Tesco cat litter - supply

[JaneO]

Whilst in Poundstretcher today I saw bags of Bob Martin non clumping cat litter? 10 kilos for £1.99. Does this assist anyone? I don't use it.

[iann]

Whilst in Poundstretcher today I saw bags of Bob Martin non clumping cat litter? 10 kilos for £1.99. Does this assist anyone? I don't use it.

10 kg?!? That would be a scary amount of cat litter, especially the calcined moler types. Bob Martin do at least two "non-clumping" cat litters. One is pink and one is grey. I haven't used either, but pink ones are probably OK in soil and grey ones are probably not.

[JaneO]

With apologies try 10 litre! It's red/grey bag in any other language than English. French/German....

[gerald]

10 litres is often about 10 kg

[JaneO]

Thanks Gerald! Not so stupid me then! Think they use litres because it is such a light product like perlite! I was only trying to be helpful when I posted!

[Purpletaz]

Hi All,

So do you all use cat litter instead of grit to make your soil mixtures? Could somebody advise on their soil mixes please? I've always used peat free compost mixed with grit and sharp sand and all my plants have always done really well. However, recently I have lost one Aeonium Kiwi and two Aeonium Sunbursts to what looked like rot as they just started going blacker and blacker. Maybe these are more sensitive than the Aeonium Schwarzkopf's I've been growing for a few years, and possibly need to try a different mix for the sunbursts?

[Tony R]

... I've always used peat free compost mixed with grit and sharp sand and all my plants have always done really well....

JI, grit and sharp sand for me!

[Terry S.]

I wouldn't use peat-free potting media for anything. The alternatives are still inferior and it is more difficult to manage watering, feeding, etc. When the alternative media contain such things as composted domestic green waste, you are asking for trouble. Retail bags of peat-free compost rarely indicate what is inside. The technology should improve in the future but it is not good enough yet. I think this is why many growers are turning to mineral-based composts but even these could disappear when the natural deposits of Akadama, moler clay, etc are mined out. And is it eco-friendly to transport coir or Akadama half way around the World and having all those local people shinning up coconut palms without any safety assessments? The ethics of using or not using peat for composts are not straightforward, particularly when much harvested peat is burnt in power stations.

[Alexander]

The ethics of using or not using peat for composts are not straightforward, particularly when much harvested peat is burnt in power stations.

Definitely true. Where I live we only have very few peatlands/moors so conserving the associated local wildlife is one of the reasons I don't use peat.

One of the more important reasons for me is that mineral substrates and coir or bark (if one needs organic components) are much less messy when you handle them. A simple rinse will leave your hands clean. What's true is that you have to put more effort/thought into providing the right nutrients/fertilizers.

[Phil_SK]

I've always used peat free compost mixed with grit and sharp sand and all my plants have always done really well.

Then stick with it. I think that far too many of us are searching for some magical elixir of a compost and don't take into account how well we know and understand what we're currently using. A majority on this forum use JI composts but I know, from bitter experience, that when I've used it it's fairly disastrous as my cultivation methods clearly aren't suited to it. Conversely, I used peat-free compost + grit and, later, + cat litter for over 20 years and found it ideal for me but I quite understand that for others it hasn't worked. My only problem with it became that it stopped working well after 8-10 years and I eventually decided to try something different (50:50 grit and cat litter). I knew it wouldn't be a smooth transition and it's really only this year, the third year, that I feel I know what I'm doing again. I'm not saying "never change your mix" but I definitely wouldn't make any radical changes lightly. That's not to say you shouldn't experiment with the odd plant.