ghues
Omono
Pumice works….
Hi folks,
Over the years here at the nuthouse, I’ve seen a lot of discussion about soil components and more recently a lot of talk on the merits of PUMICE……so I just wanted to share my experience in using it………of course results around the globe may differ but this it what I’ve found thus far.
First a little background…….a couple years back I was very fortunate to go on a collecting trip up one of our local mountains with Michael Hagedorn. During that day he mentioned the merits of pumice and how effective it was for a soil component see http://crataegus.com/ for more info.
I found a local source and over the last couple of years I’ve converted most of my trees soil mix.
Another piece of advice that I’ve also followed was to add a mixture of finely chopped sphagnum moss and pumice fines as a top layer.
Due to a combination of things (birds, heavy rains and natural decomposition) the top layers of soil on this tree in the photos got compromised and needed to be changed/re-done.
So last night I removed what soil remained down to approx 1/2-3/4”/~1.5cm and added a new layer of this mixture to encourage further root growth. As you can see there was very good root growth in the upper soil layers and in the pot in general. The other observation I made was that the roots were active (red root tips) which I thought was very early for our climate (only Jan)…However, I’ve also learnt that trees can be very adaptive and opportunistic in their ability to be active when conditions provide the necessary factors for growth.
Photos are upper soil removed showing roots and the finished product. This tree went into this pot in the spring of 2013 and due to the great root growth I’ll give this a repot next spring (2015).
Cheers
Graham
Hi folks,
Over the years here at the nuthouse, I’ve seen a lot of discussion about soil components and more recently a lot of talk on the merits of PUMICE……so I just wanted to share my experience in using it………of course results around the globe may differ but this it what I’ve found thus far.
First a little background…….a couple years back I was very fortunate to go on a collecting trip up one of our local mountains with Michael Hagedorn. During that day he mentioned the merits of pumice and how effective it was for a soil component see http://crataegus.com/ for more info.
I found a local source and over the last couple of years I’ve converted most of my trees soil mix.
Another piece of advice that I’ve also followed was to add a mixture of finely chopped sphagnum moss and pumice fines as a top layer.
Due to a combination of things (birds, heavy rains and natural decomposition) the top layers of soil on this tree in the photos got compromised and needed to be changed/re-done.
So last night I removed what soil remained down to approx 1/2-3/4”/~1.5cm and added a new layer of this mixture to encourage further root growth. As you can see there was very good root growth in the upper soil layers and in the pot in general. The other observation I made was that the roots were active (red root tips) which I thought was very early for our climate (only Jan)…However, I’ve also learnt that trees can be very adaptive and opportunistic in their ability to be active when conditions provide the necessary factors for growth.
Photos are upper soil removed showing roots and the finished product. This tree went into this pot in the spring of 2013 and due to the great root growth I’ll give this a repot next spring (2015).
Cheers
Graham
