Hello folks! I feel awkward posting this week with everything going on since a massive amount (over half) of my followers are Americans. I mean zero disrespect by posting the video in such a tense time and wanted to let you all know it’s done with the utmost respect & in a way that’s meant to help bring some positivity into your week. Stay safe I truly mean that! ❤️🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦
What sets you apart from the majority of content I've seen is your steadfast adherence to science based solutions. Every claim you put forth is grounded in real science not bro science. Many of us appreciate the effort you put into this and we thank you. 😊
Oh Ashley, I wish I had see this 2 wks ago, I would've seen your pinned comment then. I'm in the US. I know with no doubt whatsoever that your intent is never negative in any way. It is not disrespectful for you to continue doing what you do regardless of what is going on anywhere else. People come here for your advice and expertise, and that has not changed. At minimum, you provided healthy educational distraction from tense and volatile times. Things are so contentious here that it's better not to mention anything specific about it. You do you; you do science of plants and soil. The teaching should never stop; the learning should never stop. The people who choose to come here to watch your videos and interact with you in the comments do just that - they choose. So, no worries at all. And thank you for all of it. Have a great weekend, hugs and kissies for doggies and kitties. And fishies.
Hello from the Chicago area, zone 5b, the land of clay, gravel, clay, clay, and did I mention clay? Yours is the only video I've found that mentions aeration as an aspect of Perlite usage, and I offer thanks for the attention to detail and insight. This year I am adding #2 (ultra coarse) Perlite while refreshing my raised beds, and you have offered info that is useful in that regard. I have in the past worked with the finer grades of Perlite, and found them largely useless in any practical application. The "awkwardness" you mentioned has continued here unabated, and is actually worse now than it was last November. It is we who should be apologizing to you. Keep up the good work!! Ta.
Zone 8B. Southeast Alabama, USA I learn so much from your videos - not just sound bites I share your channel with all my plant friends The transcript only translates to Dutch (at least what I can get) Im definitely going to try and find large perlite- I find too much dust and bad drainage with the small. Thanks again for the good info!
Hi Aslhey, I live in Northwest Washington and I have an indoor, medical, legal, cannabis grow... I really like your channel and all of the soil info!! This is a great service for all those who love horticulture in general as much as I do.
I don't know what almost anything you're saying means but the miracle gro perlite is the only perlite I have ever had a positive experience with. I've tried a local brand, mother earth, and two other brands I can't remember. All of them were terrible. The tiny stuff is definitely my favorite to avoid over watering
This video explains why in a batch of 4 plants one of the 4 plants doesn't drain as well as the others. By the time I get to the last plant I'm down to the bottom of the bag of perlite which is noticeably finer. I never could figure out why one plant never drains as well as the others, ureka!
Watching from Cocoa Beach, FL zone 9b, Mixing up fall batch of veggie soil and need to know about amendments. Thank you for sharing your expertise with the general gardeners. Oceans of joy to you.
In a previous lifetime I was growing African violets for show. I sifted my perlite and vermiculite to get all the big bits. I was growing those plants on a wick watering system with fluorescent lights. I needed moisture and airy both. Thank you for the purpose of the little stuff. I expect geraniums would (oops - pelarigoniums) would like the perlite. Thank you for this.
Hi, Ashley! Greetings from Romania! I came upon your youtube channel and absolutely love it. I would really appreciate your insight on using polyfoam balls (it is used for thermic insulation in constructions) in potting soil or even for seed starts. Maybe you'll be able to find a study on the matter, or at least offer your perspective. Thank you. And keep the science coming to the profane!
