Wetting Sphagnum

SciurusDoomus

SciurusDoomus

Anyone got any tips? When it dries out completely, sphagnum peat is an absolute pain in the rear to get wet! I have to soak my cups/pots/whatever for several hours to get the water to wick into the entire thing. How can I get peat to soak up water more quickly?
 
Bad batch? I dunno, whenever I use it it gets wet with something like a spray bottle. Actually, spraybottle might help because of how water will slide off dry soil. If you put it under, it sticks to itself and pulls off the other drops, with a spray the drops will stay on the sphagnum. This could take several sprays though.
 
Put it into a tub, put some water in, and then press on it.
 
Or I hear a couple drops of dish soap work.
 
edit: oh it sounds like you have it in a pot already? same things work, water on top with some pressure from your hand usually gets it to soak in for me...or use a wetting agent like dish soap.
 
cruzzfish said:
Bad batch? I dunno, whenever I use it it gets wet with something like a spray bottle. Actually, spraybottle might help because of how water will slide off dry soil. If you put it under, it sticks to itself and pulls off the other drops, with a spray the drops will stay on the sphagnum. This could take several sprays though.
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Potting soil like Pro-Mix comes with a wetting agent mixed in. It eventually wears off and a firehose wouldnt re-wet it.
 
McGuiver said:
You can use a wetting agent to help it. I will be expierimenting with Polysorbate 20.
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TWEEN? No thanks, brother. That said, I'd love to see your results if you get any.
 
mx5inpa said:
Put it into a tub, put some water in, and then press on it.
 
Or I hear a couple drops of dish soap work.
 
edit: oh it sounds like you have it in a pot already? same things work, water on top with some pressure from your hand usually gets it to soak in for me...or use a wetting agent like dish soap.
 
 
Potting soil like Pro-Mix comes with a wetting agent mixed in. It eventually wears off and a firehose wouldnt re-wet it.
Click to expand...
 
 
cruzzfish said:
Bad batch? I dunno, whenever I use it it gets wet with something like a spray bottle. Actually, spraybottle might help because of how water will slide off dry soil. If you put it under, it sticks to itself and pulls off the other drops, with a spray the drops will stay on the sphagnum. This could take several sprays though.
Click to expand...
Pressing, hand mixing, and spraying are usually what I do but it takes some effort. I usually brew up fertilizer mixes by the gallon and since the plants are only seedlings it lets me pre-soak new cups so they're already fertilized by the time the soil's wet enough to plant.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far!
 
I have heard aloe juice mixed with water was good.
Some people use a soap like Ivory to break up the surface tension but I would worry about the beneficial bacteria being affected by the soap.
 
I've heard the aloe or yucca juice will help, but never tried it.
 
Last week I put a bale in a caldron. Before I could get it completely wet,  it snowed, so I piled some on top.
It has melted  and rained a half inch, but I haven't checked how deep it wet it yet. :D
 
Use warm or hot water.  I mix mine in a bowl by hand first to get to the right moisture level and for that I don't even worry about the temp...but the hotter the water the faster it will absorb.   
 
SciurusDoomus said:
Good idea. I've never had a real reason to grow aloe until now.
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IMO if you're into organics getting an aloe plant is gonna give you big benefits.  Wetting agent, pest fighting, AACT food source, rooting hormone... have fun!
 
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