Kenna718
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:29 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Rust color in soil?

Hi there,
I have several woolly pocket planters for vertical gardening. A couple of my plants have rust colored soil on top and in the around the aeration slits in front. I just transplanted some chives and a Christmas Cactus into these pots one week ago. Is this bad? Any ideas/recommendations?
Kenna
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IMG_2587.JPG

Kenna718
Full Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:29 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Apologies for the upside down photos!

thanrose
Greener Thumb
Posts: 716
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:01 am
Location: Jacksonville, FLZone 9A

It's an accumulation of salts from your irrigation or possibly from soil additives. If you've seen your grannie's very old potted plants, they will have rusty yellow orange buildup, sometimes ivory at first, that is the same thing. You could pick this little bit off, but the real solution is perhaps too drastic for this time of year. Some plants you would submerse in water, and through osmosis, the salts would dissolve and transfer to the water until it reaches equilibrium with the soil: becomes isotonic. Then you drain the plant, continue to treat it as usual with the possibility of switching to rain water or distilled water or aquarium water to decrease any salts in your municipal water.

Some plants will not tolerate this flooding and you would have to repot with fresh soil.

This looks as if your plants will be fine for the rest of the summer. It's not a really bad buildup.



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