If you want to learn more check out my article gardeningincanada.net/fluval-stratum-for-houseplants/ If you want to grab some stratum ➡️ geni.us/FtddR

This was a surprise video! I have been keeping planted aquariums for about a decade now, and have only ventured into terrestrial plants over the past 6 months or so. As such I'm much more versed in aquatic plant products rather than terrestrial. I have used both Fluval Stratum and ADA Aquasoil (a favorite in the hobby) with great success. The primary difference is that Stratum has minimal nutrient leech into the water column as there is less organic matter. ADA Aquasoil has a hefty amount of organic matter, and takes a few weeks to leech the excess ammonia before it is safe to add aquatic life. Both have strong buffering effects on pH and generally lower it to ~6-6.5 assuming there is no CO2 injected into the aquarium. This helps tremendously with foliar uptake of nutrients for those with harder water, and also helps with keeping delicate fauna like dwarf shrimp that prefer soft, low pH water with minimal kH. These soils help keep a stable, low pH despite the low-ish buffering capacity in the water itself. Aquasoil also tends to be a bit heavier which makes planting cuttings easier. Believe it or not the most effective way of growing plants is to use 2-3cm of potting mix or topsoil topped with another 2-4cm of sand/gravel. This definitely leeches nutrients and ammonia for the first several weeks, which can make algae an issue, but once established an aquarium with dirt will grow plants like nothing else. ADA Aquasoil was the original product that introduced a middle ground between the nutrient rich dirt method vs convenience of gravel. Another product that i've used for aquatic plants is Plantex CSM+B dry micronutrient mix. It's designed for agriculture, but is used in aquariums with great success as a cheap alternative to liquid fertilizers. I bought 2lbs of it back in like 2014 and still have some remaining. I like to mix it with distilled water and apply it as a foliar spray to my terrestrial plants and the mandarin tree which was showing signs of chlorosis bounced back with lush, green new growth.

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

I love surprises 😁

I’m using Stratum to root some hoya right night. I’m using it straight. It hasn’t been long enough to see results yet. But I’m excited to see how it works. The roots will be really easy to see in clear pots against the black material

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Nice! Let me know how this turns out

@allenpost3616

Жыл бұрын

I too just started several hoya cuttings and a maranta node cutting in fluval for the first time. How did your cuttings do with the fluval?

You are amazingly informative! Thank you for covering this topic! I have been trying to understand this conundrum with combining Fluval into my semi-hydro (Pon specifically) set ups. One of the reasons I am trying to put more and more of my houseplants into Pon, is the non-organic nature of it which eliminates fungus gnats. If I mix Fluval into the mix (which is organic) wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of that aspect? Or does the fact that these are rolled into balls make it so that it doesn’t harbor gnats? Or if used as a layer at the very bottom of Pon not allow gnats to enter? Also if mixing organic (Fluval) with in-organic (Pon), does that make rot issues more probable? I work so hard to remove every bit of soil off roots when repotting to Pon! Seems counter-productive! 😜 Thanks in advance for your time!

Yes so happy to see your review of this!! I don’t like to buy anything until I hear your take on it!! 🙏 thank you

@GardeningInCanada

Жыл бұрын

hahah awe

Thank you for the informative video. I have a bag of stratum ready to use for some repotting this weekend. Very interested to see the results!

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Woohoo! Repotting weekends are the best haha

Was excited to see you make a video about this. I’ve been using fluval stratum for about 6 months now and loving it. I started mainly using it for propagations and have noticed great results. I’ve also tried a couple of my fussy plants that I’ve struggled to make happy (like a philodendron brandtianum for example) in a mix of stratum and perlite and it’s finally thriving. I haven’t mixed it with soil yet but will try that too!

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Yea! That’s pretty awesome

@theresakennedy238

2 ай бұрын

Amazing!! What nutrients are you using as a feed if you don't mind me asking?

It's most likely montmorillonite hence why you don't see much difference in peat potting mix. They both have about the same meq/100g CEC values. Leca and perlite are bottom of the barrel hence it helps there.

Love your little bird, it was chatting away to you telling you to pet him/her lol. And no never hear of fluval stratum

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Hahaha yea ella has lots to say

I found your channel the other day when KZread recommended it. I subscribe today and I'm working through some of your old videos. I ordered fluval yesterday and received it today. My plan is to use it for initial potting of my water propped plants. (I also want to try pons but have been unable to find it anywhere - It comes and goes on Amazon but it's not currently available).

@GardeningInCanada

4 ай бұрын

Happy to have you on board!

"Fluval Stratum"..."Bless you!" 😂 Never heard of it! Learn something new everyday! You gave this product the thumbs up for house plants. What about for outside container plants, specifically vegetables? Thanks Ashley! Have a great weekend!

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful! you could but its expensive for anything large scale.

@kele1264

2 жыл бұрын

@@GardeningInCanada I'll have to pass on it then. I can't have plants inside. I caught my male cat eating the only 2 plants I ever brought in. I love the little bugger though.

I just found your videos and am finally being educated by an expert! I noticed the lovely monstera behind you and was hoping to learn the soil breakdown? I will be transplanting some cuttings here in Hawaii for my lanai (porch) and need to know what they like? Thank you, or Mahalo!

