Cat Litter / Clay / Turface ?

[Madalyneb]

Hello,
Eventually I am planning on doing some degrafting of astrophytum per Hanazono's instructions/methods.

I bought some clay cat litter to fill the graft cavity during rooting, but it turned out it was raw clay so I won't be using that. I found a local source of Turface (fired clay) and bought some. I ended up buying two bags - one has particles around the size of gritty bonsai soil. The sales fellow convinced me to buy a second bag with finer particles. He said they were around 1mm, which sounded perfect since that's what I recalled Hanozono using for rooting degrafted cacti. However, the particles are actually *much* finer - more like fine sand. I'm not sure if this is going to work or not. On the bag it says it won't cake or clump, but I'm not sure if it will eventually just fall down through the substrate and clog it up (?). I'm attaching a couple of pictures. Not sure if I should bring it back, or try it for rooting, or if it might be good for another purpose like starting seeds.

Anyone used this or have any thoughts?

The name of the product is Turface Gamesaver and here is a link to the stats:
https://www.turface.com/sites/default/f ... .20.17.pdf

I'm also attaching a picture of the particles in my hand to illustrate size/texture
Thanks for any thoughts!

IMG_20190604_175500.jpg (107.44 KiB) Viewed 2971 times

IMG_20190604_175439.jpg (106.16 KiB) Viewed 2971 times

[Pereskiopsisdotcom]

I'll be following this closely because I've only rarely seen the term "fired clay" on the cat litter bag, just "clay" and "non-clumping." For some reason or another it is the cheaper alternative so I initially bought a few different 50 lb bags for about $30 CAD. I used to use a "fired clay" (according to the bag) that was a dark grey colour. Unfortunately it did get a bit mushy after sustained watering and did break down rather easily with force. I did however use it only in moderation to my normal mix of coconut coir, granite grit, and diatomaceous earth (marketed as floor dry). Recently a discovered a brand here in Canada (Fresh Start) that is also non-clumping and clay. It doesn't say whether it is raw or fired, but it is has a far more attractive colour (river stone with light and dark pieces), it doesn't break down to force (trying to break it in my fingers), and it doesn't get mushy when wet.

I've never had success with anything as small as you're trying. It either gets washed away or clumps right up. The description looks promising though.

Following Hanozono's advice, sprinkling grit has worked in rooting recent cuts. I have not specifically used clay though.

[Aloinopsis]

I am familiar with both kinds of litter you all are talking about because I have a puss for whom I've bought both. To be honest, even the "fired clay" types seem too...clay-like for me. I worry that they may clump or dissolve weeks or months later, without me knowing it.;

One test I used to do was to put half a cup of the litter/clay/grit in a clear glass, and fill it with hot water. Check after an hour and then the next morning to see how much (if any) is dissolved or melted as dust on the bottom. That will give a good idea as to how it will work in a pot over the short or medium term. But I'm not patient enough to monitor a cup of water-and-rocks over the course of a year or more.

[Hanazono]

I prepare various things for the coming spring in winter including potting-mix materials.
I mix clay grain in seed rising mix around 20%.
The clay grain is also used as cavity filler during rooting of degrafted scions.

I used clay base cat litter for several years. I sifted the cat litter and mixed coarse material in potting-mix for cacti.
Remained material also was shifted and removed fine parts and mixed it in seed rising mix.
The volume of remained is quite large and I still use the material after removing fine parts.

I shifted clay grain in this morning. I attached the photo for your reference.
https://cactiguide.com/forum/download/f ... w&id=68380

[Madalyneb]

I used clay base cat litter for several years. I sifted the cat litter and mixed coarse material in potting-mix for cacti.
Remained material also was shifted and removed fine parts and mixed it in seed rising mix.
The volume of remained is quite large and I still use the material after removing fine parts.

Thank you for your reply. Do you discard the fine parts? Is there anything they could be useful for? I'm attaching a better photo showing the particle size I have - is this about the size of the fine parts that you sift out?

Thanks again

M

a.jpg (116.38 KiB) Viewed 2904 times

[Pereskiopsisdotcom]

I prepare various things for the coming spring in winter including potting-mix materials.
I mix clay grain in seed rising mix around 20%.
The clay grain is also used as cavity filler during rooting of degrafted scions.

I used clay base cat litter for several years. I sifted the cat litter and mixed coarse material in potting-mix for cacti.
Remained material also was shifted and removed fine parts and mixed it in seed rising mix.
The volume of remained is quite large and I still use the material after removing fine parts.

I shifted clay grain in this morning. I attached the photo for your reference.
https://cactiguide.com/forum/download/f ... w&id=68380

This looks almost identical to the cat litter clay I'm using. The only difference is that mine has a bit more variety in colour.

[Hanazono]

G'day Madalyneb,

The attached photo is discarded fine parts.
I do not use these parts for any.

Frank
https://cactiguide.com/forum/download/f ... w&id=68393