Blocky71 Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 So as some of you may remember I have been having issues with my vft's shrinking over the time I've owned. I am not alone it seems as there's a similar post from Jonathan suffering similar issues. There was a good chance I had used westlands peat in the past so I set about repotting everything, this time in shamrock Irish moss peat, I've since read that that can also sometimes be troublesome. Is there a way to test the media out of the bag for nutrients or whatever rather than having to just repot everything then wait and see if your plants improve or just keep declining ? . Jonathan stated his rain water was 6ppm but on testing rain water mixed with shamrock it was 106ppm ?, I am going to do the same test tomorrow but what should be made of readings like that if I get similar ? . I've used tall pots this time round in a hope to avoid water logging the plants , unfortunately I could only get black pots but I plan to construct some shading for the pots to avoid overheating the media come summer. I'm using a 70/30 peat and perlite mix and plan to construct a bench on wheels so I can wheel the bench back into the sun when it falls in the shade around mid afternoon. I can't think of anything else I can do and am feeling like throwing the towel in although I'm not a quitter !. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsty Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 Here's a thought Blocky - why not just flush the pots through with good water for a long time, to wash out whatever shouldn't be there?...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blocky71 Posted April 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2018 It's an idea mate but I have over a hundred pots which would take forever, I've measured the tds of the water coming out of a flooded pot and it's well within tolerance at around 64ppm.... I have just done a tds test and results were: water butt= 54ppm water trays that plants are stood in = 64ppm water butt water mixed with 70/30 peat and perlite= 130 to 150ppm would this last reading be something to be concerned about or is it simply measuring more ' dissolved solids' due to the media being added ? . I've never used sand in my mix, purely due to so many reports of it containing unwanted additives. my plants were originally all topped with sphagnum, more so I couldn't see the ugly peat and perlite mix. In the latest repotting attempt I've used pure peat for the top inch of the media. Cheers chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsty Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 I don't know what the dissolved solids tolerance for VFTs is. But it's worth bringing into consideration what the rain flows through or over before going into your water butt? The dissolved solids coming out of my RO unit is 5ppm! What is the pH of your rainwater? Of the water coming out of the pots? You can easily measure this with bits of this kind of thing - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/80-pH-1-14-Universal-Full-Range-Litmus-Test-Paper-Strips-Tester-Indicator-Urine/401352771909?epid=1662970780&hash=item5d727d4945:g:KkEAAOSwGGlaotaG What is the right kind of ppm for VFTs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blocky71 Posted April 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 All that info is in my previous posts Karsty.... My ro unit doesn't get much use and us still like new, last time I checked it was still producing close to zero ppm. It's an expensive/ wasteful way of producing water though and only gets used during a drought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsty Posted April 25, 2018 Report Share Posted April 25, 2018 (edited) Ah yes, sorry for a spasm of laziness! I also hate using my RO unit. Most of the time I can take rainwater from my parents' water butts, or from a local downpipe. I just have to think of it as using water to wash water. Edited April 25, 2018 by Karsty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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