According to my bags of the stuff, vermiculite retains moisture and perlite aids drainage.
I use vermiculite mixed with compost for seedlings as supposedly it prevents them damping/dampening (?) off and I use perlite to lighten composts i.e for my cactus.
Thats great thank you for explaining, trust me to get the wrong one, mind you it will be great when growing my veg from seed and my seedlings. I wont add the vemiculite to my sick cordyline then as trying to dry it out and that will make it water logged again.
I'm not sure how it stops seedlings damping off unless it draws moisture out of the compost but it has worked for me since I started using it. I put a layer on top of compost for cuttings too but I'm not sure if it is required or I just made it up...
A few years ago I bought gigantic bags of both the pearlite and
the vermiculite from a garden centre .not seen any this size since but in case anyone's interested I was told recently you can get both from builders merchants and it works out cheaper .
I used to use a powder specially to stop damping off when seed sowing .it was in a tin , chesshunt compound.sprinkled on the seed I think when sowing. It was very good.the vermiculite keeps the seed warm.
Thats good to know, I bought a bag of perlite from garden centre yesterday and it cost me £15 for a 10 litre bag, I was shocked, soooo expensive will defo look at the builder merchants in future.
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According to my bags of the stuff, vermiculite retains moisture and perlite aids drainage.
I use vermiculite mixed with compost for seedlings as supposedly it prevents them damping/dampening (?) off and I use perlite to lighten composts i.e for my cactus.
Thats great thank you for explaining, trust me to get the wrong one, mind you it will be great when growing my veg from seed and my seedlings. I wont add the vemiculite to my sick cordyline then as trying to dry it out and that will make it water logged again.
I'm not sure how it stops seedlings damping off unless it draws moisture out of the compost but it has worked for me since I started using it. I put a layer on top of compost for cuttings too but I'm not sure if it is required or I just made it up...
A few years ago I bought gigantic bags of both the pearlite and
the vermiculite from a garden centre .not seen any this size since but in case anyone's interested I was told recently you can get both from builders merchants and it works out cheaper .
I used to use a powder specially to stop damping off when seed sowing .it was in a tin , chesshunt compound.sprinkled on the seed I think when sowing. It was very good.the vermiculite keeps the seed warm.
Thats good to know, I bought a bag of perlite from garden centre yesterday and it cost me £15 for a 10 litre bag, I was shocked, soooo expensive will defo look at the builder merchants in future.
Thanks phillipa, thats great advice and I will go and do that now and hopefully save the poor thing.