Burnt earth as media

[Cindy]

The local CPers started a year ago with the use of burnt earth (aka burnt clay or burnt soil) with their Neps. This media is used in general gardening to increase drainage. Here is the thread on the local forum if anyone is keen to take a look. http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/...howtopic=11805
The change was wonderful for N. northiana, which responded exceedingly well. Then we decided to use it for N. campanulata and N. merrilliana as well. The results are amazing!
I have got no idea what is the pH is or the mineral content is(pretty high from the salt build-up). But well, it works.
N. northiana - arrived bareroot in June this year, now pitchering on the leaves formed here.

N. campanulata - arrived bareroot in June and July this year


N. campanulata - these are plants grown in sphagnum moss and large pieces of orchid media (similar to pumice) under the same conditions as the ones above; I changed them into burnt earth yesterday

[hongrui]

cindy, your campanulata looks great!

[strath76]

That is very interesting Cindy. I have not seen burnt earth before. Is it hard like fired clay or does it absorb water. It looks from the photo's that it is not graded (i.e. from dirt to small rock sized).

Glad to hear that the plants are showing good signs for you.

[Tarence]

thx for sharing cindy...i have extra n.northiana to try. heheh. but our m`sian burnt earth looks a lil` different from yours. ours is of a finer texture i.e. smaller size but i` m game to try.

wish i had extra n.campunalata to try. rite now, as a single plant, it`s too precious. i echo hongrui`s sentiments......yours look fab.

[Cindy]

strath76,
Hmmm...I think it is fired clay....if it is clay which is burnt, heated at high temperatures.

Tarence and Hongrui,
Thanks. They are a surprise to me actually. In the 4th photo, the plants in LFS/orchid media looked like trash under the same conditions. Hopefully the plants won't mind being repotted...they did afterall produce basals after turning yellow and black.

The burnt earth should be like pieces of brick. Red and hard. There are very fine powdery bit buts I find those useful for holding down smaller campanulata.

Phill Mann came to my place and he couldn't resist pointing out the amount of mineral build-up op top of the media. He even pointed to the salts found on the Cephs pots! I am going to carry all the pots into the bathroom and give them an overhead shower once my doctor okays me doing so.

[TS]

That's great, Cindy.
I never know burnt clay worked great for N. campanulata. Your northie and camp looked fantastic.
I used burnt clay too for my northiana but I added some limestone chips. But it doesn't looked that great, it should be due to I moved it around. How much sun does your northiana get?

Originally Posted by Tarence

thx for sharing cindy...i have extra n.northiana to try. heheh. but our m`sian burnt earth looks a lil` different from yours. ours is of a finer texture i.e. smaller size but i` m game to try.

wish i had extra n.campunalata to try. rite now, as a single plant, it`s too precious. i echo hongrui`s sentiments......yours look fab.

yeah.. malaysian burnt earth is finer. i use burnt earth on my bonsai...

anyway, its sad to say that i dont have any campanulata to try on..

cindy, when's the next campanulata order?!

please tell me im keen on buying some =)

[NepNut]

Originally Posted by malowie

yeah.. malaysian burnt earth is finer. i use burnt earth on my bonsai...

I sieved the burn earth to get the desirable size that I wanted. Most of the burnt earth is too fine/powdery, it might get compacted after some time.