millworkman said:
Mine smells like crayons once you get about 8 inches down. And red like crayon too. But it can be the best growing you've got if you do it right.
eh...
personally i dont think you should be adding clay to a potting mix... but clay is a simple reality when you are growing in the ground.
its important to know WHAT clay you are dealing with becuase you have many types of clay... bentonite type clays hold lots of cations with their anions.
the non plastic clays that are friable are called kaolinite? they dont have these huge shear faces rubbing against eachother like sheets of paper... thats bentonite.
kaolinite clays are like... fish scales all mashed up and stacked nicely like a shuffled deck of cards? the stuff has less resistance to shearing so its more powdery.
sorry its been a LONG time since i took that geology class( online class LOOOOOL).
the kaolinite clays are shitty and dosent hold much charge. and dont consolidate real well so it drains better tan bentonite. i think mica is a form of kaolinite?
anyway if you have the bentonite clay a little will go a long way i suspect... like less than 10%. to much clay an actually cause problem where nutrients cannot move through the soil well enough.
i think if you have a clay rich soil, you actually need higher salinity and lower PH to get the same amount of nutrients to the plants if i remember right.
BIGGEST thiing with soils IMHO is air filled porosity and air permeability though. imho this should be number 1 in all soil mixes and soilless mixes. you should be getting at least 50% air filled porosity... stuff like rockwool and peat lite is way way up there like 90+ % air.
robbyjoe01 said:
Que looking at that grey block reminds me of what the Ozarks is- a big rock with a little dirt on top. You can keep your grey clay I have enough crap to till up
at least you can build good foundations! dont bitch lol.
the clay down here is so expansive... many measures need to be taken to ensure that foundation issues dont crop up.
guess how many new homes here have properly engineered fondations? its not many.
guess who has the biggest foundation repair industry in the USA? ill let you guess.