minis?

[vawildflower]

I have just started a small collection of mini to place in a big oval pot.....Is there a certain mixture I should use....I read somewhere about using chicken grit...would appreciate any ideas you might have!

thanks
Cindy

[Tigger]

Hi, Cindy,

The most accomplished trough growers I know use a mix of 1/3 poultry grit to 2/3 potting soil. And make sure you have good drainage holes in your container. For minis, the container should not be too deep; I think 5" or less is good.

David

[thy]

For minis, the container should not be too deep; I think 5" or less is good.

Why not ???

[viktoria]

What do know? I thought the chick grit was for the surface to control liverworts and weeds? If it is for drainage, Perlite does the job and weighs much less, which is important if you ever want to move the container.

Viktoria

[Rob]

Hi, Cindy,

The most accomplished trough growers I know use a mix of 1/3 poultry grit to 2/3 potting soil. And make sure you have good drainage holes in your container. For minis, the container should not be too deep; I think 5" or less is good.

David

It's a mixture, so to poultry grit is used for drainage. If it were my container, I'd go with Victoria and use perlite or vermiculite instead. They're inert substances, contain air and therefore are better suited than poultry grit. First of all you don't know which substances are in the grit, but it's bound to contain lots of chalk (chicken have to make egg shells), which isn't the best addition for hosta soil.

[JoshS]

The grit I use for various purposes is granite.

[Tigger]

Agreeing with Josh, I don't think poultry grit contains much calcium carbonate (chalk).

Upside to perlite: light weight, which could be helpful in larger containers that need to be moved to shelter for winter (but how big would a trough for minis be, anyway?).
Downside to perlite: unless you cover the surface with something else, you'll have those white dots all over the surface, which are not very pleasing.

Pia, I'm not sure exactly why minis don't like deep containers, but my own experience bears this out. This also keeps the container in scale with the plants.

David

[thy]

Only been on this forum for 8 years... one day I might figre out how perlite and vermiculite looks like

Sometimes I use thióse rounded ball like airy brown shels, used in concrete to make it lighter and sometimese grit- sure it is crushed stones only- chicks need that too, for the thingy and do not have any real impackt on the PH level.

David I have a very tall close to 3 foot container with minies and I know for sure my Pandoras Box went from one to two eyes when I moved it to the tall pot... no comments for more eyes and tortifrons love it...
may have to try a more wide conntainer... who knows.. I may be apple to grow minis ... al I know now is wich ones I do not kill just by looking at them