AusBonsai

Hi all,
I'm heading away for a few weeks & my dilemma is that I can't trust anyone with my trees.

All my trees are in a mix of 60% diatomite 20% coco peat & 20% pine bark chips.

I have a sprinkler system which I can set to water when needed but my question is
Do I have to worry about overwatering with this mix ?

I'm concerned about doubling up with rain & sprinklers and coming home to a few casualties

Cheers Ross

You will ahve more casualties from under watering thatn overwatering in a short time period
But with that much diatomite, it is hard to over water
Be careful with sprinkler systems as a sole source of watering. I have heard horror stories of sprinkler systems failing and people coming back to the majority of their collection dead.

Beautiful thanks for the reply

Very good question and I'd like to hear some more thoughts.
With inorganic mixes of namely diatomite and "rocky' substrates (zeolite, pumice etc).
Can you overwater?

I would have thought it would be hard to do as the mix tends to drain so freely?

I believe a straight mix would drain well, but it depends on the other materials also: Old soil around original root ball, fines accumulation at the bottom of the pot from diatomite dust, coco peat & pine bark additives that break down quicker.

AG

Overwatering comes from lack of air. I can't see how you could overwater with a substrate unless it was sitting in a pool of water. Even then it might be difficult. As is said above though organic properties could reduce air. But i'd just sprinkler it and don't worry about the rain or overwatering.

DustyRusty wrote:Overwatering comes from lack of air. I can't see how you could overwater with a substrate unless it was sitting in a pool of water. Even then it might be difficult. As is said above though organic properties could reduce air. But i'd just sprinkler it and don't worry about the rain or overwatering.

I use sprinkler everyday rain hail or shine and no way you could overwater unless they were on constantly, or in a tray

Ken

kcpoole wrote:

DustyRusty wrote:Overwatering comes from lack of air. I can't see how you could overwater with a substrate unless it was sitting in a pool of water. Even then it might be difficult. As is said above though organic properties could reduce air. But i'd just sprinkler it and don't worry about the rain or overwatering.

I use sprinkler everyday rain hail or shine and no way you could overwater unless they were on constantly, or in a tray

Ken

What mix do you generally use Ken ?

Ken uses diatomite and zeolite (maybe something else?) Have a search. Ken has mentioned his mix in heaps of posts.

P.s.Thanks for the feedback on this topic guys.
It's as I've expected.

Boics wrote:Ken uses diatomite and zeolite (maybe something else?) Have a search. Ken has mentioned his mix in heaps of posts.

P.s.Thanks for the feedback on this topic guys.
It's as I've expected.

Cheers just checked out a few of Kens posts

Yep Diatomite / Zeolite is my mix

Ken

I think if anything, with the use of diatomite you need to watch and measure how much water a pot might need, and this will of course vary as the plant growing in the pot gets larger and requires more resource.
The reason I say this is that when making mixes with a major diatomite component I will wet the diatomite to suppress dust. It is surprising just how little penetration is achieved with 9ltrs over a 35ltr amount of diatomite, the water barely reaches the bottom. Also the amount of dust and muck that comes off Mount Sylvia Diatomite is not that great.
If you are using diatomite at 40%+ in your mix its probably a good idea, (just like with any mix) to use the 3 W's.
Water , wait and watch
Observe how the water is moving through the mix in the pot.
(if there is another W word that you can tack on there feel free (maybe wonder )).