AusBonsai

I grabbed 2 bags today of different cat litter on the off chance I could find diatomite. Low and behold one was diatomite, I think it comes from America. There is a lot of fine particles and dust. after sifting using a screen a bit bigger than a fly screen I lost about half . What I was left with looks the dogs balls with particles ranging between 2 -4 mm ,
It cost me 12 bucks for a 5 kg bag and half was rubbish. I might use a fly screen next time and end up with a bit more but not much.
Also maybe 5 % of the larger pieces have been treated with a nice smelling blue chemical . I am sure this will simply wash out quite quickly. The pieces of diatomite are blue there is no other foreign material.

I soaked some in a glass of water and it stayed solid as a rock, I'm 99 %confident it's good shari.

I will be on the lookout now for bigger bags with hopefully less dust .

Anyway beggars can't be choosers and I am stoaked to get my hands on some diatomite.

Pictures will follow of the product.

Paulneill wrote:I grabbed 2 bags today of different cat litter on the off chance I could find diatomite. Low and behold one was diatomite, I think it comes from America. There is a lot of fine particles and dust. after sifting using a screen a bit bigger than a fly screen I lost about half . What I was left with looks the dogs balls with particles ranging between 2 -4 mm ,
It cost me 12 bucks for a 5 kg bag and half was rubbish. I might use a fly screen next time and end up with a bit more but not much.
Also maybe 5 % of the larger pieces have been treated with a nice smelling blue chemical . I am sure this will simply wash out quite quickly. The pieces of diatomite are blue there is no other foreign material.

I soaked some in a glass of water and it stayed solid as a rock, I'm 99 %confident it's good shari.

I will be on the lookout now for bigger bags with hopefully less dust .

Anyway beggars can't be choosers and I am stoaked to get my hands on some diatomite.

Pictures will follow of the product.

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I had some trouble with very similar looking and priced stuff. Soaked it a day and thought it was good enough.
It held together but when potted with pine bark and river gravel mix it didn't hold
together like DE does. It broke down slowly over a month into a fine sludge. Kind of like slip clay.
I lost 2 junipers to rootrot due to my catlitter experiment and nearly killed my oldest cedar. It's still in rehab
after the experiment last year.
I would soak it a week then dry, resoak and try if it crumbles when squeezed. You may have
a good one like they get in UK but if not save yourself the grief. I'm still getting over my loss

Do you remember which brand you used . ? Thanks for the heads up I will be careful

Any idea what the blue particles are? I would be very cautious.

You don't have any produce stores in your area?

I get this stuff from my produce store for $17/bag http://www.mtsylviadiatomite.com.au/product/kleensorb

It could be attapulgite . Which does break down over time . I would only use it as an additive to an already open mix . I've found batches vary so you could get different results between shipments .

robb63 wrote:.
I would soak it a week then dry, resoak and try if it crumbles when squeezed. :

x2
I do this sort of test with everything that goes into my pots.

Ken

Ok guys you got me worried , so I just spent 3 hrs searching .

Turns out blackwoods have kleensorb on there catalogue and I ordered 2 bags for 65 bucks delivered. Hopefully I don't end up with the wrong grade. They call it kleensorb green which it >2mm I believe

Has anyone had any issues with mountsalvia diatomite recently regarding the poor quality batch that was floating about 3 years ago?

I haven't had any problems with Kleensorb breaking down, but I know there was a bad batch awhile back.

melbrackstone wrote:I haven't had any problems with Kleensorb breaking down, but I know there was a bad batch awhile back.

Same here.
The current bag is softer than the original, but IMHO still ok if washed

Ken

Hi Everyone
I'll echo the cleansorb or [softer diatomite] though soft if did not break down into a clay slip/sludge.
I checked a few trees with it after 1 month, then lately after about 12 months and no issues.

Hi Paul, I don't remember brand but it was the most expensive one on shelf in woollies and
large pet suppliers in Sydney, claimed to me pure non-clumping clay but it had no other stuff added
that I could see [no blue bits] Just test it and decide, use it or toss it.
Ken has a great point, we should test anything we use, particularly on our better trees
cheers

I've left that cat litter out in the garden for about a week , I soaked in for 2 days and then left it to dry , soaked it again and it still looks good No sign of breaking down at all. I will give it a couple more weeks but I cant see it suddenly starting to fall apart . It feels slightly harder than diatomite and doesn't write on cement like a peice of chalk like diatomite does ,
It also holds plenty of moisture a soaked handful stayed damp for at least 24 hrs.
Definitely worth more investigating for people desperate for a decent substrate.
I also found a reference to the same brand on the bonsai 4 me site , I think somone in South America was using it . Also the blue stuff just washes off stones + the smell is gone .

I will keep testing it for a few more weeks and update this post .

If it is attapuglite . What I do is spread it out on an old , raised fly screen then give it a good hose . Whats left is usually ok .ive repotted trees that I've been growing on for 5 years or so that have attapuglite as part of the growing media and it's still stable . I'd still only use it as a part of the mix .