Best ways of getting Eco-Earth dry!??

[Them]

Years ago I came across a video on you tube where the okie had created a eco earth salad drier type of device. I normally take the batch and drain as much water as I can then lay it out on the back patio's cement and let the sun dry it...raking it over every half hour or so.

 

[Rob1985]

Years ago I came across a video on you tube where the okie had created a eco earth salad drier type of device. I normally take the batch and drain as much water as I can then lay it out on the back patio's cement and let the sun dry it...raking it over every half hour or so.

was that video with that bearded hillbilly? lol

 

[Them]

was that video with that bearded hillbilly? lol

I don't remember what he looked like, but he first put the Eco earth into a pillow case then stuck it into this contraption he made that would spin-dry the wet Eco earth.

 

[Jared781]

hope you keep the lid off. I woud have put it in an extra kritter keeper, more ventilation.

yup i did i put it on top of the fridge then cranked the heat aha

---------- Post added 02-11-2012 at 08:37 AM ----------

I got a huge pot, big enough to have the brick laying flat, and i poured 2 cups of hot water then put the lid on.. then 3 minutes later i started to brake of what i could

then i took the 3 chunks that were left and placed them in a Ice cream bucket poured half a cup of hot water on then closed the lid. Then i broke that up then dumped

both the pot and the bucket in the tote

 

[SamuraiSid]

squeeze out all of the water that you can and spread it in a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Put your oven on a very low setting like 150ish degrees Fahrenheit or about 65.6 Celsius and prop the door open a bit so you can keep an eye on it and bake the living daylights out of it. Its time consuming, and you MUST!! babysit your oven. If you keep an eye on the moisture levels and stir it as soon as the top layer is dry to get to the wet stuff underneath, it is pretty safe. your house/apartment will smell like warm earth but thats not so bad...anyway thats what i did to a whole wet brick of the stuff. got like 3 gallon sized bags of the stuff dried out. it also took like 3+ hours to do so don't plan on doing anything else when you do this. I am very interested to see if there are any better ways out there.

I have a convection toaster oven, set at 450 for 5-7 minutes. Stir once, and let it go for another 5-7 minutes.

squeeze out as much water as possible and spread it out one inch thick in a discardable aluminum tray.

 

[Jared781]

what about.. if you cut up a garbage bag and lay it spread it out, then use a blow dryer? would that even work?

 

[jakykong]

what about.. if you cut up a garbage bag and lay it spread it out, then use a blow dryer? would that even work?

While I am sure the blow dryer would dry it out, I'm also just as sure that you would spend quite a while getting it back.

 

[Mrchancellor87]

I found that Eco-earth takes far too long to dry when adding it to a bucket with the recommended amount of water.

So what I now do, get my misting bottle, spray both sides with some water and then use a wallpaper remover tool to scrape the wetish layer off. Any flat tough object would do.

The less water you use, the tougher it is but drier it is.

This method takes a bit of time and elbow grease but no way near as long as waiting for the big wet brick to dry.

This is my excuse for having a bigger right arm than my left one. :biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Jared781]

I found that Eco-earth takes far too long to dry when adding it to a bucket with the recommended amount of water.

So what I now do, get my misting bottle, spray both sides with some water and then use a wallpaper remover tool to scrape the wetish layer off. Any flat tough object would do.

The less water you use, the tougher it is but drier it is.

This method takes a bit of time and elbow grease but no way near as long as waiting for the big wet brick to dry.

This is my excuse for having a bigger right arm than my left one. :biggrin::biggrin:

I will deffs hit that up next brick

 

[Silberrücken]

really? excuse for the other thing?

:sarcasm: R e a l l y ??? :sarcasm:

 

[Jared781]

My procedure is to take a large spaghetti pot, large enough to place the brick on the bottom, and poor a cup of hot water. Place the lid on for a couple minutes... Break apart what you can and repeat!

When it's all broken up give it a good stir and place it in a huge tote... Then I put it on top of the fridge!! Ahaha

My father thought I was nuts the first time he seen that!! I said "Yeah.... I took up gardening!"

 

[Jared781]

i expanded a whole brick of "Exo-terra's Plantation Soil" took me about 75 mins... and again, its on top of my fridge

 

[grayzone]

what about.. if you cut up a garbage bag and lay it spread it out, then use a blow dryer? would that even work?

YES... blow dryers work... I USE them (sometimes) with NO problem

While I am sure the blow dryer would dry it out, I'm also just as sure that you would spend quite a while getting it back.

thats why you gotta do it right... you can do it in a tank if you tamp/compress the dirt down real tight... blowdry it with the lid part covered... after its dry turn it and dry again... repeat till desired substrate through and through... OR put it all in a paper grocery bag BEFORE adding it to a tank and blow it that way, and shaking it like a bag of popcorn....