Brooks, here's what I did: last time I went to the piney woods, I gathered a small sack of
dry pine needles, grass and oak leaves and took them home, leaving them put away until
this winter. In late January, I placed a light layer of it over what was left of last year's
pichers and torched it being careful not to let the fire get to hot so that the large plastic
pots wouldn't melt at the edges. I used a misting bottle to control the fire and only let
it burn for a couple of minutes, just enough to reduce the dryist of the pichers to ashes.
Right now, my S. leucophylas are 22" and S. minors are 9" tall. I don't know if the fire/ashes
have anything to do with that, but they were smaller at this same time last year and surely
there are weather and temperature variables to consider. The way I look at it, if is good
for plants in the wild, then it should be good for potted plants, but only in small concentrations. If
I remember correctly, ash mixed with water creates lye which is caustic ( maybe some of
you chemists can set me straight on this), so to be on the safe side, I have flushed the pots
several times since then with pure water. I flush them every couple of months anway.
On the other hand, your way appears to be much simpler and safer and will achieve as good
as or better results. Interesting topic. Like Redtail said, keep us informed on the results.