A good "Southern" aggregate component?

[Brian Van Fleet]

That Evergreen brand has a good product called "soil conditioner", which is chopped bark and easily 50% usable when sifted dry. It should be available at your Hattiesburg Lowes.

For years, I used bark, Turface, and lava rock...a good mix. If you're in Bham sometime, give me a call and you can pick up some lava rock. Our club just ordered a pallet and we'll likely have some available to sell.

 

[KennedyMarx]

Ditto here. Plus the lava rock doesn't run away to hide in the rain. Its labor intensive but a $3.50 bag of lava rock plus a sledge and some washing and sifting will yield quite a bit of useful material.

Sifting soil is one thing, but it will be a cold day in hell before I try to break up large lava rock chunks into uniformly usable material. I think it's worth it to pay a little more to get lava in an already usable form. Just my opinion.

 

[quietobserver]

Sifting soil is one thing, but it will be a cold day in hell before I try to break up large lava rock chunks into uniformly usable material. I think it's worth it to pay a little more to get lava in an already usable form. Just my opinion.

Agreed unless you're really looking for soil on the cheap or you're in a bind and need lava 'right now' and have none on hand and can't wait for it to be shipped to you.

 

[subnet_rx]

I'm going to take my list to the farm supply store tomorrow morning. I'll try to post my findings. I also might go to a nursery to see what they can order if anything.

 

[augustine]

Don't ask for decom. Granite, ask for chick grit, pure granite. Comes in 4sizes. Small for chicks, med for older chickens, large for development ans lx for turkeys.

Dry stall is used as an absorbent for horse stalls and is pure pumice. Product called stall dry is wood and should not be used.

These products shoul be avail any farm supply in areas in which people keep chickens and horses.

 

[Poink88]

I am pretty sure that it isn't composted. I didnt see it on the label so I can't be 100% either way.

That Evergreen brand has a good product called "soil conditioner", which is chopped bark and easily 50% usable when sifted dry.

I agree with Brian, this is what I am referring to. They are also available from different manufacturers/brands. I think I use Hapi-Gro.

 

[KennedyMarx]

I dont see much difference in lava rock and pumice, besides the fact that pumice is much lighter in weight. I actually like the extra weight of lava rock as I do not need to tie most my trees into their pots.

ed

I came across this post on another forum describing the difference between the two:

cbobgo, on 04 Oct 2011 - 7:16 PM, said:
This question came up on another forum, and I spent a little time researching the answer, so I thought I would share it with all of you here as well.

What we call lava rock is what geologists call "scoria." Essentially, scoria is porous volcanic rock with a density greater than 1 (sinks in water) while pumice is porous volcanic rock with a desity less than 1 (floats in water.)

Pumice is formed from Rhyolite lava as it expands and becomes frothy. Scoria forms when the same process occurs with Basalt lava. Thus their chemical compositions are a little different. Pumice is considered a felsic rock, while scoria is a mafic rock. See my links below for the full definitions, but essentially, pumice has more silica while scoria has more metals like iron. They also have different proportions of feldspars.

So what does that mean horticulturally? I could only find one decent link that talked about horticulture, and it didn't have alot to say about the differences. Sounds like a good topic for a school science fair project.


here's the references:

http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/field/rocky_mt/igneous.htm

http://journals.jevon.org/users/chrissy/page.php?page=page_87366

http://www.oan.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=162


- bob

 

[subnet_rx]

No Dry Stall, only Stall Dry (powder from diatomaceous earth), only big bags of chicken grit was oyster shell, decomposed granite was in 5lb bags at $8.99 a bag. They are hoping to get in some pigeon grit in a 50lb. bag this week that I want to take a look at (still double the price of Turface). I asked them about ordering Dry Stall, he said he couldn't find it in any of his books.

Nursery just said things along the lines of "we don't have anything like that". Large rock or top soil.

I just bought another bag of Turface. This is what I'm dealing with.

On the positive side, I decided to plant one of my Japanese Maples in the yard to let it thicken up more and the Turface/Cypress Mulch mix I used looked like it was working a lot better. The roots filled the pot and I couldn't find a dry spot anywhere in it. Again, not normal, but maybe the mix and what I'm using to compliment Turface has something to do with it.

 

[Poink88]

...maybe the mix and what I'm using to compliment Turface has something to do with it.

^^^ That.

I do the same (Turface + decomposed bark from Miracle Grow potting soil) and it works great. I don't care who says it doesn't, as long as it does for me. Again, I highly recommend amending with Napa DE 8822 and charcoal also...you will be amazed how much better it is.

If I can get lava and pumice for cheap readily, I sure will use them more.

 

[Dav4]

How far are you from Sweetwater, AL...there's a Southern States there apparently the Dry Stall website has them as being retailers. You could also contact the Dry Stall people directly at
drystall@gmail.com

 

[greenman63]

Ditto here. Plus the lava rock doesn't run away to hide in the rain. Its labor intensive but a $3.50 bag of lava rock plus a sledge and some washing and sifting will yield quite a bit of useful material.

