Thanks, everyone for your very helpful replies!
That's a good explanation Ray and the floaters do come out wet to the touch
so they must be absorbing some degree of water and therefore be able to wick some degree of water.
Sounds like a good idea mixing the floaters with the sinkers
I should experiement and find out but does anyone know if overnight soaking [rather than boiling and then soaking] also allows the sinkers to sink and seperate from the floaters?
It sure is a PITA if you ever spill hydroton
.. I'm considering using some scoria [lava rock] with it to help 'lock' it in place, but I love the ease of using it and semi-hydro.
I've been making pots out of soda bottles so they have a big lip/rim to stop escapees
I attached a photo of a Den. nobile var virginale, I was unsuccessful in getting it to establish in a basic bark mix [over spring/summer] so I semi-hydro'ed it a few weeks back. It is now putting out new root growth .. in winter no less!
[obviously the new ones are the white with green tips on the right as opposed to the dead roots on the left, in the second photo.. should I have trimmed those right back to the cane?
]