Diatomite

[Bougy Fan]

Personally I like the Maidenwell better than the Mt Silvia. The Maidenwell comes in a 40 litre bag as opposed to the 35 litre Mt Silvia. I like the look of the Maidenwell product better - it is a bit browner and not white like the Mt Silvia. Both are good for opening up a mix and retaining moisture.

Tony

[kcpoole]

Personally I like the Maidenwell better than the Mt Silvia. The Maidenwell comes in a 40 litre bag as opposed to the 35 litre Mt Silvia. I like the look of the Maidenwell product better - it is a bit browner and not white like the Mt Silvia. Both are good for opening up a mix and retaining moisture.

Tony

Mt Sylvia (Kleensorb) - Mined in Northern NSW, Colour = White / Light Gray, PH 8.5, Particle size = 1 - 7 mm
Maidenwell (Maidenwell), Mined Southern QLD, Colour = light to dark Brown and grey, PH 7, Particle size 1-3 mm, 2-7 mm

I have used Both ( Started with Maidenwell), but now use Mt Sylvia as all we can now get in sydney. the PH is higher supposedly, but in practice my trees do not seem to mind.
The colour is lighter, but tends to darken over time, but still light.
essentially the same cost to me and for all intents and purposes perform the same for me. I not care either way which one I have.

Beware of Kitty litter, The only one we KNOW that uses Baked Diatomite is Chandlers ( I think), most of the others us non fired clay which breaks down quickly into mush

Ken

[Kikianna Bonsai]

Sorry Paulneill I didn't know what diatomite was, thats why I asked the question. I thought it was similar to zeolite; sorry to confuse you or anyone out there...
Zeolite is about $15-$18 for a 40 litre bag, so a little more expensive than diatomite but more accessable if live in sydney.

[tom k]

How heavy is 40L of diatomite and /or zeolite? I don't have a car, wondering how easy it'd be be to get some home to marrickville by foot/bus/train?
Or is there someone out there who lives nearby and would be willing to drop me off some?
I've got shed-space if people want me to organise a (delivered) bulk buy and pick up from here.

[NBPCA]

Personally I like the Maidenwell better than the Mt Silvia. The Maidenwell comes in a 40 litre bag as opposed to the 35 litre Mt Silvia. I like the look of the Maidenwell product better - it is a bit browner and not white like the Mt Silvia. Both are good for opening up a mix and retaining moisture.

Tony

Mt Sylvia (Kleensorb) - Mined in Northern NSW, Colour = White / Light Gray, PH 8.5, Particle size = 1 - 7 mm
Maidenwell (Maidenwell), Mined Southern QLD, Colour = light to dark Brown and grey, PH 7, Particle size 1-3 mm, 2-7 mm

I have used Both ( Started with Maidenwell), but now use Mt Sylvia as all we can now get in sydney. the PH is higher supposedly, but in practice my trees do not seem to mind.
The colour is lighter, but tends to darken over time, but still light.
essentially the same cost to me and for all intents and purposes perform the same for me. I not care either way which one I have.

Beware of Kitty litter, The only one we KNOW that uses Baked Diatomite is Chandlers ( I think), most of the others us non fired clay which breaks down quickly into mush

Ken

Warning, Warning

The Chandlers product is not Diatomite but Attapulgite and behaves very differently to Diatomite. Its gets wetter, stays wetter and turns to mush quickish.

Grant

[Mojo Moyogi]

ps
Can we please refer to Japanese Maples as such, and not Japanese ? some members and guests here might be put off by that abbreviation
Thanks

Ken

I agree totally Ken,
we have Vietnamese farm workers at work (who incidentally wipe the floor with the rest of the farm hands for work ethic and general attitude) and I am sick of their nationality being abbreviated due to lazyness/disrespect.

Cheers,
Mojo

[Mojo Moyogi]

The Chandlers product is not Diatomite but Attapulgite and behaves very differently to Diatomite. Its gets wetter, stays wetter and turns to mush quickish.

Grant

Absolutely Grant, Chandler's is an inferior product, it is important to remind people of this because of the misconception that Chandlers Kitty Litter is a readily available substitute for Diatomite in bonsai soils. It is not even close.

Cheers,
Mojo

[kcpoole]

How heavy is 40L of diatomite and /or zeolite? I don't have a car, wondering how easy it'd be be to get some home to marrickville by foot/bus/train?
Or is there someone out there who lives nearby and would be willing to drop me off some?
I've got shed-space if people want me to organise a (delivered) bulk buy and pick up from here.

