River Sand - from my creek...

I live right on a creek which is full of sand

Would you recommend using it though? It's coarse sand.

Do you think it would need treating? If so - I assume 20 - 30 minutes at 200'C in the oven would do it...

It might be my job for this weekend. Anyone wanna come over and help me cart a few buckets of sand from my river to the house? It's only 1km away. There's some great cactus growing there too....

Plus you can take a bucket for yourself.

I already use the stones and some of the sand as a display top in the pots of the cacti now. But I am wondering what diseases, if any could actually live in the sand. If it's weed seeds we're killing, that's not a big deal, they can be plucked out as they emerge.

So I guess really my question is - does the sand from my creek require treatment?

I'd sterilise it , and probably wash it first (not with the creek water by the way)

Also, how fine is it?

It's not that fine.. it's quite coarse - sort of equivallent to the propergation sand from bunnings.

Tell me though, what exactly am I sterilising it from?

bacteria, germs microbes... anything that might attack your seedlings. All you have to do it bake it in the oven to sterilize it. It's not hard to do, but given that it came from the river, I would.

Parasites, diseases, fungal pathogens etc. sounds like good stuff. Let me know how it goes.

Will do...

Why not come over tomorrow and help me cart it through (haha). We can have a bbq later!

slim6y wrote:

Will do...

Why not come over tomorrow and help me cart it through (haha). We can have a bbq later!

lucky bastard... bbq 'n' nice weather its not evrn winter yet, and I cant wait for summer!

umm because you live about 3000 k's from me and even further from calycium lol apart from that I'd love to.

Bloody winter here already San mate, must think about moving somewhere warmer soon.

Slim,
before you ask HOW TO STERILISE...

How to Sterilize

Perhaps mid north QLD would be good

BBQ Tomorrow: Slim's place.3400Kms in 12 hours by Car....
let me think about that........................
nope.
But your more than welcome to come to my place and I'll GIVE you a bag of sterilized soil, and a FREE packet of seeds

I tell ya tho... it's tough living with 9 months of 18 - 30'C every day. I don't know how I do it.

But with the smooth (and natural beauty of this area) comes a fair whack of rough...

I've battled through several cyclones - including Larry... Every tree in the street I lived on was ripped out of the ground... all except one... Luckily it was the one behind my room. Though I was a bit cowardly and set up shelter underneath the breakfast bar.

I've had to live through severe flooding and weeks where no food from south of Townsville could come through...

but you know... we always amuse ourselves



That was after the flood waters subsided Before you couldn't even see the culvert at the end of my driveway!



This is the other side of my road one day after the rains had stopped... This is my creek You know... the one I get the sand from...

Cool photos,
now I know where all the water I've been trying to put on my garden went!!!

trigonus wrote:

Bloody winter here already San mate, must think about moving somewhere warmer soon.

A Men

thanks for the info on serilising the sand. I've been microwave my potting mix exp if it has been used for something else. a couple of supermarket bags one in side the other and a large cup of water added. high for 8 minutes then sit out side so the steam goes right through the mix and the bag cools. not sure if its too long but 5 gets seeds gerninating in the bag of mix if I dont tip it out for a whilehave to get some more ant gravel so better give that a blast too..

What have you been doing this morning?

Well, I've already biked down to the river and got a bucket of sand and now it's in the oven roasting... Will leave it in there for around 35-45 minutes.

The sand as shown....



So is this any good? It looks more coarse than the stuff i got at bunnings though. But I think when mixed with potting mix it could be pretty good.

Sand looks good. You might want to sieve it to break out the different sizes for different vars. Eg ariocarpus course. Lithops fine

Thanks calycium... I might do that.

What ratio do you use when you mix with potting mix?

Me, I normally put a cup of sand in with each cup of professional potting mix (bunning type) because I believe that it is not sandy enough and too general.

Sometimes I throw in 10% pertlite too for aeration. With Astros I use 70% sand.

Then I normally put a layer of fine sand (for Lithops or tiny seed) or course sand for astros and arios and the like.

It depends on the seed and plant type.

You can really go into it with granite chips, limestone and all sorts of mix to mimic the natural conditions of the seed. Depends on how much effort you want to put in, it can get awkward, but the more rare and difficult the seed, the more you should mimic all conditions.

All cooked and ready for action

Turned a nice brown colour... will look awesome. I will get a seive I think from the hardware shop and use that to filter out the fine and the coarse.

I found a landscaping place that sells those 20L whit buckets with lids for $2 each, so I will fill a few of those with the varying sizes maybe.

In my experience sterilising soil can be a bit hit and miss (and a lot of work). I think completely wiping out all the microbes in the soil (which includes a mixture of mostly benign/beneficial bugs and a smaller number of harmful bugs) leaves the slate clear for the harmful bugs to proliferate if they get back in.

I use an alternative approach that seems to work well- I make up my mix from various components, dampen it to an even level (not wet, not dry). I then leave it sit in a drum for a few months. This seems to give the microbes time to settle into their new environment. For seedlings I do the same but fill up my pots, water them, and put them in plastic baggies a few months before I need to sow. I then just stir up the soil surface with tweezers before sowing to help the seedlings attach and add a little more water if needed.

My local creek has lovely coarse sand as well- I will be trying it soon in my plants to see how it goes. I think I will wash the worst of any mud/sediment out (even that may not be all that important) then let it dry in a drum for a while.