Hello, southern Indiana USA don’t worry about a thing. It’s nice to listen to someone to take things off of the $#-t going on here. I want to move to Canada 🇨🇦. Thank you for your videos. Very informative. I myself use large rock perlite. The little is crap. I tend to over water plants not enough to kill, just enough to breed fungus gnats! A slow learner. Lol 😂 I repotted all plants added big perlite and sterilized the soil. All before replanting. Then added course sand to the top of plants 🌱 now I’m only bottom watering my plants every so often. Once in a great while I top soak 🛁 real good and let dry out a month ! All soil is not the same, I found out the hard way. I have a question for you. I have a peace lily that is in a water 💧 vase 🏺 and it is still getting brown or black spots looks like fluoride burn? I use distilled water in vase. Also even the new leaves still look like they have little ropes in them and every so often looks like half of the leave is eaten? What the hockey double hockey stick is going on? Please help, it’s the flower from my Moms funeral and I don’t want to kill it. I’m pretty new to gardening 🧑🌾 love it and learn a lot from your videos, Thank you 🙏🏻💕🍁
Oooo that’s interesting, so im assuming it’s in zero soil and full “potted” in water? Are you able to introduce fertilizer at all? If have a friend with fish tank water ask for a cup or so of that. It sounds like you may have a combination of things ranging from a pest, nutrient deficiency & root rot from stagnant water. 1) start with fish tank water or diluted fertilizer 2) try to change the water daily just for the next two weeks and see if that helps. Other option is so grab an inexpensive (sound not cost more the $20) fish tank bubbler to introduce some air. Do you know what I am talking about? 3) watch for crawlers, when you’re talking about parts of leaves missing it has to be a visible pest or it maybe a calcium deficiency. But if it’s a deficiency step one will resolve this.
Mid-Atlantic East Coast USA zone 7a. Not sure if you addressed rooting hormones in another video or the use of cinnamon when propagating plant cuttings or when re-potting new plants that had terrible roots. Oh, I'm a big fan of perlite. Besides providing good drainage, plant roots need air. Inorganic components are 2/3 of my total potting mix. But the 2/3 is made up of other inorganic rocky gritty components. Of the 2/3 inorganic components, perlite varies between 40 - 60%. So perlite is the primary component of my inorganic mix components. The Perlite I like to use is medium to high in particle size. In fact, some of the particles are so big in the product I buy, sometimes I find myself pulverizing the perlite with some rocks in my hand. I do that when making up a potting mix for young plants that are still in 2" nursery size plastic pots. I also use the finer stuff in roughly similar proportions when propagating succulents from leaves.
Awesome video we thank you from Winnipeg. I always though perlite was a synthetic product. My wife and I have a garden off of Lake Manitoba and try and grow squash but the soil is basically crap. so I'll be watching more of your videos to learn more
@@GardeningInCanada Very clayish and silty. even though its a old farmers field where our cottage is we do our best. this years crop was carrots and squash both did well
You said perlite only last about five years . What should we use for drainage in their soil for fruit trees ? I live in Washington state .We get a lot of rain with clay soil . Thank you for sharing .
I’d like you to do a video on using wood ash to prep in ground gardens, raised beds and containers in the fall for spring gardening. I hear it adds potassium to the soil and this is a good thing. I know my cooperative extension said to be careful with adding it as it can raise the ph. What I heard on a channel is that if you put it on in the fall it has a chance to break down over the winter and that come spring the soil is back to a neutral ph. If you put it on in the spring, then yes it will raise the ph. BUT you would really have to put on a lot to effect the ph. So if you are only sprinkling a fine layer over the top in the spring the wood ash will not raise the ph. Is all this true?
Yea so it’s an awesome additive in moderation. The issue is if you put too much on you end up with also a toxicity response from some plants. I will do a video on this!
Hello from Athens, Greece, which is one of the top exporting countries when it comes to perlite (I had no idea before getting into plants), zone ~9a/10a Mediterranean (even though it currently feels like zone 1a...and while every other area in the planet is getting warmer, it feels as if we are getting colder!!). ❄️ I don't think I've ever seen coarse perlite, but I'm using the medium sized one a lot and I think I'll be adding some more pumice, in my new potting mix for the lucky plants that will be coming indoors, in the next couple of weeks. Again, thank you for this very informative video, have a wonderful weekend!! 😊
Susanna from Alberta zone 3a/2b ish... i find peat moss gets heavy after a while so i do like adding the perlite to it. Would it hurt to add styrofoam chips to the potting mix? for porosity and less weight.
Thats a really good question & I could do an entire video on this. I actually do this (to a point) except I use pool noodles 😂. It’s 110% doable but definitely has limitations.
Should I still add 1/3 perlite to this potting mix which has the following ingredients? 1. (Coco Peat) 2. (Burnt Soil) 3. (River Sand) 4. (Rice Husk) 5. (Organic Fertilizer) 6. (Black Soil) 7. EM (Effective Microorganism) Thank you.
