Posted by:
jgragg
at Wed Nov 7 08:18:25 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by jgragg ]
Hi all,
Like probably most of you, I'm always on the hunt for "better". This includes substrate options.
I've seen a lot of positive input on cypress mulch. As far as its "herp husbandry tech specs", yeah it's pretty good. Its biggest "technical" drawback is probably its coarseness, which means when you spot-scoop you remove quite a bit of your substrate.
However there are other drawbacks to using cypress. Chiefly (through my filter as a wildlife biologist), mulching bald and pond cypress is not a sustainable practice; they grow ridiculously slowly, even here in Florida. Techniques for their natural regeneration are not perfected, either. Before the development of mulch as a product stream, timber harvests in bald and pond cypress' range tended to leave the cypress on the landscape, unless they were of sawlog size (which down here takes about a century). Now, with the mulch market, there's an economic incentive to cut younger regenerating cypress stands, leading to a homogenization of the landscape (instead of unharvested "islands", we see wall-to-wall clearcuts). Do you know how many herp and other wildlife taxa use(d) these cypress stands?
Luckily we have an alternative that lacks this environmental drawback and is, I believe, superior in its "tech specs": coir. I'm sure you all know it, but have you tried the "chunky" stuff, in bulk? It looks and acts a lot like cypress, but the largest pieces are smaller, so spot-scooping removes a lot less of your substrate.
I'm buying 5kg compressed bales for about $12; these expand to just about fill a 20-gal tote (compare this to the little fine-fiber bricks at your local pet shop for $5 apiece). Hydroponics shops sell the stuff. They're all over the internet.
I don't actually read the rules of posting; this may not fly, but the product I've been buying is:
Botanicare CocoGro Coconut Fiber
Check it out, I think you'll love it as much as I do. Thanks for your consideration.
cheers,
Jimi Gragg
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 good alternative to cypress - jgragg, Wed Nov 7 08:18:25 2007
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