Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Hey everyone....I just bought quite a heavy pack of burnt soil from ace hardware but i am wondering if its the one you guys use....I tried to find the bad which has the biggest particles and least fine particales and i found one...I really hope this is usable..Quite cheap compared to moss...Its RM2.50.. the tag says jun hong trading sdn bhd (if im not wrong) Here are 2 pics

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...s/RIMG3387.jpg

The layers
http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/m...s/RIMG3388.jpg

Please help me know if this is usable...Thanks everyone..

Ken

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Burnt earth not burn soil, I think that is wrong type.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Hi tran....I thought they were just used as another name...Anyways in this thread it is mentioned as burnt soil...i'm so confused lol... https://forum.petpitcher.net/showthread.php?t=3253

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

That is burn soil for sure.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

good :) ah...so relief...or not i have a bunch of wasted soil in my balcony..

Anyway there are some big chunks in it too...Was wondering are those suitable?? or should i break them down..Some are black in colour...But the pics i've seen of you guys using burnt soil are mostly orange and yellowish white...I have all 3 colours lol

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Im not sure why there is black color soil. The 1 that I use for my garden plant is just orange ~ yellow ~ white color. Not sure the black color soil will harm nepenthes or not. Since im just new to nepenthes.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Burnt Earth = Burnt Soil. Earth and soil are the same thing. I can't even find them near here.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

hmmm okay then i shall not use the black pieces as much as possible

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Those black colour pieces are charcoal, the supplier used wood to burn the soil, those are the charcoal left after the process.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Sooo then those black pieces can be used then? Those black pieces does look like charcoal...quite thin and long

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

I just potted my gracilis with burnt soil and lfs mostly soil..

Anyways i wanna ask another Q....I've read in some threads that the soil is very dusty and i tried pouring some soil into a container and tried cleaning them and yes they are quite dusty..Is there any other way to clean the soil??

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

the worry is that the dust might clog up the drainage holes and prevent the rapid draining of water (which is what we want) but lazy me usually use the burnt earth/soil straight from the bag.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Hmm i dun see how the dust particles can actually clog the drainage holes..When i pour water on it for the 1st time (they were in a plastic container) there was a cloud of dust coming out all of a sudden :) Though it was just 1 time...After that i washed it over and over to try to take away as many fine particles

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

ken, you need to wash off the dust particles. Hongrui have mentioned the reason. while pouring the burnt earth into the pot, at the same time running down with water, give the pot some light shake you will notice fine particles drain off.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Usually black pieces are carbonised wood used in the firing process ie charcoal. If not, you can pick it off. Washing does two things, removes the fine dust and unfired stuff that clog and also washed off all the ash (which is alkaline) in the soil and make it very nutrient poor. You can dry sieve it, but that makes a huge dust cloud :spinning:.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

I have been using this burn soil / earth for my cactus plant for many years. The burn soil / earth is a waste material from the brick factory. So far, some of the burn soil / earth are stable and some do breakdown and become very muddy. That is bad for cactus but I think it is still ok for neps. :1thumbup:

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Please be aware not all burnt clay sold by nuseries in Malaysia are the same. The best ones are the ones originated from brick factory as by products, those are usually very well baked and won't crumble easily into dust.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

It is true that the dust and fine particles of burnt earth can clog up the drainage holes easily.I think it is best to sieve the burnt earth into different sizes before use.

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

So far when i've used them they don't crumble...I don't know what you mean by crumble easily..Anyway so far i've used it on gracilis ventrata and mirabilis all responding well...

Re: Is this burnt soil usable??
 

Kenneth,
Usually those burnt clay that are not well baked will revert into clay when it get wet. If it's not wet, the burnt clay chuncks can be easily crushed into fine powders.

All this are just my personal experience in using burnt clay as media. As long as you don't encouter any bad experience with it, then just use it as you see fit.