Auxin Posted October 28, 2014 Anyone with a black walnut tree knows that the juglone in their tissues kills or stunts many plants. Six months ago I ran out of potting soil and still had a stack of bare root trichs. I looked around and saw pine needles with black walnut shells mixed in, so for shits and giggles I mixed in some dirt and planted the cacti in the funk. They all did great, doubled in size just like it was the proper soil mix. Just one experience, so not enough to gamble heavily on, but it at least seems obvious juglone is not horribly lethal to Trichocereus cacti. Just wanted to put that on the record somewhere 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zelly Posted October 28, 2014 If one searches long & hard, they will find a picture Nitrogen posted of the KGC mama plant in its natural environment, which appears to be a big pile of pine needles........ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted October 28, 2014 Yeah, pine needles are far underrated as a planting medium. Old dogma calls them allelopathic but, really, once they are brown that property is gone from the cone bearing evergreens. Other dogma says theyre too acid, which is an overstatement, or that they kill plants by 'stealing' all the nitrogen which might have a grain of truth in the short term in nitrogen needy plants that are not given fertilizer. Pee diluted to 1/10th is a very effective fix for that, even at 1/40th the plant could still get its share. I use evergreen duff as a major component of soil mix and as a soil amendment. For the soil mix I lay it out into a thick flat sheet and water it twice a day for a week before loading into storage bins, that way the stuff is moist and decomposing when I mix up potting soil. I use it successfully in varying ratios with more decomposed stuff and mineral for Trichs, Gymnos, Mamms, chilli peppers, tomatoes, vegetable seedling starts... good stuff. I've seen people successfully use chipped christmas trees as soil amendment in vegetable gardens. But black walnut is typically the bane of gardeners, lol, as the juglone blocks respiration in the roots of many plants. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites