CHC Chips Prepping

For those that use CHC this is how I prep them using fresh water from the pond.
I fill the contaners with pond water and place another one on top of it. this sinks the chips in fresh pond water. I leave them be for a day or two and change out the water. and redo the process again.

The 2Nd photo is some CHC that has been soaking for about 1 month they are ready to be used.

Guess what the 3thd photo is? No it's not peat. It's Coconut Coir soaking in a container of pond water to remove the salts. I use a bag that has very small holes that holds the coir. I will change the water out saving the coir and adding fresh pond water.

4th Photo this is my tool that I use to check it all with. I use the lowest EC values that I can get from soaking and washing CHC and coir.

Let me remind you that many container citrus growers use soil mixes for growing, Use what works for you. This works for me.

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Do you cation exchange?

I change out the water until I get a zero EC reading. Then I add 1/2-1 cup of S.T.E.M some Epsom salt, soak for a few days to a few weeks rinse and use. I always have a tub soaking and ready for use. They will not break down for years, and they are reusable by redoing this process over again. Dale

In our area, South East Texas, most growers use pine bark because it is available. The down side after about 2 years all the soil needs to be changed out because it turns to muck and holds too much water.

OK i read to mix equal parts potassium nitrate and epsom salts to remove the salts but each to his own i suppose.
I find the roots are very slow growing with dwarf citrus.Do you find that?

laidbackdood: I never used potassium nitrate for prepping CHC. I don't feel the need in doing so, by prepping them as I do in the above posting.

wow,thats a long time to soak.what does the ec reading mean?
So do you recommend soaking for a whole week then and rinsing every other day or something? cheers

An EC meter (abbreviation of Electrical Conductivity meter) measures the [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] in a [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]. Commonly used in [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...], [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] and [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...] systems to monitor the amount of nutrients, salts or impurities in the water [Only Registered Users Can See Links. Click Here To Register...]

Hi mate,what ratio of chc to coir do you use please? I am thinking of giving it a go.I have a bale of 1/2 inch chips and can get coir easy enough.I have the potassium nitrate and epsom salts as well but i didnt soak for anywhere near the length of time you do and the tree didnt go very well.I wonder if that was the reason.Do you add slow release fert to the chc/coir mix or anything else when you actually pot with this mix?cheers

laidbackdood: I don't use coconut coir with my citrus mix. I use Miracle-Gro Potting mix with the chc, using a 3-1 or 4-1 mix of chc and Miracle-Gro. This works fine for me.
I do use coir for container avocados this mix is 1/3 coir, 1/3 Perilite, 1/3 Miracle-Gro Potting Mix.
As with chc, I also prep the coir the same way to remove any salts, I also add S.T.E.M and epsom salt to the final wash. Letting it drain very well before mixing.
Coir can be used in place of Miracle-Gro. In this case yes I would add time release to the mix. Seeing that I use Miracle-Gro which contains a small amount of time release I do not. After potting I do add a few tsp of time release to the top of the soil. Dale