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Re: Kitty Litter



Hopefully someone else will also jump in, but here are my ideas.

THe very fine particles that you mention are the "good guys".  The main
reason to use the kitty litter is for the increased CEC compared to
regualar gravel.  Sooo, if you remove a large portion of the fine
materials you have greatly reduced the CEC and thus the effectiveness of
the  substrate, it you are using the kitty litter for CEC.

Thus the not washing is a critical issue.  I have been using the kitty
liter substrate for about 2 years now with excellent luck.  I rarely
uproot plants, so have not had much of a problem with the fines.  More of
a problem is that some of the big pieces of litter come up with the roots,
so I have a fine sand with a few pieces of grey kitty litter sitting on
top of it.  Not a big deal as plants cover almost all the substrate.

Good luck with the stuff, it is very cheap and seems to work.  The key
seems to be keeping a good layer of something on top of it to keep the
litter in place.
   
o    Mike Nielsen                                                        u 
m    Department of Geography         THE OPTIMIST BELIEVES WE LIVE IN    ? 
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e    mnielsen at u_arizona.edu                                              o