by Cindy Cloninger
In gardening, your primary role is nourisher. You analyze and plan for any potential threats that may inhibit the growth in your garden. You consider carefully your climate zone, the locations of planting, the relationship of plants in your bed, and how best to provide the premium environment for growth. Plants need soil nutrition, water, and aeration to grow. There is a way to improve your soil structure and provide the nutrients, adequate water, and porosity - wool pellets. What are wool pellets and how can you use them as a growing medium?
What are Wool Pellets?
Wool Pellets are made from 100 % raw wool. Wool is sheared from sheep each spring. The main fleece of the wool is sold to make clothes, but the belly wool and the "tags" (wool from around the back end of the sheep) are used to make pellets. The wool is compressed and formed into pellets.
1. Wool Pellets Hold Water
Wool Pellets are able to hold 20x their weight in water. When added to gardens or potting soil, they help to reduce watering frequency up to 25%. By holding water, they also wick away extra water, protecting your plants from over watering.
2. Wool Pellets Provide Aeration and Porosity
As wool soaks in water, it puffs up and expands helping to increase porosity(oxygen) in the soil. This gives space for roots to spread out and grow becoming deeper and stronger, reducing the need for additives like Perlite.
Have you had some of your favorite blooms die while on vacation? Using Wool Pellets in flower pots and houseplant containers eliminates packed down soil while allowing excellent aeration, reducing watering frequency and allowing optimal root spread.
An 8 oz bag will cover about 15 square feet and is enough for at least 6 gallons of soil if used as directed.
3. Wool Pellets are a Slow Release Fertilizer
Wool Pellets are naturally high in Nitrogen and take 6 months to break down fully. This makes wool pellets the perfect slow release, all natural fertilizer to help your plants grow all year long.
Wool Pellets have a FERTILIZER VALUE OF 9-0-2 NPK,
plus they have CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, IRON, SULFUR,
and other MICRO NUTRIENTS in just the right amounts.
The nutrition in wool helps grow, strong, healthy, beautiful plants that need no other fertilizer. Talk about cost savings!
4. Wool Pellets are All-Natural, Organic, Sustainable, and Renewable
Wool Pellets are all-natural, organic, and chemical free. This environmentally friendly tool is a safe and fully renewable way for you to provide the nutrients your plants need, while keeping them free from chemicals harmful to you and your pets.
Because it is the natural blend of nutrients that breaks down slowly, wool pellets will not burn your plants and lawn like other fertilizers can. You won’t need to introduce man-made components to aerate, hold water, keep away pests, or provide nutrients to your plants. Wool Pellets make gardening worry free from seed to harvest.
5. Wool Pellets Repels Slugs and Snails
Wool Pellets, by nature, are a repellent to slugs, snails, and weeds. When placed around the base of plants and mixed into the soil. When viewed under a microscope, the wool fibers are barbed (think itchy wool sweater). This is the component that will keep those soft bellied pest away from your plants. No bug wants to climb through a barbed land field to munch on your plants. In problem areas we recommend placing wool pellets in a 6 inch circumference around your plants.
6. Wool Pellets are easy to use!
Mix 1/2 cup pellets with 1 gallon of soil for use in garden and flower beds or container inside and out.
Or Sprinkle pellets around existing plants and push or work into the soil
To repel Snails/Slugs: create barricade of pellets around plants. We suggest a 6 inch circumference.
This is an interesting idea. I think it would definitely be worth trying in some flowerpots for annual flowers. Hopefully garden centers will start carrying these in bulk to till into the garden.