Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff zone 8 N.C.
Would a small flume with different mesh screens in the bottom, smallest mesh 1st, work in your situation?
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I have been looking into many different type of sifters, the best ones are gold mining types. Many small cheap gardening type sifters would be history after a few loads of my heavy wet river rocky/sandy soil.
I have had to "un-think" this process, and suddenly came to me, the answer was lying buried in weeds on my property. It's a large contraption I build to sift the clay Southwest soil - to make Adobe plaster! Now, normally you throw the initial stuff into this sifter, to collect the fines. But, I am going to patch the thing up, and use it the other way around, shovel stuff against it, and collect the "good coarse stuff" at the bottom!!!! This is AFTER my initial using a 1/4 inch screen to get the big rocks out.
But here's a huge thing, a lightbulb just went off in my head this afternoon, as I was prepping some whiskey barrels........and it possibly is a HUGE thing!!!! I have never seen this subject mentioned anywhere online in any sort of gardening forums........
There is a nearly SIX INCH difference in a whiskey barrel half - top to bottom!!!! So whatever moisture you put on top, comes together at the bottom to create way more than you intended from the top!!! You are basically funneling and collecting much more water than you think you are as you water from the top!
This is a really simple thing, and as I live off rain catchment water from my roof - (and all my musa is watered with this) I'm experienced in the ways you can catch water, and yet this slipped by me.
This difference in size, top to bottom probably wouldn't affect most plants, but for the most water sensitive (ie: Manini A'ea'e), I think it could have made a really big difference as I went into my colder months. Proof of the pudding, is my first winter, my A'ea'e did GREAT, in a straight pot, no problemo, and I wasn't even really that water stingy with it, I watered it along with all my other musa...... but it died in the whiskey barrel......
So bottom line, those nice pretty whiskey barrels are going to be used for other stuff, and I'm going to be a completely straight sided pot man from now on for water sensitive musa!!!!
While this possibly isn't the "straw that broke the camels back" (er, I mean killed my A'ea'e), it sure as heck didn't help!!!