Media Experiment I
Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2012 9:16 am
Hey Everybody,
After swapping some communications with Steve, I thought I would do a bit of a media experiment this year.
For those of you not familiar...this is my Planter Bog setup. All of my VFT growing occurs in there. It is helpful at eliminating variables. The pots are all identical, shaded by the rim and/or other pots, with the plants fully exposed to the sun most hours of the day, watering occurs identically whether from rain or the reservoir, etc, etc, etc.
This is what it looks like today--the 9 pots (3 x 3) on the left are the experimental pots:
This experiment is centered around used Coffee Grounds. The media in the pots are as follows:
1) Peat/Sand/Perlite/Coffee Grounds = 45/22/22/11
2) Peat/Sand/Perlite = 50/25/25
3) Eco Earth/Sand = 67/33
4) Eco Earth/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 56/33/11
5) Peat/Sand = 50/50
6) Peat/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 39/50/11
7) Procoir/Sand = 67/33
8) Procoir/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 56/33/11
9) Procoir/Sand/Pine Needles et al = 39/28/33
^^^#9 above was a throw-in to give me a 3 x 3 layout and setup just for fun. I'll explain more about it later.
I consider the controls to be:
2) Peat/Sand/Perlite = 50/25/25
5) Peat/Sand = 50/50
We all know that VFTs will grow well in those, so they are the controls...and help give a direct contrast to the results of the coffee grounds in:
1) Peat/Sand/Perlite/Coffee Grounds = 45/22/22/11
6) Peat/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 39/50/11
All media was washed/cleaned well (coffee grounds via original brewing) in my soak stations.
The Procoir and Eco Earth allow a comparison to each other, and the Peat based medias.
In the mixes with Coffee Grounds, the sand/perlite were maintained and the coffee grounds were swapped with peat or coir.
I collected over 3 lbs of dried, used coffee grounds.
There are 4 different clones in each pot...explained further below.
All components of the mixes were measured out with this 33 oz. cup. Not sure where I got this cup, but it has participated in many projects over many years:
The pots used hold 9 of the cup above, so each portion works out to roughly 11%. The top-dressing layer of sand is not included in the media mix ratios. It equals 1 of the cup above and works out to roughly 1/4" - 1/2" layer.
So, while swapping emails with Steve to get the plants needed, and waiting to get some ducks in a row on my end. I decided to check some things out:
I made little mixes of RODI with Procoir/Eco Earth, and both of those with the used coffee grounds. RODI water is so pure that it is difficult at best to get an honest pH reading, but here are the results:
3 oz. solo cups filled with 2 oz of RODI and 1 teaspoon of appropriate media(s):
RODI
2 ppm
6.05 pH
Coffee
56 ppm
5.95 pH
Procoir
5 ppm
5.95 pH
Procoir w/ coffee
86 ppm
5.47 pH
Eco Earth
13 ppm
5.58 pH
Eco Earth w/ coffee
117 ppm
5.71 pH
6 hr soak:
Procoir
18 ppm
6.75 pH
Procoir w/ coffee
107 ppm
6.21 pH
Eco Earth
21 ppm
7.11 pH
Eco Earth w/ coffee
135 ppm
6.12 pH
I don't have much faith in the pH results. The ppm rise in the mixes with coffee grounds concerns me, but I am curious how quickly that will wash out and/or simply how the VFTs will respond to whatever the coffee grounds have to offer. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of people seeing benefits by adding "leftover" coffee to CP pots - even with VFTs, but it seems that the main benefit is seen in neps and sarrs. I guess we will find something out here...one way or the other.
Keep in mind that I've chosen to add the coffee grounds directly to the media mixes. I could have possibly socked up the coffee grounds, added them to the reservoir and "fed" the VFTs that way...but that would eliminate the controls, etc. I'm just saying that there is more than one way to approach this "coffee grounds" idea...this is simply what I have chosen to do.
After swapping some communications with Steve, I thought I would do a bit of a media experiment this year.
For those of you not familiar...this is my Planter Bog setup. All of my VFT growing occurs in there. It is helpful at eliminating variables. The pots are all identical, shaded by the rim and/or other pots, with the plants fully exposed to the sun most hours of the day, watering occurs identically whether from rain or the reservoir, etc, etc, etc.
This is what it looks like today--the 9 pots (3 x 3) on the left are the experimental pots:
This experiment is centered around used Coffee Grounds. The media in the pots are as follows:
1) Peat/Sand/Perlite/Coffee Grounds = 45/22/22/11
2) Peat/Sand/Perlite = 50/25/25
3) Eco Earth/Sand = 67/33
4) Eco Earth/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 56/33/11
5) Peat/Sand = 50/50
6) Peat/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 39/50/11
7) Procoir/Sand = 67/33
8) Procoir/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 56/33/11
9) Procoir/Sand/Pine Needles et al = 39/28/33
^^^#9 above was a throw-in to give me a 3 x 3 layout and setup just for fun. I'll explain more about it later.
I consider the controls to be:
2) Peat/Sand/Perlite = 50/25/25
5) Peat/Sand = 50/50
We all know that VFTs will grow well in those, so they are the controls...and help give a direct contrast to the results of the coffee grounds in:
1) Peat/Sand/Perlite/Coffee Grounds = 45/22/22/11
6) Peat/Sand/Coffee Grounds = 39/50/11
All media was washed/cleaned well (coffee grounds via original brewing) in my soak stations.
The Procoir and Eco Earth allow a comparison to each other, and the Peat based medias.
In the mixes with Coffee Grounds, the sand/perlite were maintained and the coffee grounds were swapped with peat or coir.
I collected over 3 lbs of dried, used coffee grounds.
There are 4 different clones in each pot...explained further below.
All components of the mixes were measured out with this 33 oz. cup. Not sure where I got this cup, but it has participated in many projects over many years:
The pots used hold 9 of the cup above, so each portion works out to roughly 11%. The top-dressing layer of sand is not included in the media mix ratios. It equals 1 of the cup above and works out to roughly 1/4" - 1/2" layer.
So, while swapping emails with Steve to get the plants needed, and waiting to get some ducks in a row on my end. I decided to check some things out:
I made little mixes of RODI with Procoir/Eco Earth, and both of those with the used coffee grounds. RODI water is so pure that it is difficult at best to get an honest pH reading, but here are the results:
3 oz. solo cups filled with 2 oz of RODI and 1 teaspoon of appropriate media(s):
RODI
2 ppm
6.05 pH
Coffee
56 ppm
5.95 pH
Procoir
5 ppm
5.95 pH
Procoir w/ coffee
86 ppm
5.47 pH
Eco Earth
13 ppm
5.58 pH
Eco Earth w/ coffee
117 ppm
5.71 pH
6 hr soak:
Procoir
18 ppm
6.75 pH
Procoir w/ coffee
107 ppm
6.21 pH
Eco Earth
21 ppm
7.11 pH
Eco Earth w/ coffee
135 ppm
6.12 pH
I don't have much faith in the pH results. The ppm rise in the mixes with coffee grounds concerns me, but I am curious how quickly that will wash out and/or simply how the VFTs will respond to whatever the coffee grounds have to offer. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of people seeing benefits by adding "leftover" coffee to CP pots - even with VFTs, but it seems that the main benefit is seen in neps and sarrs. I guess we will find something out here...one way or the other.
Keep in mind that I've chosen to add the coffee grounds directly to the media mixes. I could have possibly socked up the coffee grounds, added them to the reservoir and "fed" the VFTs that way...but that would eliminate the controls, etc. I'm just saying that there is more than one way to approach this "coffee grounds" idea...this is simply what I have chosen to do.