pea gravel vs perlite

Im growing outdoors this upcoming season i grew in my native soil last season which was red clay they barely got above 2 feet tall im not sure if it was the soil or the fact that it rained every day during the veg cycle but any case my question can i aerate my soil with pea gravel instead of perlite

Yes it will work, not as well as properly amending the clay.....Perlite and Lava have a capacity to "hold" moisture and that's part of their use in container gardening and part of your problem.

Red clay eh? That's your moisture problem. You should try and break that up some and amend it to be more "normal".

This is a nice tutorial for that:
http://www.wikihow.com/Amend-Clay-Soil

I like to use Garden Gypsum as one of my amendments for that!

Doc

I second the lava rock. Pumice also.

Consider biochar!

It took me several years to deal with a clay problem using gypsum and composts, and this was in a top soil mix. If you are in a heavy clay soil, just do yourself a favor and bring in better dirt. You won't grow shit in clay.

Raised beds. I've got shitty sandy soil. Not as bad as heavy clay, and I'm building big raised beds for veggies. Using lava rock and biochar for aeration. 50/50 mix of both, equaling about 25% of the soil by volume

thanks for the tips guys but just so im clear my small plant size was from my soil and not the month long rain?

Shawnmfdon said:

thanks for the tips guys but just so im clear my small plant size was from my soil and not the month long rain?

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A clay soil is a weak link in your chain. A month of rain will be another weak link in our chain. Both are weak links.

Sounds like a weather problem

Nothing to do with perlite

Bugeye said:

It took me several years to deal with a clay problem using gypsum and composts, and this was in a top soil mix. If you are in a heavy clay soil, just do yourself a favor and bring in better dirt. You won't grow shit in clay.

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Even if you have to dig grow holes outside and fill with good soils and compost etc. Totally agree.

Shawnmfdon said:

Im growing outdoors this upcoming season i grew in my native soil last season which was red clay they barely got above 2 feet tall im not sure if it was the soil or the fact that it rained every day during the veg cycle but any case my question can i aerate my soil with pea gravel instead of perlite

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If this bad, you got totally replace that 'dirt' with quality soils, as you have found it would be the best way,
as Hotrod^^^ says dig out an area, and simply drop in good soil, as pea gravel or perlite would still not give you plants the nutes they need, the perlite etc would however make water run thru the roots quicker, then saturate and pool at the bottom of the hole, saturated roots don't do well, drowning the plant over time, for this reason have a 'drain' even plant on a slope.
I should think the red in the soil is iron, if so, the dirt is total crap and needs replacing not amending

my2c

i grew tomatoes in that same soil last season and they just took over I was cussing my mj plants and was like why don't u grow like tomatoes lol