option for "pumice" in coots mix?

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #1

Hello,

I was out today getting all of my materials to take my first stab at Coot's style soil mix.
I was sourcing everything locally in the Seattle area, and was having a hard time finding pumice, so was settling on getting perlite instead.
I stopped at Home Depot and they had some of this black lava rock. It was cheap enough that i picked up a bag of it.
Would this work for pumice in the mix? The pieces seem to be a bit smaller(closer to the build a soil type)

0.5 cu. ft. Black Volcanic Rock Bagged Landscape Rock

 

2cent

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #2

They dont look very holey for a volcanic rock likely the heavy sedimenyary settled magmar bit.
.
Some agree perlite ia good others told me no.
It breaks doen over time so a notills not good with perlite.it floats and 2yrs on it breaks down to sludge.

Im in same problem pumice is like 40 dollar pwr 20kg i need 80.

So perlagro lava rock red im going with as others seem to be sharp and said tO cut roots
And a small bag pymice for the benefits of silicons

U want lots of bubble holes for micro orgs to grow

 

Southernontariogrower

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #3

Thats fucken black gravel, volcanic pummice is full of holes, you got ripped

 

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #4

Never understood the hate on perlite. Just buy the chunkiest stuff available. And with proper watering practices I don’t see how perlite floats. My pots are spongy gooey living funk and everything is held together by my thriving fungal network. I just dont see the floating thing being that big a deal. You can even bottom water

 

Rurumo

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #5

Pumice def beats out perlite for long term use, but perlite is perfectly acceptable and will work for a long time.

 

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #6

Southernontariogrower said:

Thats fucken black gravel, volcanic pummice is full of holes, you got ripped

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I bought this on my own accord. Was looking around to see what they might have at the store. It was $8. It actually seems to have a bunch of small holes. Definitely not a gravel. Kind of crumbly

 

C

ComfortCreator

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #7

It actually looks good, but the issue imo is too chunky. I think - don't know for sure - it should be much smaller / finer.

 

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #8

ComfortCreator said:

It actually looks good, but the issue imo is too chunky. I think - don't know for sure - it should be much smaller / finer.

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I don’t have any of the build-a-soil pumice, but most of these pieces are between 1/4 and 1/2”.
I’m making about 6 cf of soil. I’m thinking of putting this bag in, which is .5cf and using 1 1/2cf of perlite

 

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xtsho

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #9

Break it up into smaller pieces.

 

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #10

xtsho said:

Break it up into smaller pieces.

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seems like the start of a cheech and chong episode. I will do some smashing!

 

C

chernobe

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #11

I made the same mistake, and didn't notice until unloading all the bags had to load them all back up and return them probably half a pallot or so

 

N

NewGrower2011

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #12

They sell a lot of the smaller stuff for bonsai I think. Of course they jack the price up for the specialty market but you know they're sourcing the smaller/finer stuff from somewhere and then just repackaging in smaller quantities with jacked up prices. Look on ebay or amazon for horticultural pumice.

 

2cent

Well-Known Member

Feb 20, 2021

• #13

Its scoria its good. Can be rough on roots sometimes but i believe that can increase them too

 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member

Feb 21, 2021

• #14

I just ordered through BAS. But I'm in CO so shipping isn't horrible. If anyone orders from them let me know and I can send you a link for $5 off.

 

Nwtexan

Well-Known Member

Feb 21, 2021

• #15

PadawanWarrior said:

I just ordered through BAS. But I'm in CO so shipping isn't horrible. If anyone orders from them let me know and I can send you a link for $5 off.

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thanks. I ordered some stuff from them but didn't want to deal with the Pumice. Hence the home depot stuff