Bulb potting mix

[Maggi Young]

Anne, bless you!

[mark smyth]

Can I re-use a mix containing lime sand from a project that didnt happen?

[mark smyth]

I got to work this afternoon mixing by hand and repotting some pots of Colchicums. I was horrified to find Wood Lice have eaten lots of my Colchicums and Tulips. Does anyone know of a Wood louse killer? I'll have to bait the greenhouse

[Maggi Young]

Can I re-use a mix containing lime sand

Not too sure what you mean by "lime sand" Mark but I would be cautious about using anything with too high a PH

I can think of lots of people who have got a great remedy for slaters/ woodlice.... bantams 

[mark smyth]

lime stone sand

[annew]

Friends Of Woodlice would say that they only clear up already damaged vegetable matter, and that your colchicums etc were already in dire straits before they started.

[Maggi Young]

I was going to say the very same thing, Anne, after I had finished a post about the new indices added to the online Journal Index page ! I think the bulbs were surely in trouble already. Too wet/dry, tak  your pick!
See the new Index improvements, please: Glassford Sprunt has been hard at work again and has come up with new indices by Author and Subject to make the Index much more workable.See the index in the main site, here: http://www.srgc.org.uk/index/SRGC%20Introduction%20&%20Index.pdf

[Carlo]

Even people who aren't friends of wood lice (our sow bugs) would say that they haven't eaten a 'healthy' bulb. These little crustaceans enjoy damp habitats--which make it likely that your dormant bulbs were actually, dare I say it, rotted. The little wood lice were probably just doing a clean up job.

[mark smyth]

Definitely not rotten Carlo. I knew I should have taken a photo. The flesh they were in was white

[ChrisB]

I think I'll check the state of my bulbs BEFORE I go to the trouble of mixing the compost lol

[mark smyth]

Chris by far the bulbs are OK and just like Ian shows us the roots are mostly crammed in the lowest section of the pot. It's amazing how far on some of the Colchicum roots are even though the mix is dry

I'll have to source a sand next week that has much more grit in it

[David Nicholson]

Does anyone know of a Wood louse killer? I'll have to bait the greenhouse

http://www.growingsuccess.org.uk/detail.asp?ID=Woodlice+Killer+Powder&cat=DeadFast

BUT I agree with everyone else, I doubt the woodlice were the real problem!

[David Nicholson]

Can I re-use a mix containing lime sand from a project that didnt happen?

Your Iris retics and most Bearded Iris wouldn't object to some lime. Can't remember where I read it but this year when I re-potted my Iris retics I rolled the bulbs around in Dolomite Lime before I potted them. Many of your Primulas have a liking for lime as well. My potting mix for my Auriculas and my Primula marginta hybrids, and my Primula pubescens includes a couple of good tablespoons full of Dolomite Lime to a bucketfull of potting mix. I also top dress them with limestone grit.

[mark smyth]

Ok they were the guilty party in the holes. The culprit must have run off

[jomowi]

Mark

I suspect your woodlice had eaten all the rotten tissue until they produced clean fresh plant material.  If I remember correctly blowfly larvae have been used to do the same thing in hospitals and the battlefield, i.e. clean wounds.  Woodlice certainly do a good job in my compost heap where millions of them help break up the deposited plant rubbish.  I wouldn't be without them.

Brian Wilson Aberdeen