Moss fines and side effects on soil structure.

Will_Heath

I have been using a mix or 50% lava rock and 50% uncomposted fir bark for my ficus with great results.

This year I showed one of my ficus and prepared the soil surface for moss in the usual way, adding a thin layer of fines on top of my soil mix, placing the moss on top of that and then filling the area between the moss pieces with more fines. It only took a few months after the show for these fines to start impeding the water drainage.

The water was no longer running straight through the soil and out the drainage holes, it was actually starting to pool for awhile on the soil surface, something that is rare for me considering the size of particles that I use.

I decided to have a look at what was happening below the soil surface to cause this and what I found was that the fines had worked themselves down and through the soil, filling up spaces and creating a layer of wet muck on the bottom.

I had defoliated this ficus just over a month ago but the foliage was coming back nicely and the growth was good so I decided to do a quick repot. I removed very little of the feeder roots, just leaving about 1 inch of space around the pot edge. I did take advantage of the repot to remove a root that was growing straight down, I repotted this root as a root cutting.

The problem was quickly and easily solved and the fig hasn't so much as had a leaf droop.


1) My Ficus Soil Mix Ingrediants Fir Bark and Lava Rock about 1/8 inch in size, that round shiny thing is a quarter.

2) A 50/50 mix of lava rock and fir bark

3) The Ficus before, it was defoliated just over a month ago

4) Roots

5) Roots

6) Notice the layer of fines that worked to the bottom creating a mucky mess over and around my screens.





Will Heath

Attached Images

	soil ingrediants.jpg (27.9 KB, 55 views)
	ficus mix.jpg (40.5 KB, 62 views)
	ficus before.jpg (34.4 KB, 68 views)
	ficus roots 0.jpg (35.7 KB, 58 views)
	ficus roots 1.jpg (44.9 KB, 52 views)
	ficus roots 2.jpg (58.4 KB, 84 views)

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Carl_Bergstrom

Will,

Isn't that layer of muck at the bottom as much a consequence of your organics breaking down as it is a consequence of whatever fines you put on the soil surface?

-Carl