Hello! That was great, new subscriber here. I grow trichocereus in Australia, I add a lot of perlite or pumice to regular potting soil. As much as 1:1 Do you have a similar video on pumice? :P
PS little fiming tip from the Inet. the circle light in your glasses is distracting so: Instead of positioning your ring light right in front of you, move the light to one side, raise it up and angle it down. You'll still get the ring light's glorious light, but the glasses glare is gone.
I’m new to your vlog & new to succulents. I have a few & I want to collect more. I’ve watched a few vlogs on beautiful & so colourful succulents. I have bought soil specifically for cacti or succulents. So is it good to add perlite & what brand of perlite can you recommend? Thank you! 😘😘
I do use perlite in seed start mix roughly 20% I will increase that. I make my mix with 20% peat 20% (commercial) compost (bark and grass) 20% field soil, and 20% this and that Mostly 4 year old horse manure.
To be honest, I'm quite surprised that people talk about the potential fluoride toxicity that much. Perlite is usually made of felsic composition rocks, which are not known to be the greatest source of fluoride (maybe some minor amounts of fluorite mineral that can release a little bit of fluorine, that's all).
I added sand for drainage but made a mistake because I used fine sand and it stopped up the drainage! Makes sense but didn’t think of that until it happened. So make sure to use coarse sand!
They are different and I actually have a video coming out about pumice here shortly but overall it’s your choice they act the same. Pumice just lasts longer
Does perlite harm worms in the garden. I added 2 cu ft of perlite to my raised garden bed mix. The bed was 4x4 feet and 10 inches deep. That’s about 14 cu pt.
@@GardeningInCanada yeah, I was like, it’s soft like pop corn. I thought it was weird that she said that. That’s what I was told by someone but I had never heard that. Perlite is in all kinds of bagged soil products.
No it’s fine. I mean there are sharp “clays” out there but that’s not one of them. Plus the mucus is going to make it so they are pretty well protected
I've been looking for Horticultural pumice. Geez...seems everything I'm looking for is out of stock or triple the price. Hopefully next year supply will be better.
@@Bons_Eye yes you really got to shop around too you could pay $25 for just one quart or for a whopping eight quarts, depending on the Amazon seller! But it's so worth it when you find a good price!
@@GardeningInCanada would love to hear you talk about Pumice! I added to all my potted plants for aeration & good drainage... I recently got into succulents and it's perfect for that, doesn't stay wet for long!
Ooooo that’s a good question umm... lava rock but lava rock will alter the pH of the soil. So second would be pumice, however there is obvious weight to that.
I was so very surprised to find out that the density of eggshell was about 40% (g/cm^3) higher than that of sand, which makes it kind of silly to use it as a replacement, which is something I was interested in for it, as both perlite and charcoal are too light and float on the surface causing other problems, like a general overall messiness. Anyway if there is something with a density between sand and water, that is also easy to get, (prolly something like organic matter), but still if such a thing exists it would be perfect~
Yea I wonder. Sometimes the actual break down of the product is a factor too, how it performs year one may not be the same as year two if it’s not refreshed.
Ohhh I keep forgetting to do this I’m a zone 6a (Indiana) well according to the internet it used to be 5b but changed to 6a in 2012 or something 🤷♀️ idk I don’t understand it lol
I mix some orchid bark, charcoal, small perlite, and some medium and small pumice into store-bought cactus soil for all my plants, except for spider plants. I noticed that my spiders stopped dropping leaves when I put them in just orchid bark, pumice and basic potting soil. Pretty weird because it had perlite and a less airy medium when I bought it.
@@GardeningInCanada I wanted to mention it to you because it seemed weird that it had coarse perlite in its nursery pot, but they reacted that way when I just added more soil and perlite when it needed a repot. I use promix cactus mix, pumice from BC, and the perlite is from Early's (Saskatoon).
Checking in from Southern Ontario, thanks for your videos! As a new gardener I've been trying to learn as much as I can this season. Question about this video though, I can't seem to find which perlite brand you recommend?