Good for a substrate in fish tanks. I like Flourite. Harden clay. I make a mix of 50/50 Flourite/perlite. Great bonsai mix. Try it. Flourite good for a bottom substrate the one fluval stratum for planting aquariums. Really try the Flourite mix. Great for root development also. Flourite also makes a good BCB basket for fish tanks.

@BlueJayBonsai

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Tom!

@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951

2 жыл бұрын

@@BlueJayBonsai Hi Jay!!!

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Yea!

Would you recommend transferring plants out of fluval stratum, and at what point? I have a lot of alocasias in it and some tissue culture joeppis that are all rooted nicely. I tried to read your blog post but it wouldn't come up, said account was suspended.

Cool

Awesome video. Did I dream that you touched on stratum before? I've been using it for a while to root hoya cuttings (with amazing success) and as I have transferred them into a "forever" substrate, I've been adding a layer of stratum where i expect the roots to sit (I think this was your suggestion). So far I have had 100% success rate when transferring but this could be because they root so well in full stratum initially.

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Haha! I did a blog post and a podcast on it!

@QuirkyLemon

2 жыл бұрын

@@GardeningInCanada must have been the blog post. I find myself constantly searching for the heat to humidity chart on your blog and then it's two hours later and I am down the rabbit hole!

Do you think you can mix it with pon?

When I siphon my planted tank, some silt from the flu fluval stuff gets sucked up with the poop and dead plants. I dilute that into water and give it to my plants and they seem to enjoy it!

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

Yea 😂 it’s very fragile

New to me..!

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

❤️❤️❤️

I do use it a lot just in itself for hard to root cuttings and it works wonders. I tried to search but I couldn't find any videos on using dry/soft yeast when watering, but many people in my country do it, especially in the hoya community. I don't know if it is just a myth, if it can actually harm the plant if used incorrectly or if it's really beneficial. Would love to hear your thoughts on the topic (sorry if it was already a topic, couldn't find it)

@GardeningInCanada

Жыл бұрын

Interesting! i will have do to a video on this. can you send me a link on exactly what they are doing.

Birdie!!! 🦜

Clay? I thought it was volcanic soil; I use it all the time to prop difficult plants like Thai, Albo, and corms.

You are going to get comments about that noise lol, all four of my dogs jumped (no judgements, I'mma pets and plants type of gal)

@1cbreezy6

Жыл бұрын

No fr cuz it scared me nd my 2 cats lol I didn’t know what it was at first

Your sound level seems really low

@dont.tread187

2 жыл бұрын

"Fluval stratum" is so much fun to say.

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

It is i have no idea what went weird on the export. And i tried to fix it multiple times.

It’s been about a year since you posted this video.. just wondering if you decided to keep using stratum? I put pink princess and pothos cuttings and they’re doing great! But I don’t know if I should transfer to soil… can you recommend the best soil mix for pink princess and pothos? Thank you for this video!😊😊😊

@GardeningInCanada

3 ай бұрын

I do still use it yup!

💚💚

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

❤️❤️❤️

👍

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

❤️

I’ve wanted to try fluval stratum in my planted tanks, but am too cheap to justify the $40-50 per 8 kg/~18 lb price. Adds up in a 55g tank 😂 I have used leftover eco complete (I guess that would fall in the pumice category?) as an amendment/top dressing for succulents with good results.

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

It’s so expensive

@mama2agn301

Жыл бұрын

Amazon will occasionally sell it for half price. They had a sale last week.

Is using just straight fluval stratum not recommended? I have a few small Philodendrons in straight stratum and they seem to be doing good!

@GardeningInCanada

Жыл бұрын

Yea you can no issues there

Hi Just to correct you that stratum doesn’t contain any nitrogen and this is the reason it is safe to use in fish aquariums coz it doesn’t alter the nitrogen value of the system

@-Boone

3 ай бұрын

Yeah, old ik, but since it was the 1st comment I felt the need to correct the correction. Sure, there's no NPK listed, and the description only says things like "contains a proprietary mix of nutrients, minerals, and trace elements that are exclusively available to plants". But the crushed substrate has supposedly been tested, with a NPK soil test, and here are the copied results.. Nitrogen: 30-45 lb/acre. Low-Medium in the soil world. Phosphorus: 50-70 lb/acre. Low-Medium in the soil world. Potassium: 80-120 lb/acre. Low in the soil world. ..It should just be a combination of some (volcanic?) soil possibly with some amendments, that's been pelletize, so not a surprise it'd contain some NPK. Weather or not it alters nutrient levels within the tank, idk, but the claim "exclusively available to plants" makes it seem like it somehow shouldn't.

Do you use holes on the bottom on the pot? Thanks?

@GardeningInCanada

Жыл бұрын

You can if its not a semi hydro setup

Have you ever grown stevia? Looking at cutting sugar out and curious if I could successfully grow stevia in our climates 😊💚🍀👍

@GardeningInCanada

2 жыл бұрын

I have! But I had no idea what to do with it after it was done growing 😅

@kariannecrysler640

2 жыл бұрын

@@GardeningInCanada I know you can dry it. You can steep fresh or dried. And after drying you can powder it and use like sugar, only way less because it’s super sweet. The store bought one’s are normally bleached and have chemical additives. My heath is not great and I think the additives in foodstuffs is causing some kind of damage. Of course there are very few medical studies in this area, but all the medical thing’s we have looked at are not the cause. Someday I’ll have answers, until then eating better foods and less processed or created foods can’t do any harm 😊