I haven't actually done the soak test on either of the granular clay products I've used. The first is Safe T Sorb and I get it locally at Tractor Supply. I've used it as a main component in my gritty mix since I started growing more seriously. I've noticed that it does tend to break down noticeably after two years. According to the bag it is calcined clay so I misspoke earlier when I said it was unfired. Pictures of the bag/product below. The pieces I'm holding are between 1/8" and 1/4". I sifted out a fairly substantial amount of dust and particles larger than 1/16" but smaller than 1/8". Sometimes I'll wash this product if I don't want to deal with the dust or can't get outside to sift it. Due to the silica, I only sift it outside while wearing at least an N95 respirator and safety glasses (not that the glasses do much when what I should be using is a pair of safety goggles).jerrytheplater wrote: ↑Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:33 pm Unfired clay? Does it turn to mush if you soak it? Or break apart?
Another clay product I've used is the Special Kitty non-clumping, unscented, cat litter from Walmart. I haven't been able to find jack regarding what the product actually is or if it's heated prior to packaging in any way. The only info is the marketing junk on the bag saying "natural clay." It's softer than the Safe T Sorb so that's the one I was thinking of when I said "unfired" earlier. This was the stuff I used to root a Lophophora pup I got off of another growers grafted plant. I haven't done the soak test on it or used it for long enough to comment on how fast it breaks down. To be honest though, that's not much of anconcern to me because I rarely let things go more than 2 years without a repot. Plus I don't usually use this stuff as a soil mix all on it's own, that's a recent experiment for plants that stay indoors with stable temps and controlled watering year round. My line of thought is that the softer texture may actually act similarly to some of the softer volcanic products that specialty growers and bonsai nuts rave about lile kanuma, akadama, and other similar products (I forget the names currently). Those products work well no doubt, but they also tend to break down rather rapidly (<2 years if I remember correctly). Pictures below. No sifting has occurred to what I'm holding. If anyone has guesses or knows what the product is (sodium bentonite maybe?) or if it's heat treated at all, please let me know. Can't find a darn SDS or product information writeup on it anywhere.
On another note, I have a Euphorbia obesa that's doing some interesting things. Typically these plants are dioecious, meaning the male and female flowers are not found on the same plant. So you usually have to have two plants if you want seeds. This plant originally produced male flowers only for me. Over winter, I discovered the start of a spider mite infestation and quarantined the plant with a few that were around it. Because it wasn't with the main group of plants I forgot about it and was more lackadaisical with the watering than I usually am. When I remembered to water it (which was not often) I found that it had started producing female flowers. While this is uncommon, it's not unheard of with E. obesa. Some growers have written about plants that one day decide to produce the opposite flower of whatever they'd produced prior to that point. What I'm more fascinated by is that this plant appears to be producing both flowers on one stalk now. You can see the stamens below the forming seedpods (not selfed seed pods, I used pollen I'd saved from another male obesa I have, haven't tried to self-pollinate this plant yet, been busy and trying to avoid interacting with the spider mite plants until I can toss them outside for the season). You can also see them below the pistils on the newest stalk. Just unusual stuff but I've found plants can't be bothered to play by all the arbitrary rules we like to assign them anyway. If anyone else has experienced this or something similar, I'd love to hear about it