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coupedefleur
 
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534
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the Great Black Swamp
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I found some more references, and they may also shed some light on Todd's substrate w/backyard dirt:
Laterite article, also mentions Turface and Hartz PH5
Cat litter from the Krib
Substrate comparison
If you experiment with cat litter, use Hartz PH5. It is one of the few that is cheap, has no perfumes, etc, and does not make the water more alkiline. You can get 8 lbs for a buck at Dollar Tree.
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BuK
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bigfishopolis
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very interesting thread. i'm curious to look into this further now
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Yippy Scoo Dittles
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AnnArborBuck
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389
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Sylvania
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I tried some of that (thinking of using it for bonsai) and it turned to mush in the water. Does it normally do that?
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9 out of 10 voices in my head told me to do it.
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pundam
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749
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Toledo
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Coupe,
Thank you for posting these! I found that first one very interesting and appreciated the explanations being put forth in layman's terms.
And for the sake of argument, I must point out that the thired article mentions that one CAN use manure(which by the way my dirt is not 100 manure)... OKOK, it also mentions that it's got more cons than pros, but STILL! I'm not the only one who thought it might work! (so there.)
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Mary
I've got a mind like a steel....Ohh! Shiny! ::::wanders off::::
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hc8719
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1580
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Monclova, OH
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Paul, you always have something very 'interesting'... lol
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"Some people follow their dreams, others hunt them down and beat them mercilessly into submission" -Neil Kendall
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coupedefleur
Posts
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534
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the Great Black Swamp
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The PH5 has a variety of particle sizes, and the small ones do tend to form a mush. If you want a barrier layer, or microscopic particles for root health, that's just the ticket.
For bonsai, it is very bad, because you usuallly have a very shallow soil bed. With that you want something that drains very fast, like turface. The bonsai teacher I learned from demonstrated that with a sponge. If you saturate it and hold it flat it holds a lot of water. If you hold it vertically, a lot of water drains out. If you have soil that doesn't drain in a shallow container, the roots drown. ( I also mixed the bonsai mix at Ben Sell greenhouse when I worked there, and it contained lots of turface. )
At least with aquatic plants you don't have to worry about overwatering or underwatering them! 
PH5 is also really good for cat litter, if you've got cats.
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schambers
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1194
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Sylvania Township, Ohio
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I LOVE Ben Sell's! 
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If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales. - Oliver Goldsmith
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pundam
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749
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Toledo
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coupedefleur said :
( I also mixed the bonsai mix at Ben Sell greenhouse when I worked there, and it contained lots of turface. )
Ben Sells is my FAVORITE.
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Mary
I've got a mind like a steel....Ohh! Shiny! ::::wanders off::::
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