- Thread starter
- #121
ALM
So, it's leafraking mowing time in these parts so you know what that means. That's right, time for some more experiments.
This round will feature something I hope will prove an effective alternative to Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (CSPM) for me. Specifically aged leaf mold (ALM).
Leaf mold is made with a fungal breakdown process as opposed to the bacterial process we use in normal composting. This is a cold process that takes time, rather than a hot process as with most compost.
The process is quite simple. Pile up a bunch of leaves, ideally at least a meter square and high, wet it thoroughly, and let it sit for a while. Like a couple of years. This is not a quick process. The breakdown can be speeded up with the addition of turning and adding high nitrogen items but then you're back to a more bacterially dominated end product. So, time it is.
I started my first batch a couple of years ago in two 32 gallon garbage cans, wetting the leaves as I filled the containers. The same result can be had by filling black garbage bags with leaves, adding water, poking some holes with a pitchfork for aeration and drainage all around, and then sticking them somewhere out of the way for Mother Nature to do her thing.
It turns into a dark, almost black, crumbly, humusy end product. In my research I found many references to using it as an alternative to CSPM, so I wanted to see for myself.
EXPERIMENT 1:
My first experiment compared its wicking ability to that of Coco and CSPM. I dried each sample, screened them each to normalize particle size, filled my little propagator containers, set them in a bottom watering container and noted the time it took to fully rehydrate each sample.
Coco - 90 minutes
ALM - 12 hours
CSPM - complete failure (or at least I'm still waiting 3 days on)
Conclusion:
Although Coco was the fastest, the ALM proved to be able to rehydrate a fully dry container, and the CSPM didn't wick at all. To be fair, it probably would have fared better if not bone dry, but many of us let our medium dry out between waterings so I thought that would be the best thing to test.
I suspect many of those who oppose bottom watering have a CSPM based medium and this experiment shows why they may have been unimpressed.
EXPERIMENT 2:
My second experiment was to compare the water holding ability of the three mediums. I used 16oz by volume (dried) of each, weighed them and then oversaturated them in 32oz of water overnight to get them thoroughly soaked. Then I drained the standing water and weighed them again.
CSPM and Coco are often touted for their ability to hold water so I wanted to see how ALM would stack up.
MED. Starting Ending
ALM 98 grams 511 grams
Coco 49 grams 495 grams
CSPM 90 grams 469 grams
Conclusion:
The ALM held more water than either of the other two! It's starting weight was slightly higher than CSPM but that could be explained by the medium itself as it is not uncommon to have small bits of twigs mixed in.
Also it was interesting to note that after the overnight soak, the ALM had a froth of bubbles covering the surface showing some really good microbe activity, while the other two understandably had nothing going on. ALM appears to be very Jadam friendly!
So, it would seem that ALM is a quite suitable alternative to either of the other two without some of the downsides.
Coco is good but comes frome half a world away and can cause issues if not thoroughly rinsed. It also has a reputation for holding onto to certain nutrients causing lockouts if not addressed in the nutrient mix.
CSPM is extremely hydrophobic when dry and difficult to rewet if allowed to go dry, and in the process has very poor wicking ability which can lead to dry pockets throughout your medium.
ALM wicks reasonably well, holds a good amount of water, and adds life in the form of microbes to your mix. Leaves are also what I feed my worms so it would seem to be a good way to sustain a worm population in my pots. The downside is you have to make it yourself as it is not commercially available and it takes a loooong time (a couple of years) to do so. But it's free, so there's that.
So, based on these two experiments, I'm sold. But, as with all my experiments, I'll try it on my houseplants before testing it on my ladies, and I repotted a variety of plants this weekend to see how they like it. I used equal parts of ALM, perlite and worm castings.
And, as with all of my experiments, I look forward to my plants not dying overnight.
So, it's leaf
This round will feature something I hope will prove an effective alternative to Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (CSPM) for me. Specifically aged leaf mold (ALM).
