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By Bob Beer
Posts:  588
Joined:  Sat Jun 04, 2016 7:39 am
#341943
I had the same issue - my giganteas seemed healthy enough but just didn’t get...giant. One friend added some lime and his took off. It didn’t work for me. Then I added some compost, about 20% I suppose, and plants that had just sat there for a couple years suddenly started taking off. (I used mushroom compost.) The front plant in this picture never even reached the edge of the pot for almost 3 years. It’s an alba so it may be a little smaller anyway, but still...

Please excuse the holes in the leaves. Slugs got into my trays! Image

Lime seems to work for some people, maybe it depends on what else is in the mix also. It can help nitrogen become more available, but in this case adding a little bit of gentle nutrients also seems to have helped as well.

Image


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By Drummer230
Posts:  186
Joined:  Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:35 am
#341979
Bob Beer wrote:I had the same issue - my giganteas seemed healthy enough but just didn’t get...giant. One friend added some lime and his took off. It didn’t work for me. Then I added some compost, about 20% I suppose, and plants that had just sat there for a couple years suddenly started taking off. (I used mushroom compost.) The front plant in this picture never even reached the edge of the pot for almost 3 years. It’s an alba so it may be a little smaller anyway, but still...

Please excuse the holes in the leaves. Slugs got into my trays! Image

Lime seems to work for some people, maybe it depends on what else is in the mix also. It can help nitrogen become more available, but in this case adding a little bit of gentle nutrients also seems to have helped as well.

Image


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That’s an easy thing to try. I’ll see what happens!
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By yardleyq1987
Posts:  171
Joined:  Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:31 pm
#342139
jeff wrote:the largest (diameter 50 cm) I managed to grow in a limestone mixture, sheltered from the sun from May to October, outside ,with a substrat always wet .

Image
That’s a masterpiece Jeff! Mine is indoors with what I suspect is a limestone mixture. Sitting in a windowsill and 3-4 hours of direct sunlight:

ImageImage


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By Bob Beer
Posts:  588
Joined:  Sat Jun 04, 2016 7:39 am
#342191
jeff wrote:the largest (diameter 50 cm) I managed to grow in a limestone mixture, sheltered from the sun from May to October, outside ,with a substrat always wet .

Image
That’s enormous! Other than limestone, what is in your mix?



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By jeff
Posts:  566
Joined:  Wed Sep 27, 2017 1:41 pm
#342326
yardleyq1987

it's really a gigantea :D
yours takes insects, that's also very important ?

Bob

for most of my ping (temperate, mexican and others) I use this substrate :
-litter for cat, sometimes with additions of akadama 50%
-pouzzolane12.5%
-river sand 12.5%
-calcareous sand 12.5%
-vermiculite 12.5%
By twitcher
Posts:  656
Joined:  Sat Aug 25, 2018 5:56 am
#342332
Jeff,

When i looked at pozzelan, wikipedia says it could contain various things, but if understand right its a source of calcium and aluminum. I don't find pozzelan available, seems more a European thing. So your mix seems high in calcium??
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By jeff
Posts:  566
Joined:  Wed Sep 27, 2017 1:41 pm
#342342
it is a volcanic rock rich in silicate and trace element , looking like the pumice.
I use it to aerate the substrate and for the conservation of moisture, since they are rock with alveoli , it is also a draining

here now for flower beds, we use this volcanic rock as a mineral mulch to replace pine bark .
it is also used for aisles.
Last edited by jeff on Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By Bob Beer
Posts:  588
Joined:  Sat Jun 04, 2016 7:39 am
#342345
twitcher wrote:Jeff,

When i looked at pozzelan, wikipedia says it could contain various things, but if understand right its a source of calcium and aluminum. I don't find pozzelan available, seems more a European thing. So your mix seems high in calcium??
Pozzelan/pouzzolane is basically the same material as the tephra we get broken up into larger chunks that is frequently used as mulch and sometimes top dressing for large houseplants in the US, but much finer. I believe you can get it from Bonsai supply places but it’s not cheap. If you have a mallet and a bag you can make your own.


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By Bob Beer
Posts:  588
Joined:  Sat Jun 04, 2016 7:39 am
#342423
Unfortunately it’s not widely available here unless you are willing to do some crushing with a mallet. :-/ I hear it’s not all the difficult actually! But crushed pumice is readily available. It holds a lot more water tho and some people say it leads to increased growth is carpet moss; I can’t say I’ve noticed a lot of difference.

I’m not a fan of vermiculite but many really good growers in Europe seem to use it and have no issue. For me it tends to hold a lot of water and leads to algae slime, and breaks down into sort of a sludge after a while. I wonder if the quality here is different?


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By That one plant boi
Posts:  823
Joined:  Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:34 pm
#345644
Bob Beer wrote:I had the same issue - my giganteas seemed healthy enough but just didn’t get...giant. One friend added some lime and his took off. It didn’t work for me. Then I added some compost, about 20% I suppose, and plants that had just sat there for a couple years suddenly started taking off. (I used mushroom compost.) The front plant in this picture never even reached the edge of the pot for almost 3 years. It’s an alba so it may be a little smaller anyway, but still...

Please excuse the holes in the leaves. Slugs got into my trays! Image

Lime seems to work for some people, maybe it depends on what else is in the mix also. It can help nitrogen become more available, but in this case adding a little bit of gentle nutrients also seems to have helped as well.

Image


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Interesting. So could I try adding limestone and compost to the soil mixture?

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