The substrate for Dyckias

Substrate for Dyckias
Some tips or some information that may be useful to you:

1 - It must be acid, aerated and organic.
Anything out from this is to reinvent the wheel.

2 - Substrate does not last forever! In nature the substrate under the Dyckia plant is constantly renewed. What the plant consumes is repaired almost immediately. So the plant has a constant flow of rich nourishment.
The plant gathers all organic material that comes to it by the wind, water or gravity and this is a continuous and endless process.

3 - There is no use to include inorganic material in the substrate like sand, gravel and so on except for drainage and aeration. This may be done for aesthetic purposes, too. All the mineral elements the plant needs is already in the organic material you use. All trace elements, everything. Remember these organic material made integrand part of a living creature that needed all the mineral and the same ones Dyckia needs. An easy and practical way to kill or torment a Dyckia is to give it more than it need of one mineral. It is much to easy to overdose mineral contents and this may be lethal.

4 - There is not an only one recipe for substrate. It will depend on the temperatures, winds, material of the container, size of the container. You will have to discover what is best for your plants and easy for you. Do no go on wasting money. Canadian or German turf are excellent to acidify substrate but here in Brazil or in Shouth Africa this is totally out of question. Use what you have at plenty and at lower costs.

Here you see two pictures. The above one is carbonized rice shells. This is great for nourishment and brings all the mineral the plant will need. Contributes for a light weight substrate. This is important when you will carry the substrate or the vase with the plant. also allows the air to enter and get out of the substrate.
The picture below is rot pinus bark. The bark is left putrefying on a big pile for over two years. All resin is burned and what is left is eagerly absorbed by the Dyckias root.

% - You may have some weird material there at plenty. Try it.
Take care with mineral materials. They may elevate the pH of the substrate and this is death for the plant.