Hi, very informative video! Quick question, do you think medium size perlite is still a valuable option to add to potting soil with the purpose of increasing aireation? I can't find the bigger or coarse perlite and the only one i can get is the medium size which is 2 mm to 3 mm, thank you from Argentina :)
Thanks Ashley I enjoy your videos throughly, thank you for sharing your hard work into what we all love. All this bro science on grow forums drives me crazy. Can you settle a debate I'm being persecuted for... great white mycorrhizae I take a pinch and put it in water with hydroguard and mist my cuttings that I'm trying to root. My theroy is not the mycorrhizae but the benificals that are in it do in fact provide protection and aid for my baby girls. Would love if you made a video about "brewing" mycorrhizae I want to put the powder in a tea and theroy Is it will multiply like crazy making a one time purchase of mycorrhizae practicle
1650 to 1700+ degrees. I work at site making it. If it wasn't in potting soil. The soil will stick together like clay and kill the plant. Canada buys from USA for their plants. Perlite is in basic soil already. Common baught is 6x10
I'm in Maryland...have wanted to add really good drainage to my garden soil because of rhododendrons and azaleas.....So called "builders sand" is usually recommended--but I have done a pH test using rinsed and distilled water and find it to be extremely alkaline....but using Perlite would break down...think you said five years! The pH of my house water, and water that I use for gardens tests at 6.2.... Have tested chicken grit...rinsed several times, using distilled water again....and it too is terribly alkaline...Pumice would be prohibitely expensive...so guess coarse Perlite is it.....any other suggestions?? Thanks....and a video on pH and how it affects plants, and even the use of chemicals on plants would be great.
@@GardeningInCanada "grit" is a type of gravel used for chickens for their "crop" to grind up food..which is somewhat smaller in size....testing even that product with distilled water revealed how alkaline it also is...
My friend I'm here from Arizona and I use your videos to help me grow marijuana 😇 I love your videos thank you for sharing your hard work for us to learn
Hello, I'm watching you from Hungary :D I'm not sure about my current climate zone, though. XD It was about 6a in my childhood, it's more like warm 7a - cold 7b now and warming steadily (Last winter the minimum was -7 °C so it's getting really weird)
@@GardeningInCanada We have the Hungarian Meteorological Service, they are doing all the climate modelling along with weather forecasts, air quality monitoring and the like. The Ministry of Agriculture is doing all they can to adjust, too. People would notice even without their help, the weather is getting warmer & really unpredictable, and it was always a bit warmer here than the country average. The agriculture did suffer because of this, the pest population got really boosted because of the lack of hard frosts, and mediterranean pests are coming, too. For example the walnuts on my parents' walnut trees were all black this year because of a walnut husk fly without any natural enemy here. :/ I really miss the snow, btw, even if we have some, it melts during the day. :( On the plus side, I can now try to plant some more exotic plants.
@@GardeningInCanada There are already many gardens with larger Musa basjoo in them (those grow quite fast), and some larger windmill palms. A city near us already planted some Pinus pinea as street trees (it's always a degree or two warmer in the city). People really got into the mediterranean plants :D In the last 2 years I planted some test plants, too, like holm oak, pomegranate, an Eucalyptus parvula, a crepe myrtle, a hardier Nerium, windmill palm, and I have Arbutus unedo and a hardier Colocasia cultivar waiting to be planted, among others. I don't really know if they will survive for long, but I had to try :D
No but there are replacements to perlite like pumice, leca, rice husks. I’ve gone through most of these in the series but pumice would be the most similar ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sCsuKHCLVqY.html
@@GardeningInCanada The minimum requirement for a soil scientist position at USDA-NRCS or USDA Forest Service is a 4-year Bachelor of Science degree that includes 30 semester hours in the natural sciences (e.g., biological, physical, and earth science) and 15 semester hours in soil science (e.g., soil genesis and morphology, soil chemistry, soil physics, and soil fertility). Most of the major universities that still have a soil science program now offer soils courses only at the graduate level.
@@joemug4079 yes I know... I did that exact degree. I was one of three from the University of Saskatchewan Agricultural & Bioresources Professional Collage. In order to obtain it via them I needed to have a minimum 6 courses per term for four years ranging from plant/agro food science, physics, biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, geography, engineering, environment science and toxicology. Plus a publish literature review supervised by a department professor. And then afterwards/too this day you need to be tested yearly & submit a list of all the scientific journals you studied in a period of one year to hold a professionalisms certification with the board of agrologists in your country to legally be able to work.... not only that the university I received my bachelors of science with is the top agriculture collage in the world. so I’m confused as to what your point is?