I go to HoDePo and look for broken bags of stones of any sort. They often sell damaged bags at a discount. You can get all sorts of stones that way and use them as needed. Lava rock is easy to crush inside a steel bucket/watering trough, or on a nice open, flat concrete or stone surface. I use a long-handled pickaxe and crush the larger lava rocks with the top surface, just lift and drop the weight until you get the size you want, screen and rinse to get the sand or powder out. Works great. Do the same with large chunks of pine bark and mix together with your other material.

 

[subnet_rx]

How far are you from Sweetwater, AL...there's a Southern States there apparently the Dry Stall website has them as being retailers. You could also contact the Dry Stall people directly at
drystall@gmail.com

About 2:30 to Sweetwater, not something I would want to have to do every year. There are other farm supply stores in the surrounding area, so I'm going to make some calls.

 

[Dav4]

About 2:30 to Sweetwater, not something I would want to have to do every year. There are other farm supply stores in the surrounding area, so I'm going to make some calls.

I hear you. The nice thing is that pumice doesn't go bad. If I were going that far, I'd plan on purchasing enough (they are sold in 40# bags) to last me more then a year or two.

 

[Poink88]

I hear you. The nice thing is that pumice doesn't go bad. If I were going that far, I'd plan on purchasing enough (they are sold in 40# bags) to last me more then a year or two.

Right on. That is what I will do (buy a few years supply as much as my car can take) if I ever find one within 200 miles from me.

 

[Poink88]

You could also contact the Dry Stall people directly at
drystall@gmail.com

I did this 2 weeks ago (again) but did not get a response back. I called today and was clued that some McCoy's carry them in Texas but they do not know which ones. I called all the McCoys in their store locator near me but nada. The search continues.

 

[nip]

No Dry Stall, only Stall Dry (powder from diatomaceous earth), only big bags of chicken grit was oyster shell, decomposed granite was in 5lb bags at $8.99 a bag. They are hoping to get in some pigeon grit in a 50lb. bag this week that I want to take a look at (still double the price of Turface). I asked them about ordering Dry Stall, he said he couldn't find it in any of his books.

Nursery just said things along the lines of "we don't have anything like that". Large rock or top soil.

I just bought another bag of Turface. This is what I'm dealing with.

I tried to warn you Welcome to Southern Mississippi, no one carries anything that can be helpful for bonsai. Even decent nursery material is difficult to find. Your best bet is to connect with one of the local societies... the MSGCBS or GNOBS.
As I mentioned, turface is a great option and you are fortunate to have an easy source.

On a side note, do you ever visit the bonsai nursery just outside of Hattiesburg?

 

[jkd2572]

I use a mix that can be watered once a day and the trees are still happy when the temps here hit 105. People that can water three times a day will look down on you,but my mixes always have a percentage of decomposed pine bark in them. The aggregate is there to allow for good drainage in my situation.

 

[subnet_rx]

I tried to warn you Welcome to Southern Mississippi, no one carries anything that can be helpful for bonsai. Even decent nursery material is difficult to find. Your best bet is to connect with one of the local societies... the MSGCBS or GNOBS.
As I mentioned, turface is a great option and you are fortunate to have an easy source.

On a side note, do you ever visit the bonsai nursery just outside of Hattiesburg?

No, I have went out there a couple of times and it has been closed. I connected with MSGCBS at a garden show last weekend. They told me Turface and Haydite, but I am not sure where I could get Haydite either, but I'm going to Day of Bonsai in Mobile in a couple of weeks and I'm going to talk to some people there about soil components.

 

[subnet_rx]

I use a mix that can be watered once a day and the trees are still happy when the temps here hit 105. People that can water three times a day will look down on you,but my mixes always have a percentage of decomposed pine bark in them. The aggregate is there to allow for good drainage in my situation.

This is what I do as well. I can only find time to water once a day, so my mixes have to hold water in 100 degree heat in July. That's the tough thing about Mississippi, you have to create a mix that will survive 100 degree dry summers, and raining every day sometimes for two weeks winters. A Southern gardening book that I have says they find that a lot of plants don't die from the heat, they die from being soaked all winter.

 

[Poink88]

I use a mix that can be watered once a day and the trees are still happy when the temps here hit 105. People that can water three times a day will look down on you,but my mixes always have a percentage of decomposed pine bark in them. The aggregate is there to allow for good drainage in my situation.

Same here. Again it boils down on watering style. Mine can be watered every other day if need be...but I water daily (at summer) as much as possible. I can go away on weekends w/o fear of any of them dieing even on summer.

This way, I get to enjoy my plants w/o being a slave to them (still have my "freedom"). I like that.

I will be installing my auto drip irrigation system before summer, even if I can only use it once a week. That will hopefully buy me more free time.