How much is too much calcium?

friedguy

friedguy

Well-Known Member
I'm using the calcium bentonite for aeration and it's high cec properties. Another reason I choose peat over coco as a base. I used special kitty non clumping kitty litter. Rinsed it real good and tossed anything smaller than 1/8" into my yard, then soaked it in pond water for a few days before use. My dad said it was real good stuff... this is my first time using it.

Very true about the tap water. We're at 600+ ppm here, I don't use tap often. I will use any mix of dehumidifier water, ro and pond water. SOMETIMES I'll let tap water sit a few days, or run it in my vortex brewer to help remove the chlorine, but I'm not a bit fan on that. This round I'll be TRYING a self watering SIP w/ ro and lacto... we'll see.
 
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Northwood

Well-Known Member
bodhipop said:
So do you prefer this to Basalt or would you say a variety is most beneficial?
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Basalt as in the rock dust vs bentonite? They are two very different things. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, I think rock dusts do provide a function in our situation. Our "soil" is mostly made up of some sort of organic matter such as peat moss and doesn't have properties associated with real soil which comes from a mineral based parent material (rocks). Without any mineral-based content in our soil, worms have no grit and bacteria will have only peat moss and other decaying organic matter to form aggregates with using their sticky glue. Peat moss takes a long time to break down for bacteria to find it useful for this purpose. So it's my opinion that adding rock dusts will help improve soil structure, drainage, and CEC for us over time because unlike soil, our medium completely lacks it. I have no scientific evidence to back this up. lol

Bentonite and other montmorillonite clays on the other hand increase both the water and nutrient holding capacity of your soil. In effect, it acts as a reservoir that your plants can draw upon 24/7 instead of cycles of wet-dry, food and no food. So it's not a "basalt vs bentonite thing" because they provide different functions for us. So yeah, both! ;)
 
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NewGrower2011

Well-Known Member
When I hear mention of basalt there's usually some mention of the paramagnetic effect on plant growth. I'm going to incorporate it on my next round probably - was looking at the blend from that rockdustlocal place. Might as well buy a couple big bags and that'll last me forever and then some.
 
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