 my dear friends I hope they are doing well and welcome back to Plants and Lucia. My name is Lucia and today we talk about burn lights and vermiculite. What they are and what we use them for. Okay coming up. This is your first match for being with me and watching this video. I am a plant beginner so this channel is to share with you what I learned. So if you want to learn how to take care of your houseplants, how to display them or even how to connect with them, make sure to subscribe so we can see each other every week and talk about plants. But now let's get to the video. So when we talk about burn light and vermiculite the biggest misconception is that you can interchange them. Yes they are both expandable organic rocks but they have many differences. One is very porous, the other one is not. One absorbs water, the other one doesn't. One aerates the soil, the other one does not. So what I thought is that maybe you can look at each one of them, what they are and really what we use them for. So let's start with burn light. That is the most commonly used expandable organic rock in gardening. It is very loose and light, aerates the soil so the roots can actually go easily through it and provides a lot of drainage. So let's talk about two very good ways that you can use burn light with your plants. Number one prevents caking. So caking is something that happens with our potting mix as it dries out and it gets wet and it dries out and it gets wet and again and again. So as our potting mix continues to dry out and get wet it starts to compress and compact and this is not good because then when we water our plants the water tends to go around the soil like this and then along the edges of the pot. So it doesn't get to the roots. So with burn light we prevent the soil from caking and allows a more fluffy structure. That way the roots can actually move through the soil and the water actually can go through the soil and get to the roots. The second use for burn light is that it provides great drainage. You can use burn light in many sizes so you have extra fine, fine, medium, coarse and extra coarse. So for example you can add medium burn light to your potting mix to add drainage in the soil. You can also use an extra coarse burn light to put at the bottom of the pot and this also helps with drainage. This can be used instead of rocks and it's great because it provides drainage at the bottom of the pot and it is way lighter than rocks. So yes I personally use burn light in my potting mix to add drainage. My recipe includes two parts of medium-sized burn light, two parts of warm castings and seven parts of coconut coir. I love using burn light because I know that I'm providing drainage to my plants in the potting mix. Of course you can also use pommes instead of burn light. Okay on to vermiculite. Vermiculite which is right here is actually a lesser known expanded volcanic rock but it's also very useful. It absorbs moisture very well. That's a very big difference between vermiculite and burn light. Burn light does not absorb moisture but vermiculite is very absorbent and it is super light you guys. So let's see what are some very good uses for vermiculite. Vermiculite is very useful when starting seeds. This is because of two reasons. First as I said vermiculite is very absorbent and as you may know seeds love moisture. So if you add vermiculite to your seed starter mix this is going to be great for your seeds as they will have the water that they need. The second reason is that vermiculite is very light. So this is perfect when germinating seeds. Because it is so light the seed will be able to push through the vermiculite when you put it on the top. So vermiculite will protect your seeds, prevent caking in a seed starter mix, provide the moisture that your seeds need and will be very light so the germinating seeds can actually push through. So there you have it. These are some of the main differences between burn light and vermiculite. Do you have any other questions about this too? Do you have other uses for them? Please make sure to comment below so we can all learn together. Of course if you would like to be part of this community you're always welcome. So make sure to subscribe so we can see each other every week and talk about plants. And as always I will see you in the next video. Okay?