Re:Vermiculite and fuller's earth

["Robert H" <robertph3 at attbi_com>]

>>Hi Robert,
Yes the Fuller's earth I am referring to is Shultz aquatic plant soil. As
far as the vermiculite I soaked and stirred it for about three days. I then
took the " Shultz " and wetted it with a 50/ 50 solution of water and
Flourish. I poured off everything floating in the vermiculite buckets and
mixed the remainder in a baby pool with the " Shultz " . The goal of this
was to achieve max. cation exchange and min. organics in the substrate.<<

Between the two, you should have a VERY high CEC. Schultz/Profile/Turface
has over 70% pore space. Vermiculite has a CEC of 82.0 to 150.0 meq/100g
(A.C. 1988, and Landis, T. D. 1990.) According to a Cornell university
study, vermiculite on average contains 5-8% available potassium and 9-12%
magnesium. Vermiculite does compact over time, but mixing it with fullers
earth should take care of that problem.

Fullers earth provides iron, calcium, and manganese and is a clay called
acillite...not sure of the spelling, but something close to that. I suspect
it is much more porus than Seachems Flourite, which is why it is so light
weight.

It is an interesting arrangement you have. Soaking it in fertilizer was a
neat idea as well!  I'd be interested in hearing how it progresses.

Robert Paul Hudson
http://www.aquabotanic.com