Napa Oil Dry part no. 8822

[sorce]

3 thru a washer.
1 for a rock.

If I told you once, I've told you 8,822 times.....

Sorce

 

[Nwaite]

Iv been mixing it 3\1 napa to garden soil.. haven't had plants in it long enough to see results but it looks really good.
Drainage is fast but it still holds moisture for a day... and that's in a sunny window in the same room as the wood stove. ..

 

[GailC]

I have a pussy willow cutting in 100% oil dry, hoping for better roots then when started in straight water. As a side note, I've been growing cactus/succulents in pure oil dry for over a year with great results. Even my fidgety lithops are thriving and I killed a bunch trying to find a good soil for them.

 

[Nwaite]

Sorry if this was all ready talked.about some were along this thread but how much do you rinse it befor using it? I sifted mine then used rinsed for a few mins. ..

 

[aml1014]

Sorry if this was all ready talked.about some were along this thread but how much do you rinse it befor using it? I sifted mine then used rinsed for a few mins. ..

I personally don't sift unless it's going in a bonsai pot, otherwise I use straight from the bag and water until it flows clear from the drainage holes.

Aaron

 

[Cypress187]

Nice info, but i allready mixed my soil last week (that's not me in the picture

 

[sorce]

rinsed

I don't rinse either...

But with the capability, I would totally sift underwater.

I was whistling the "Akadama blues" while sifting some the other day.

Its in Japanese....Mushi Mushi Mushi!
And something that means,
"Ghetto Bonsai" - Having soil that costs more than the trees sitting in them.
Import import, blah blah.....

It sounds better in a whistle!

Sorce

 

[Underdog]

I had to bail somewhat on the tree from page 4. It was 100% 8822 in a 2 inch screened basket. The roots were frail and limited out of the nursery pot. It was drying out needing watering 2 times a day. I shook out the loose while a bit dry and replaced w/50-50 potting soil to keep some moisture longer. Hope it helps.

It's brother w/much better roots is in a 3 inch deep box of 100% 8822 and holding moisture much better. Sides are closed in as well. Both have buds opening! Yay Spring

 

[M. Frary]

I had to bail somewhat on the tree from page 4. It was 100% 8822 in a 2 inch screened basket. The roots were frail and limited out of the nursery pot. It was drying out needing watering 2 times a day. I shook out the loose while a bit dry and replaced w/50-50 potting soil to keep some moisture longer. Hope it helps.

It's brother w/much better roots is in a 3 inch deep box of 100% 8822 and holding moisture much better. Sides are closed in as well. Both have buds opening! Yay Spring

I've never had to water more than once a day using straight floor dry. I use the stuff in colanders with trees quite a bit larger than yours too. Are you sure it's drying out?

 

[Geo]

I know @sorce already said it but I concur.Nice boxes!And a very good Spring to you.I remember Spring.Printemps!Primavera!No real Spring here.Just a slight rise in temperatures at night.Funny though.I grow Tamarindus indica seedlings.Germinated them last year.But f I DARE work on them before temps hit 70F at night,they die.So we have our complications here too.

 

[parhamr]

Here is what I can get hold of…

$1 a pound, bagged sterile and with minimal fines


White pumice with moderate fines, $7.49 for 1 cubic foot.


Mixed up


Supporting an Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' trunk in a 16" Anderson Flat


Growing out a Fagus sylvatica seedling


These are the roots I get

 

[sorce]

These are the roots I get

Right on Par!

Sorce

 

[sorce]

The roots were frail

Are you sure it's drying out?

?

Aye! I only have to water twice if it's over 90.
Lessin you have it set on top the working BBQ!

I had a new collect with weak roots wilt on me last year...I thought it was drying out, however, it just couldn't uptake enough water to beat the wilt.

Maybe?

Sorce

 

[Underdog]

We had a couple days of sunny and 70s. Also windy. With the oil dry you can see by the color change when it's dry. I kinda like that, That basket is very open to the air/wind on the sides which I'm sure is why the other box has been holding moisture much better.

 

[Cypress187]

These are the roots I get

What you didn't comb them?

 

[Robert E Holt]

Being my first year of Bonsai, I planted alot of stuff in oil-dry (8822) last year (it was about the only thing I could find locally). Toward the end of the year I really started.to worry.because of all the stuff I have read about "oil dry is crap". Well I have re-potted everything from Dawn Redwoods, Elms, Azaleas.to Japanese maples this spring and I have to say they all had amazing roots. One of the maple seedlings I dug up from my front yard started out with almost NO roots and.the container was full of great feeder roots. The Dawn Redwood started out last June as a pencile thin wipe, bare rooted, with very little roots. I planted it in a 3 gallon pot, on top of a tile. Not only did the feeder roots fill the container, the tap root had branched into three large roots that wrapped around the tile. I had to lift the whole thing out of the pot and cut off the roots around the tile.

Oil dry seems to work pretty well to me.

 

[coh]

It's not crap, turface is not crap, the thing with both of them is that the particle size is a little on the small side...so they tend to hold more water than you might expect. If you account for that, either by mixing them with other ingredients or watering appropriately (both, really), you should be fine.

Remember, there are people who've had good success with just about every soil ingredient that has been talked about (well, not the cat litters or floor dry's that turn to mush). There are also people who've had problems with akadama. Use what you can get/afford, pay attention to watering, and you should be OK.

 

[michaelj]

Repotting season is when you find out what soil works best with your climate, watering habits, etc. For me, turface performed dismally, but Napa DE oil dri has worked very well. Stuff planted in DE in my collection grows vigorously, with lots of fine feeder roots. With turface, I find pockets of wet soggy roots, pockets of dry dead fine roots ... it's just a disaster. Turface in a mix with pumice, lava and DE seemed to cause no harm, but it costs me almost as much as the lava and DE, so I cut turface out of my mix. YMMV.

 

[GailC]

20 days in napa dry and my willow cutting has roots hanging out of the basket holes. I'll have to get it into a proper pot today. The cutting that is in plain water still doesn't have roots so I'm sold on using napa dry for rooting media.

 

[Underdog]

20 days in napa dry and my willow cutting has roots hanging out of the basket holes.

My willows are digging it to. However I chickened out and mixed 40% potting soil in. I do still have one Jap Map in 100% and looking great.