Leaf mold is made with a fungal breakdown process as opposed to the bacterial process we use in normal composting. This is a cold process that takes time, rather than a hot process as with most compost.
The process is quite simple. Pile up a bunch of leaves, ideally at least a meter square and high, wet it thoroughly, and let it sit for a while. Like a couple of years. This is not a quick process. The breakdown can be speeded up with the addition of turning and adding high nitrogen items but then you're back to a more bacterially dominated end product. So, time it is.
I started my first batch a couple of years ago in two 32 gallon garbage cans, wetting the leaves as I filled the containers. The same result can be had by filling black garbage bags with leaves, adding water, poking some holes with a pitchfork for aeration and drainage all around, and then sticking them somewhere out of the way for Mother Nature to do her thing.
It turns into a dark, almost black, crumbly, humusy end product. In my research I found many references to using it as an alternative to CSPM, so I wanted to see for myself.
EXPERIMENT 1:
My first experiment compared its wicking ability to that of Coco and CSPM. I dried each sample, screened them each to normalize particle size, filled my little propagator containers, set them in a bottom watering container and noted the time it took to fully rehydrate each sample.
Coco - 90 minutes
ALM - 12 hours
CSPM - complete failure (or at least I'm still waiting 3 days on)
Conclusion:
Although Coco was the fastest, the ALM proved to be able to rehydrate a fully dry container, and the CSPM didn't wick at all. To be fair, it probably would have fared better if not bone dry, but many of us let our medium dry out between waterings so I thought that would be the best thing to test.
I suspect many of those who oppose bottom watering have a CSPM based medium and this experiment shows why they may have been unimpressed.
EXPERIMENT 2:
My second experiment was to compare the water holding ability of the three mediums. I used 16oz by volume (dried) of each, weighed them and then oversaturated them in 32oz of water overnight to get them thoroughly soaked. Then I drained the standing water and weighed them again.
CSPM and Coco are often touted for their ability to hold water so I wanted to see how ALM would stack up.
MED. Starting Ending
ALM 98 grams 511 grams
Coco 49 grams 495 grams
CSPM 90 grams 469 grams
Conclusion:
The ALM held more water than either of the other two! It's starting weight was slightly higher than CSPM but that could be explained by the medium itself as it is not uncommon to have small bits of twigs mixed in.
Also it was interesting to note that after the overnight soak, the ALM had a froth of bubbles covering the surface showing some really good microbe activity, while the other two understandably had nothing going on. ALM appears to be very Jadam friendly!
So, it would seem that ALM is a quite suitable alternative to either of the other two without some of the downsides.
Coco is good but comes frome half a world away and can cause issues if not thoroughly rinsed. It also has a reputation for holding onto to certain nutrients causing lockouts if not addressed in the nutrient mix.
CSPM is extremely hydrophobic when dry and difficult to rewet if allowed to go dry, and in the process has very poor wicking ability which can lead to dry pockets throughout your medium.
ALM wicks reasonably well, holds a good amount of water, and adds life in the form of microbes to your mix. Leaves are also what I feed my worms so it would seem to be a good way to sustain a worm population in my pots. The downside is you have to make it yourself as it is not commercially available and it takes a loooong time (a couple of years) to do so. But it's free, so there's that.
So, based on these two experiments, I'm sold. But, as with all my experiments, I'll try it on my houseplants before testing it on my ladies, and I repotted a variety of plants this weekend to see how they like it. I used equal parts of ALM, perlite and worm castings.
And, as with all of my experiments, I look forward to my plants not dying overnight.
I rooted them in perlite and when I potted them up I rinsed that off and stuck them in dry hydroton. I watered them in but it seemed to be too much change for them. They drooped over by the next day and never recovered. I've got replacement plants in the cloner (10 days in) so I'm going to try again. I've got 4 potentials so I'll probably try a variety of ways when I up-pot them.
