Project Spring 2014

[Farhan Ahmed]

Sand will kill your plants and seedlings if not used properly

Please explain how sand will kill the plant? is it due to water retention ability? Salts or something else?

[rafique]

Sand will kill your plants and seedlings if not used properly

Please explain how sand will kill the plant? is it due to water retention ability? Salts or something else?

Conductivity of sand? when sand is dry there will sharp rise in temperature and seedling can be killed much quiker than in compost/bhal containing leaf mould etc.

[Tahir Khan]

Sand will kill your plants and seedlings if not used properly

Please explain how sand will kill the plant? is it due to water retention ability? Salts or something else?

Sand traps moisture..So care has to be taken.

another point that will explain it better is that even though sand drains quickly but still it raps a lot of moisture...this is the same reason that it is a preferred medium for people who don't want to water all the time...sand may look dry from above but it will be moist at the bottom in the root area.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Conductivity of sand? when sand is dry there will sharp rise in temperature and seedling can be killed much quiker than in compost/bhal containing leaf mould etc

If that is the reason.... i earlier recommended partial sun with watering twice. Today with twice watering & cloudy conditions, i felt that mixture is moister than required and i can let it go without watering tomorrow. Similarly 10-15% peat/compost is also there to retain moisture. Watering. i.e slight misting is not an issue and takes less than a minutes for 20 pots. Its excess water retention which can be more harmful for seeds/seedlings

[Farhan Ahmed]

Sand traps moisture..So care has to be taken.

another point that will explain it better is that even though sand drains quickly but still it raps a lot of moisture...this is the same reason that it is a preferred medium for people who don't want to water all the time...sand may look dry from above but it will be moist at the bottom in the root area.

Please compare sand with clay/silt in same atmospheric conditions. Are you suggesting that sand will retain more moisture than clay/silt/peat/compost????

[Tahir Khan]

Seeds should and must always be planted in a semi-shaded location....one day of neglect and burning sun and you will loose all your seedlings.

If you forgot or don't get the time to water some odd day...they will do fine if placed in a bright lit shaded spot.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Tahir Bhai for sake of above discussion, i experimented with the said media today. I watered the pot prepared for seed sowing thoroughly in the evening, and just as i checked right now, "Sandy mixture is very very lightly moist, rather i can say on dryish side, no sogginess, has not compacted. Perfect for seed germination environment (ofcouse in partial sun)

[Farhan Ahmed]

@Tahir. Semi shaded environment for pots. In situ neither it is possible nor the ground dries out quickly. Ground potential is marvelous.

[Tahir Khan]

Please compare sand with clay/silt in same atmospheric conditions. Are you suggesting that sand will retain more moisture than clay/silt/peat/compost????

Clay and silt are a different story, clay dries up rapidly in hot dry weather and get brittle...so not a good medium to grow plants..Bog loving plants can somewhat benefit from clay as it remains wet in less sunny days but im not sure about that.

Nurserymen use clay in planting cuttings as they claim that it remains moist during extreme heat and helps better in root development.

Silt is a good medium....especially river silt with its sandy texture is a perfect medium but it also behaves like clay depending upon the type of silt.

Sand will not remain moist longer than clay....compost/peat and silt also dry out slowly.

so....sand will win when it comes to drying out..reason ?

sand has larger particles than any of the above mentioned materials and taking the example of grit, sand has miniature particles similar to grit which will allow water to drain quickly and also let the water evaporate easily because of porosity.

[Tahir Khan]

@Tahir. Semi shaded environment for pots. In situ neither it is possible nor the ground dries out quickly. Ground potential is marvelous.

If you want to sow in situ...try removing 1-2 inches of earth and replacing it with the sandy mix before sowing...it will work.