New Primeagra question/problem

[Ray]

"XS" is probably right about soluble minerals in the medium (in addition to the mineral transport). That would also explain why I rarely see it, as I always soak and rinse thoroughly before using the stuff.

I do know that in the manufacturing process, the pellets are quenched pretty rapidly after firing, both to keep down dust and to cool them for rapid packaging. Who knows what's in that water???

[Heather]

Ray,

I emailed you this question a while back but never heard from you. Is there any nickel concentrated in Prime Agra? I am allergic, and also seem to be allergic to something in my growing area.

Thanks!
Heather

[xscd]

Originally Posted by Ray

(...)
I do know that in the manufacturing process, the pellets are quenched pretty rapidly after firing, both to keep down dust and to cool them for rapid packaging. Who knows what's in that water???

Ahh-- That's probably it. Anyway, it's easy to soak and rinse the PrimeAgra before use, and fairly easy to leach away the minerals in the first few weeks of watering, regardless of where the water-soluble minerals in brand new PrimeAgra come from, right? As I mentioned, my orchids don't seem to have been affected by the minerals anyway, although my Cape Sundew (which is hypersensitive to dissolved minerals in its medium) was affected to some extent. It seems to be recovering now, after a few weeks of extra water at watering time to leach away the dissolvable minerals.


As I mentioned previously, I like the new PrimeAgra and this particular issue seems minor and easy to resolve.

[Ray]

Sorry, Heather. I don't recall ever seeing such an email.

I honestly don't know, but nickel is not "concentrated" in processing of clays, and if it is present, it's likely in an oxide form that has been fired and bound to the structure.

[esungirl]

xscd seems to go along with what I said. After several waterings the crystal build up decreases. I think it just needs an extra leeching, I now hardly notice it in any of my plants. And our winter conditions are pretty dry right now.

[Heather]

Originally Posted by Ray

Sorry, Heather. I don't recall ever seeing such an email.

I honestly don't know, but nickel is not "concentrated" in processing of clays, and if it is present, it's likely in an oxide form that has been fired and bound to the structure.

No problem, thanks Ray. It was sort of a long-shot question.

[xscd]

Here is a photo I took today (Feb. 5, 2007) of the results of my test of the new PrimeAgra for water soluble minerals. I mentioned this test in an earlier post in this discussion thread.

What I did--
I took some fresh PrimeAgra out of the shipping box, both fine and coarse grade, and rinsed it well in collected rainwater to remove dust and external particles from the pellets. Then I placed the PrimeAgra into 16-ounce plastic beverage containers, filled each container to the top with pure fresh rainwater (collected from a metal roof into a clean container), then allowed the rainwater to evaporate completely over the course of a couple weeks. The results can be seen in the photo below.




To me this test suggests that there are water soluble minerals present in the PrimeAgra from the manufacturer. However, I would think that they can be easily leached out with one or two soaking and rinsing cycles before use, or with fairly frequent or heavy watering during the first few weeks of use.

Anyway, it was an interesting experiment. Best wishes all,

Steve / xscd

[Tindomul]

Wow, very interesting results. Thansk!

[sailor]

I recently started adjusting the pH of my watering/feeding solution to 5.9 and the deposits disappeared within a couple of days and haven't reappeared.

[xscd]

Originally Posted by sailor

I recently started adjusting the pH of my watering/feeding solution to 5.9 and the deposits disappeared within a couple of days and haven't reappeared.

Does that suggest that the deposits are alkaline?