Collected granite for top dressing

hinmo24t

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Successful mission, anyone sea (lol) the picker on it ?

Btw this is because going I to 3rd ish year I learned rain kicks out soil and makes a mess. I'll use this as top dressing to remedy

Was heavy, 50lbs. Glad I walked pup and left bucket in a spot that wasn't a far walk

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Wires_Guy_wires

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I'm not a big fan of this kind of gravel.
It's very smooth and the differences in colors make it less easy on the eye.
It's also darn heavy and every repot it'll end up somewhere in your soil without serving a function.

When/if I could find it in the past, I'd go for a top dressing of crushed black lava rock. Heavy stuff too! But way smoother on the eyes than pebbles. But.. I've been trying moss too lately. And I found some sheeted moss that seems to take well in my bonsai pots.
Three types of moss and counting.
 

Pitoon

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Successful mission, anyone sea (lol) the picker on it ?

Btw this is because going I to 3rd ish year I learned rain kicks out soil and makes a mess. I'll use this as top dressing to remedy

Was heavy, 50lbs. Glad I walked pup and left bucket in a spot that wasn't a far walk

View attachment 412723View attachment 412724
Nice score! You can also use chicken grit (crushed granite) color is nice, size is uniform.....only thing is that it's really heavy.
 

hinmo24t

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That sounds like a good option with lava. If I had 60 lbs of it I'd prob use it in the actual soil mix haha but maybe not. I'm going to try chunky or medium chunky perlite next season and a few bags of quality compost or foxfarmpotting soil, close to 50/50. I used to use 303030% oil dry and those two with good results but my bag of oil dry I have is a bit small particle and I think the heavy perlite to quality foxfarm ratio will work well with the gravel on top.

I should have called it gravel even tho a lot of granite. There's quartz and jasper in it etc and reminds me of some areas I love, walked on it to surf of a lifetime many times that I carry in my mind daily. I saw crushed marble at lowes but held off even though cost efficient - this stuff I got is going just on the very top layer, it'd work on bottom prob too but I use some screens

This is larger grade...and I'll a natural cobble garden perimeter with it next season as well, semi recessed.

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hinmo24t

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Nice score! You can also use chicken grit (crushed granite) color is nice, size is uniform.....only thing is that it's really heavy.
Thanks @Pitoon and I looked up CG from penumbra or someone recently, interesting and good idea. I want the weight as well because I have mostly small and medium pots needing the top layer protection and the weight will help in my windy area as well, especially w my 5050% perlite and organic im switching to
 

Pitoon

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Thanks @Pitoon and I looked up CG from penumbra or someone recently, interesting and good idea. I want the weight as well because I have mostly small and medium pots needing the top layer protection and the weight will help in my windy area as well, especially w my 5050% perlite and organic im switching to
If you get it search out a farm store or Tractor Supply. Much cheaper if you buy the big bags, just really heavy to lug around. I get mine for my chickens though.
 

hinmo24t

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@Arnold yes. Ppl can and do tumble broken glass, ones pictured are tumbled by the ocean and polished naturally and found among the stones. In my first orange bucket picture there a green piece in the middle
 

Colorado

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Successful mission, anyone sea (lol) the picker on it ?

Btw this is because going I to 3rd ish year I learned rain kicks out soil and makes a mess. I'll use this as top dressing to remedy

Was heavy, 50lbs. Glad I walked pup and left bucket in a spot that wasn't a far walk

View attachment 412723View attachment 412724

I think it is a very pretty mix. Not sure how it would look for some species such as mountain or desert species but it definitely brings a coastal vibe.

Horticulturally I have found that pebbles like this are better than no top dressing at all, but personally prefer moss/sphagnum.

Cool that you were able to collect it yourself! Let’s see it on some trees :)
 

hinmo24t

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that does look nice for top dress or aeration in soil - good call and prob cost efficient
crushed marble looked a tad large but only $5 a bag, id go with what you pictured before that, a decent layer of it.
it was downpours (we get a lot of squals and downpours in summer thunderstorms) that knocked soil and exposed roots pretty good on me last season, made a mess.

looking forward to battery leaf blower upcoming season as well to keep things neater
 
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