Oil Dri was a bad choice!

[Kevster]

So I've used oil Dri and other products of the same nature for a few years now and never had a problem.

This spring I used what I had left of some type I got from pep boys for my repotting before I made the switch to dry stall.
The trees included a few ficus b, Chinese elm, azalea, and fukien tea tree. I started to notice the Fukien having dicolored leaves a few weeks ago so I cut back on the fertilizer. Then I was getting yellow leaves on my elm and my azaleas were not growing like they normally do. Since most of my trees are small I normally judge moisture level of the soil by the weight of the pot but starting to worry I broke out the old chop sticks. Moisture was on point but I noticed a paste like matter on the stick. So I dug around a little and just below the first 1/4 inch of soil was mush. And what wasn't mush I could literally and easily squeeze between my fingers and crush

Now I was worried. Are my trees going to suffocate in this mess?!
I spent all night transplanting the troubled trees into stall Dri. All the roots had to be rinsed. The stuff was like paste!

The hardy ficus I'm not worried about. They love being repotted in the hot days it seems. But how will the others do
No root work was done. Pulled rinsed and repotted is all I did.

Side note to the people who are going to say they always use oil Dri and never had a problem. I used to say the same thing. And I would ALWAYS sift and rinse the soil before using it to get all the powder out. Lesson learned. I'll never buy it again!

Thanks in advance,
Kevin

 

[Poink88]

Thanks for sharing your experience Kevin.

I think the freeze thaw cycle really degrade oil-dri fast. I do not have that problem but I know it is not comparable to Turface so I switched and stopped buying oil-dri myself. I won't say never because I might still if I had no choice. It happened once while I am at my in-laws and cannot source Turface there and had to do an emergency re-pot. Just went to Walmart and bought oil-dri.

 

[coh]

I think there is a recent thread in the soil forum about this. Basically, not all oil-dri is created equal (and, some brands may change their manufacturing processes from time to time). I have purchased and tested (soaking and freeze/dry cycles) 2 different brands, one from WalMart (I think) and one from NAPA (actually called Floor Dry, I think). The one from WalMart was made of a softer clay and it quickly disintegrated badly. The one from NAPA is made from calcined DE and it seems to hold up pretty well...not quite as hard as turface, but seems like it could work.

I've never been able to find the true dry stall (pumice) around here...would like to try it.

Chris

 

[Vance Wood]

So I've used oil Dri and other products of the same nature for a few years now and never had a problem.

This spring I used what I had left of some type I got from pep boys for my repotting before I made the switch to dry stall.
The trees included a few ficus b, Chinese elm, azalea, and fukien tea tree. I started to notice the Fukien having dicolored leaves a few weeks ago so I cut back on the fertilizer. Then I was getting yellow leaves on my elm and my azaleas were not growing like they normally do. Since most of my trees are small I normally judge moisture level of the soil by the weight of the pot but starting to worry I broke out the old chop sticks. Moisture was on point but I noticed a paste like matter on the stick. So I dug around a little and just below the first 1/4 inch of soil was mush. And what wasn't mush I could literally and easily squeeze between my fingers and crush

Now I was worried. Are my trees going to suffocate in this mess?!
I spent all night transplanting the troubled trees into stall Dri. All the roots had to be rinsed. The stuff was like paste!

The hardy ficus I'm not worried about. They love being repotted in the hot days it seems. But how will the others do
No root work was done. Pulled rinsed and repotted is all I did.

Side note to the people who are going to say they always use oil Dri and never had a problem. I used to say the same thing. And I would ALWAYS sift and rinse the soil before using it to get all the powder out. Lesson learned. I'll never buy it again!

Thanks in advance,
Kevin

What you have encountered here is an example of variability. There is no parameter in the business that says that these products must be kiln fired to X number of degrees. There is nothing that says firing time cannot be reduced to save on cost of production. Ever notice how the size of a roll of toliet paper has gotten smaller, and smaller and still smaller while the price stays the same or rises? Understanding that Oil Dry and other similar products are manufactured items that the manufacturer does not have parameters placed upon them other than profit and cost.

 

[coh]

Right...the stuff is manufactured for soaking up spills, and it will still do that even if it breaks down after freeze-thaw cycles. That's why my recommendation is to evaluate/test every bag...though I suppose it's possible that different batches (i.e. different hardness of particle) could wind up in the same bag.

Just hope they don't change the manufacturing process of turface! Then we're all (well, many of us) in trouble...

Chris

 

[Poink88]

Just hope they don't change the manufacturing process of turface! Then we're all (well, many of us) in trouble...

Chris, Don't worry...another company will surely snag the market share if they do. I've heard/read good things about Mule Mix.

 

[Kevster]

I never thought about that Vance! I am sure this has to be the reason since the type I just changed I have used (and still have trees planted in it from 2 years ago) I have used often. I couldn't think of the name but it was from Napa and the bag before that was from Napa (I still have the empty bags. The bag I just finished using which I bought in late winter to prep for spring had to either be a bad batch or they changed their firing time or process. Since the trees affected were planted in early spring this year (2012) and it has already turned to mush that is reason enough for me to never use it again.

I'm just thankful my southern states started carring dry stall.

Thanks for your replies!

 

[iant]

My bet is that your trees do just fine. Night time repotting without root work should be okay. I always think if there's a problem it's best to take care of it with minimal disturbance despite season.
glad you found it!
Ian