Is this burnt soil usable??

[kentosaurs]

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??

[hongrui]

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.

[kentosaurs]

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

[Robert]

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.

[poweramps]

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 .

[Wong]

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.

[NepNut]

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.

[kit1212]

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.

[kentosaurs]

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...

[NepNut]

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.