Cactus soil (again)

[monrad]

I purchased a product called Soilmaster Red by a company called Pro' Choice http://www.proschoice1.com/ . It is packaged for use on heavily used sports fields. It is a fired clay product which is supposed to absorb up to it's weight in excess moisture and nutrients then release it as the surrounding soil dries out. A similar product is called Turface MVP. I have started putting in my soil mix in the proportion of about 1/3 or maybe a little better. It should help keep my cactus from getting wet feet, keep the soil loose to enhance the oxygen infiltration and release that moisture to the roots as the soil dries.

It looks like the oil-dry we use at my garage to soak up oil spills, but it does not dissintegrate in water like the oil-dry does.

I don't have any results to report since I just started using it, but the bonsai tree guys use this and similar products for the same purpose.

What does anyone think?

Mark

[daiv]

Hmmm. Sounds neat. You'll have to keep us all informed as to your results.

Daiv

[templegatejohn]

Hi Mark,

We have a very similar product over here called Seramis (again the colour is red). I know a nurseryman in England who uses this exclusively for his young plants i.e. he uses that and nothing added to grow his young plants on. However when you do this you obviously must feed as well as there is no nutrient in the product. It is quite an expensive product over here in the UK, but has had a terrific write up in the gardening press.

Check it out here see if it is similar to the stuff you are talking about.

http://www.seramishydroponics.com/

Cheers,
John