BCSS - Forum

A little praise for Aiko and his seed offer (not that free seeds need any...).

I recently took this photo of my 1YO seedlings of H. springbokvlakensis from Aiko's seeds and realised they are a tad cramped:

And ready for potting up:

Yes, that's a 5 cm pot (not even the 2" one!) with 21 seedlings in, I am cruel! I was surprised to see any substrate in it, to be fair

Very smart, Mat.

Tony R wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 10:53 am Very smart, Mat.

Right on time, right?

Well done, Mat.

Bill Hildyard gave me a tip - H. springbokvlakensis comes from a limestone area. Previously I found it tricky to grow, but now I top dress it with crushed shells (chicken grit), and mix some in the compost too, it's growing much better for me.

ralphrmartin wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 5:43 pm Well done, Mat.

Bill Hildyard gave me a tip - H. springbokvlakensis comes from a limestone area. Previously I found it tricky to grow, but now I top dress it with crushed shells (chicken grit), and mix some in the compost too, it's growing much better for me.

I think I have enough material for a proper A/B experiment here, and have some limestone grit somewhere, or at least I think so.

This always puzzles me, is limestone really beneficial for some plants, or are they merely surviving better than other species in those conditions. I won't be surprised to read one day that it all starts as the latter (better survival), but then plants evolve to the former (alkaline conditions becoming beneficial).

Will give it a go and report back for their second birthday!

MatDz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:12 pm This always puzzles me, is limestone really beneficial for some plants, or are they merely surviving better than other species in those conditions. I won't be surprised to read one day that it all starts as the latter (better survival), but then plants evolve to the former (alkaline conditions becoming beneficial).

I read a report that used aluminium in a hydroponic fertiliser for tea (Camellia sinensis) plants. The plants grew very well. Tea thrives in very acidic conditions, about pH 3 to 4, when aluminium is dissolved out of the clay particles. Usually toxic to plants, whether the aluminium is technically a nutrient in that case is difficult to prove. The tea plant will accumulate it in the leaves to deter herbivores. There can be as much as 3% aluminium in old tea leaves.

I think the time periods are so long that it is not a question of whether the chicken or the eggshell came first. All plants have to adapt to the soils that are available to them and some adapt to some types of soil better than in others. Or some adapt to both and diverge into new species. Some of them just make do until they finally get their roots into some nice pumice.

Of course, eggs predated chickens by hundreds of millions of years. I am always surprised that that is thought to be a difficult question.

Isn't aluminium suspected as being contributory to Alzheimers disease?
Hydroponic grown tea .... I think not on my choice list.

Cute plants. They are already forming the characteristic leaf appearance for H. springbokvlakensis.

el48tel wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:23 pm Isn't aluminium suspected as being contributory to Alzheimers disease?
Hydroponic grown tea .... I think not on my choice list.

There is little to no evidence for the causal link between aluminium and dementia. Though very popular as a concept since the idea was first published in 1965 after injecting rabbits with massive quantities of aluminium salts, subsequent research showed that avoiding aluminium at real world levels will probably do little or nothing to prevent dementia.

If you still want to avoid exposure, the young leaves used in quality tea contain vastly less aluminium than the fully mature leaf. The youngest are orange pekoe (not broken) or white tea, perhaps.

The plant will take up plenty of aluminium if it is grown properly, whether hydroponic or soil-grown.

Pattock wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:51 pm

el48tel wrote: ↑Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:23 pm Isn't aluminium suspected as being contributory to Alzheimers disease?
Hydroponic grown tea .... I think not on my choice list.

There is little to no evidence for the causal link between aluminium and dementia. Though very popular as a concept since the idea was first published in 1965 after injecting rabbits with massive quantities of aluminium salts, subsequent research showed that avoiding aluminium at real world levels will probably do little or nothing to prevent dementia.

If you still want to avoid exposure, the young leaves used in quality tea contain vastly less aluminium than the fully mature leaf. The youngest are orange pekoe (not broken) or white tea, perhaps.

The plant will take up plenty of aluminium if it is grown properly, whether hydroponic or soil-grown.

However, the supporters of cat litter will be happy. Proper cat litter, i.e. fired clay products rather than the other varieties, contains kaolin and similar materials, which contains aluminium. Under acidic conditions this will leach out into the compost, certainly more easily in the presence of ammonium salts. (Under alkaline conditions it will not.)