White Powder
D0rdogne_Damsel
Posts: 4,184
I know this is a strange query and I understand a difficult one to answer but I am just looking for suggestions and/ideas to help me decide what to do.
Last week I emptied and cleaned the greenhouse and found a bag of white powder in there next to a bag of vermiculite (only moved in in April and was a lot of stuff left behind). Now I am wondering what it might be.
It is a sealed 3kg clear bag of whitish powder, looks a bit like sand and feels (through the bag) a bit gritty, fine grit though. It is obviously new but the label has been washed off, tiny bit of red and yellow left of it and the word 'three' is all that can be read of it.
I know the previous owners were very keen gardeners and grew a lot of their own plants from seeds.
The soil here is acid and I wondered if it might be a bag of lime but then I thought 3kg is very small.
Any ideas gratefully received or should I just throw it away?
- “Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
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Take it to your local Garden Centre and ask the oldest person there
Could be calcified seaweed. could be lime, could be rock dust.
If you don't know what it is, I would err on the safe side and bin it.
Thanks for great responses; Newboy, we live in France & not sure my language skills are quite up to explaining this problem without possibly getting myself arrested.
Phillipa I did sniff it (not through rolled up £5 note or Euro for that matter, but it doesn't smell of anything.
Previous owners have left the country and we no longer have contact details unfortunately.
Is there some kind of lime test I could do - will it turn blue of anything fancy if I put something on it??
Also, I know this might sound stupid, I have no idea what it is but I have heard of perlite, is that a white powder, it was next to the vermiculite??
I do hate waste, but think this one is for the bin.
'Two inorganic soil additives common in horticulture are perlite and vermiculite. Both are made by expanding mineral materials mined from nature, but their properties and uses differ. Perlite is white and porous, with sharp edges. Vermiculite is brownish, softer, and somewhat shiny. Both help aerate and lighten soil mixes and are valuable in container plant culture and mixes for rooting and seed starting.'
above is from the web so your bagful doesn't sound like Perlite. Not salt by any chance? ie rock salt rather than domestic.
My point exactly Pansyface -
Is not salt, obviously not perlite.
Might keep it until my Open Garden Day and have is part of the entertainment.
Thank you all.
Or have a wander round any local 'garden centre' or equivalent and see if you can find a similar bag with a similar red/yellow label
Sounds most like lime to me, but I'd chuck it. I've bought it like that for growing brassicas, then found soil here is alkaline.
Could it be Epsom salt?
Could be a French attempt at making a cheese as good as Cheddar !!
That's it, it's going in the bin!