While posting about growing mediums and fertiliser, what are your thoughts on perlite and vermiculite?
I've read there's a difference between the two "this general rule of thumb: Use perlite when you want better drainage and aeration. Use vermiculite when you want more moisture retention."
"Can you use too much vermiculite?
Perlite dries out too quickly for water-loving plants. The amount of water that vermiculite holds is too much for plants like cacti, succulents, or rhododendrons, which need a well-draining soil. Using vermiculite for plants like these could lead to root rot or death."
It seems my garden has more than its fair share of clay, the hole I've dug for a wildlife pond is still waiting to be finished (no liner laid yet) is half full of rain water and it's holding steady. Therefore the heavy soil needs all the help it can get. Obviously compost and manure will help enormously but what about vermiculite and perlite. Adding them together would surely cancel each other, or would it?
That's the one I use too @TheGreenMan. It's good stuff and it definitely contains various forms of poopy-doo. The bags are a bit heavy to lift but it's good and rich and reassuringly smelly. No issues with it at all.
I've never seen 'vegan' farmyard manure @Fire and I wouldn't bother buying it if I did. I don't really see how it can be any different to my own homemade compost or the council green waste soil improver except it's presumably made with farm vegetation instead of gardens and parks vegetation, so the ingredients are perhaps more tightly controlled (no nasty little bits of bindweed or JKW root).
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
"Sylvagrow Farmyard" is vegan and has nothing to do with 'farmyards'. No manure - which I think is deeply misleading. It's "made from anaerobic digestate which is a by-product of renewable energy production."
There was a programme on the telly about this the other day. Some farmers have invested in their own anaerobic digesters and are powering their farms & putting the rest on the grid. The farmer they interviewed said the digestate was spread onto the fields in the same way that manure usually is.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
"Sylvagrow Farmyard" is vegan and has nothing to do with 'farmyards'. No manure - which I think is deeply misleading. It's "made from anaerobic digestate which is a by-product of renewable energy production." It's often listed under the "manure" sections on websites (understandably).
OK .. I understand ... my brother's farm has anerobic digestors which use crop wastage (pea and bean haulm, maize stalks etc) to produce the electricity to power the packing operation and chilling the storage sheds. The 'digestate' is then used on the fields to improve soil structure etc.
Presumably there some other such operations that have no use for the digestate and sell it on to folk like Sylvagrow.
Now I understand what it is I don't see it as misleading ... after all, the green manures we grow to improve our veg beds hasn't been anywhere near farm animals.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Jenny_Aster - my understanding is that perlite and vermiculite are intended purely for use in pots and seed trays. I think that neither is intended to be dug into garden borders.
If you have heavy clay soil (as I do) the best soil improver is lots and lots of bulky organic matter especially 'long compost' - ie homemade compost which still has some chunky bits in. If you don't have access to homemade compost use the sort of farmyard manure The Green Man and I use.
The cheapest way to buy it is usually (not always!) in bulk, delivered. Not guaranteed, but a dumpy bag full of loose soil improver, farmyard manure etc is usually cheaper than buying 20 x 50l bags of prepacked product.
You need to have the space to store it while you barrow it around the garden though and you need a reliable source. Whereabouts are you?
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
@Jenny_Aster - my understanding is that perlite and vermiculite are intended purely for use in pots and seed trays. I think that neither is intended to be dug into garden borders.
If you have heavy clay soil (as I do) the best soil improver is lots and lots of bulky organic matter especially 'long compost' - ie homemade compost which still has some chunky bits in. If you don't have access to homemade compost use the sort of farmyard manure The Green Man and I use.
The cheapest way to buy it is usually (not always!) in bulk, delivered. Not guaranteed, but a dumpy bag full of loose soil improver, farmyard manure etc is usually cheaper than buying 20 x 50l bags of prepacked product.
You need to have the space to store it while you barrow it around the garden though and you need a reliable source. Whereabouts are you?
@Jenny_Aster - my understanding is that perlite and vermiculite are intended purely for use in pots and seed trays. I think that neither is intended to be dug into garden borders..
If you have heavy clay soil (as I do) the best soil improver is lots and lots of bulky organic matter especially 'long compost' - ie homemade compost which still has some chunky bits in. If you don't have access to homemade compost use the sort of farmyard manure The Green Man and I use.
The cheapest way to buy it is usually (not always!) in bulk, delivered. Not guaranteed, but a dumpy bag full of loose soil improver, farmyard manure etc is usually cheaper than buying 20 x 50l bags of prepacked product.
You need to have the space to store it while you barrow it around the garden though and you need a reliable source. Whereabouts are you?
Thank you for your reply @Topbird, I'm on the Cambridge/Norfolk border. I obviously need to do a bit of research
Also thank you @TheGreenMan I didn't realise perlite and vermiculite are best used for pots.
Very interesting to have this insight, thank you for your thoughts on "Farmyard Manure". "Farmyard" is obviously used as a generic term to cover green and animal waste. As long as it's good for the garden and not going to contaminate my soil, that's fine! I've often wondered about perlite and vermiculite too so your original question about fertiliser @Jenny_Aster has given us a good start to the growing season!
Posts
While posting about growing mediums and fertiliser, what are your thoughts on perlite and vermiculite?
I've read there's a difference between the two "this general rule of thumb: Use perlite when you want better drainage and aeration. Use vermiculite when you want more moisture retention."
"Can you use too much vermiculite?
It seems my garden has more than its fair share of clay, the hole I've dug for a wildlife pond is still waiting to be finished (no liner laid yet) is half full of rain water and it's holding steady. Therefore the heavy soil needs all the help it can get. Obviously compost and manure will help enormously but what about vermiculite and perlite. Adding them together would surely cancel each other, or would it?
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
I've never seen 'vegan' farmyard manure @Fire and I wouldn't bother buying it if I did. I don't really see how it can be any different to my own homemade compost or the council green waste soil improver except it's presumably made with farm vegetation instead of gardens and parks vegetation, so the ingredients are perhaps more tightly controlled (no nasty little bits of bindweed or JKW root).
There was a programme on the telly about this the other day. Some farmers have invested in their own anaerobic digesters and are powering their farms & putting the rest on the grid. The farmer they interviewed said the digestate was spread onto the fields in the same way that manure usually is.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
OK .. I understand ... my brother's farm has anerobic digestors which use crop wastage (pea and bean haulm, maize stalks etc) to produce the electricity to power the packing operation and chilling the storage sheds. The 'digestate' is then used on the fields to improve soil structure etc.
Presumably there some other such operations that have no use for the digestate and sell it on to folk like Sylvagrow.
Now I understand what it is I don't see it as misleading ... after all, the green manures we grow to improve our veg beds hasn't been anywhere near farm animals.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@Jenny_Aster - my understanding is that perlite and vermiculite are intended purely for use in pots and seed trays. I think that neither is intended to be dug into garden borders.
If you have heavy clay soil (as I do) the best soil improver is lots and lots of bulky organic matter especially 'long compost' - ie homemade compost which still has some chunky bits in. If you don't have access to homemade compost use the sort of farmyard manure The Green Man and I use.
The cheapest way to buy it is usually (not always!) in bulk, delivered. Not guaranteed, but a dumpy bag full of loose soil improver, farmyard manure etc is usually cheaper than buying 20 x 50l bags of prepacked product.
You need to have the space to store it while you barrow it around the garden though and you need a reliable source. Whereabouts are you?
Also thank you @TheGreenMan I didn't realise perlite and vermiculite are best used for pots.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.