TECHNO-MUCK!!!!!! - making better “keto”

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GBarb
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TECHNO-MUCK!!!!!! - making better “keto”

Post by GBarb »

If y’all haven’t worked it out yet, I’m a bit of a nerd with soils, feet’s and soul biology.

And when I came up against the idea of doing a slab planting and needing muck, and then looking at all the recipes and approaches out there, I thought to myself, they had to be a better “happy medium”.

So I put my head to work and came up with the following ingredients, a lot of them are interchangeable but I essentially wanted to put something together with ingredients that you can get at bunnos or similar outlets.

The idea behind my approach was a richer more complete planting medium, that was more poured to allow better exchange of oxygen and water while still being stable.

Porous component

Scoria fines (sifted below 3mm)
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You could use pumice fines as well I would think

Organic component

Mushroom compost fines sifted below 3mm
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The idea here was a carbon rich compost rich in fungi and humus, the coco coir also doubles as an organic component and a structural binder (more on that below)

You could exchange this for many things, peat, topsoil, worm castings (I wish I had some because that is why I would have used)

Binder and water retention

Sphagnum moss and coco coir

The strands act to keep things together and also absorb moisture and keep things wet and “swollen” to prevent it from cracking when it dries, at least that’s the idea.
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You could use one or the other, I used both as they offer different advantages

Clay

This is to make everything sticky, obviously, no surprise here.

I used enough to make things bond together, but so that a much ball would squeeze when ounces between the thumb and forefinger, instead of breaking up.

I used Chandlers cat littler, ATTAPULGITE. I got some to trial as potting media but upon almost immediately starting to dissolve in water I then found this use for it.

I just ground it up in the coffee grinder, you could also use a blender of food processor, obviously before you use it for the cats.
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I mixed this up in the following very approximate Ratios (emphasis on very), the only real thing you would alter is the clay and water volumes to get it more or less sticky.

MushroomCompost fines 5 parts

2.5 parts coconut coir
2.5 parts sphagnum (through sieve)

5 parts scoria fines

5-7 parts attapulgite clay dust

5 parts water

If I had to do this again I would go heavier on the compost component, perhaps less on the coir. Just to get it a bit darker, but once moss grows on it you won’t notice a thing.

I plan to keep this updated as time goes on to see how this mix goes.

This is a fluid experiment here, yes this has been done to deAth, but I think it can be done (perhaps) better.

A few pictures showing the finished product. You can see it is quite granular, but I’ll tell you right now, it’s sticky, mouldable, but also friable, it’s weird.

Full disclosure, this could be a complete failure, this is intended to learn and refine.

I welcome input.
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Watto
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Re: TECHNO-MUCK!!!!!! - making better “keto”

Post by Watto »

I will watch with interest.
I use a bit of muck from time to time thus the interest but the results will be difficult to determine if not compared against existing muck types.
I'll stay tuned.
Check out my blog at http://www.ausbonsai.com.au/blog/Watto" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
GBarb
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Re: TECHNO-MUCK!!!!!! - making better “keto”

Post by GBarb »

Just a different way of doing things for (hopefully) a good result, perhaps better, perhaps worse, hey that’s how we learn.

Got it all potted up now, pictures to follow, after I attack it with a die grinder a bit and throw some wire on it
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Re: TECHNO-MUCK!!!!!! - making better “keto”

Post by GBarb »

Pictures of the project now.

Will continue to update as moss growth covers etc, but it is staying nice and moist even with full sun on it.

This won’t be the final pot I don’t think, but in an effort to create a more compact root system and to practice my slab work, this will do,

This was actually a very shallow pot that I had no other use for.
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