Hi Ray,

As always, thanks for your additional insights - pH is something I have been avoiding a bit since I am intimidated. I am VERY pleased to know that NYC water will be so close to RO and I will adjust from there. I will look into pH testing also.

As for now, I have been using just a regular, run of the mill 20-20-20 fertilizer and I also have a liquid MSU fertilizer that I bought with the First Ray's starter pack. Unfortunately, I bought the MSU for tap water and not pure water (I just had no idea that NYC water meant low pH) so I will have to re-buy.

To reply to your other thought that maybe I didnt pre-soak well enough, I actually rinsed thoroughly in fresh NYC tap water, then soaked for 48 hours in NYC tap and finished with a 24 hour soak in properly diluted K-L-N. I did not soak in epsom salts, etc. - please let me know if you would suggest additional soaks. I have a ton of PrimeAgra and would be more than willing to swap out the current PA!

As to the soak - what was the volume of liquid compared to the medium? I use at least a 2:1 ration, usually more like 3:1

I know this wasn't directed towards me, but I thought I would chime in :biggrin: I didn't know there was a specific volume of liquid to be using for the presoaks. I was just putting in enough liquid to cover the Prime Agra, is that a no no?

hi, I didnt know that there was a specific/recommended volume for the presoak either, so it is just pure dumb luck that I use a very large volume of water. I would think at least 3:1.

I don't know that there is a specific ratio, but the greater the water volume compared to the medium, the faster the residues will be extracted.

As the concentration of a substance dissolved in water increases, the rate at which more can dissolve decreases.

Time is the other factor - long soak is better than short.

I typically keep some material in a vat of water, just in case I need to repot something, and sometimes it'll sit for a month or more between uses.

Ray, how do you feel about boiling the Prime Agra for about a half an hour before use and then rinsing to extract the residue? Does this remove most of the residue or harmful substances. That is what I did when I last ordered Prime Agra. My plants have been in the Prime Agra for about 3 months (some transplants from regular medium, some transplants from another LECA) and are all doing wonderfully. I have a Cat. that I bought with mostly rotten roots and it is now putting out about 20 new roots in the Prime Agra!

Ray

Thanks for the information. I think this thread will save a lot of roots.

Joella, heating certainly enhances the solution of residues, but it seems to me the proof is in the pudding (or in this case, in your pot!)

Hi everybody,
As a follow-up, I wanted to report that several of my worst-hit plants have begun to bounce back really nicely. Though one is in sphag and bag, the Bulb lilacinum has begun putting green growing root tips out of what I thought were lost-cause roots (not all of the burnt roots are recovering this well, but some is better than none!), and my Cirrho Lovely Elizabeth Buckleberry - which I almost pulled out of S/H and put into sphag and slat basket - has put out a lovely, thick new rootlet.

After a lot of thought and all of your wonderful input, I know believe that I burnt those roots with bad timing. I misted with a water + superthrive and not with just water, not realizing that the top layer of LECA was so critical and probably more ready for flushing - not for an application of any fertilizer-type solution.

I want to also say that S/H is working wonders for me. I genuinely believe that the roots my S/H plants put out (even if they were pouting or I damaged them) are thicker and more vigorous than in other media.