of my trees (puppy attack), I decided to get a new batch made. I have not tracked down a Turface supplier so I am working some new additions. I read about using a product called dry stall which is pumice, so I went to a farm supply store. They did not have that product by an alternative which uses zeolite. There are cute barn animals on the packaging so it must be good! From what I read it seems in a similar vein as diatomacious earth and Turface in that it holds water well and slowly releases nutrients. DE and Turface are more clay based while Zeolite is silica based. A caution is that if can raise the pH a bit if too much is used proportionally. About 30% is recommended.
I got a 40 pound bag for 5 bucks, w/ a discount for the bag being ripped. It was really dusty so 1/3 of the bag or more was sifted out.
DE from the auto parts store was around 6 bucks too. I have used it in the past. the interesting thing was the an equal amount of it in my sifter was half as heavy as the zeolite. There was also way less fines and dust to sift out.
I tossed in the rest of the wood mulch that I had left over from the spring repotting. This will help with the balance by adding some acidity.
I had some left over DE, but will probably sift it and add it too, to help with the pH.
It has been wet and mild I may try to keep an eye out for some yard collection opportunities, especially since I am out of school...
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