Hi tom
When Dry it is only about 10 Kg or so for a bag. You could easily check one over the shoulder and walk a Mile with it
I go and Pick it up on the motorbike on the way home from work. If I did not have a the laptop as well, I could get 2 on there

Sorry for the bad info re Chandlers, I was obvioulsely misled ( Stuffed up) as I thought Bretts used it.

Stick to the real Stuff

Ken

[RuthMcL]

Canberra Bonsai Society is preparing a bulk order of Maidenwell diatomite for our members. A bag weighs 15kg and there are 54 bags per pallet. We expect to use Mainfreight to transport it to Canberra as their quote seems very reasonable.

[NBPCA]

How heavy is 40L of diatomite and /or zeolite? I don't have a car, wondering how easy it'd be be to get some home to marrickville by foot/bus/train?
Or is there someone out there who lives nearby and would be willing to drop me off some?
I've got shed-space if people want me to organise a (delivered) bulk buy and pick up from here.

Hi tom
When Dry it is only about 10 Kg or so for a bag. You could easily check one over the shoulder and walk a Mile with it
I go and Pick it up on the motorbike on the way home from work. If I did not have a the laptop as well, I could get 2 on there

Sorry for the bad info re Chandlers, I was obvioulsely misled ( Stuffed up) as I thought Bretts used it.

Stick to the real Stuff

Ken

Hi all,

Chandlers (which is Attapulgite) is probably fine for those of you who live in hot and dry areas such as Parkes and Hay etc and need the extra water holding properties that it seems to have; but it would not be suitable at all for wetter and more humid areas.

Grant

[Rowdy]

I am developing a respect for this product
I now have 4 Clero cuttings and a fig growing in 100% diatomite.
I just went on a holiday for a week and I didn’t have anyone to water my trees.
When I came back I found all these trees in perfect health, while my wive’s herbs sitting next to them in soil were half dried up and suffering.
I was fairly worried these trees would dry out, as basically they are growing in stones, but I have been surprised.

[Handy Mick]

Rowdy what brand do you use?

Mick

[Petra]

ps
Can we please refer to Japanese Maples as such, and not Japanese ? some members and guests here might be put off by that abbreviation
Thanks

Ken

I agree totally Ken,
we have Vietnamese farm workers at work (who incidentally wipe the floor with the rest of the farm hands for work ethic and general attitude) and I am sick of their nationality being abbreviated due to lazyness/disrespect.

Cheers,












Mojo

Yeh, i too get offended when its aus bonsai.Should be Australian bonsai with a capital "A" im not an aussi im Australian.

[Rowdy]

I use Maidenwell

[Bretts]

How heavy is 40L of diatomite and /or zeolite? I don't have a car, wondering how easy it'd be be to get some home to marrickville by foot/bus/train?
Or is there someone out there who lives nearby and would be willing to drop me off some?
I've got shed-space if people want me to organise a (delivered) bulk buy and pick up from here.

Hi tom
When Dry it is only about 10 Kg or so for a bag. You could easily check one over the shoulder and walk a Mile with it
I go and Pick it up on the motorbike on the way home from work. If I did not have a the laptop as well, I could get 2 on there

Sorry for the bad info re Chandlers, I was obvioulsely misled ( Stuffed up) as I thought Bretts used it.

Stick to the real Stuff

Ken

Hi all,

Chandlers (which is Attapulgite) is probably fine for those of you who live in hot and dry areas such as Parkes and Hay etc and need the extra water holding properties that it seems to have; but it would not be suitable at all for wetter and more humid areas.

Grant

Maybe I will change my opinion later as I learn but I don't believe at the moment that climate is the biggest factor here. If you have a medium(by size of particle) that creates good drainage no matter how much water the substrate holds it will always have good air circulation.
The time it takes for the particle to break down is obviously a factor but my personal experience is chandlers takes around two years to break down and I have always found that by this time root growth has been sufficient as to create a good structure to the medium that I am not rushing to replace the medium. But this is mainly from using it as a part mix.
I have the unique experience of comparing my free draining soil as I have been taught over the Internet to my bonsai mate Pol living 1/2 hour drive away in the central west who does everything to limit drainage in his bonsai cultivation as he has limited water on the farm. He is as flummoxed by my free draining mix as I am of his penjing style "mud" soil mix.

I am surprised by your apparent good fortune with chandlers at 100% Grant as I have found it has pH issues that way but having grown stuff in it for 1 full season at 100% and I have not seen the breakdown others experienced.
Have you updated the break down of this stuff in your tests lately?