Pea Gravel...in Bonsai Soil?

DeadLeaves

Just wondering does anyone have any info on Pea Gravel being used in Bonsai Soil? It looks like it would work okay as drainage (like haydite or grit) since it's not sharp and about 1/2 in size and can come smaller, but that's the standard size.

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ripsgreentree

Pea gravel will work if there is nothing else avalible.
The drawbacks are to smooth and to heavy.
The other ingrediants that we discuss,
Haydite,
Lava,
Pumice, all have the ability to absorbe/retain a percentage of water with air pockets in between.
These ingrediants will also be lighter.

Glenn

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ripsgreentree

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Happy Gilmore

'since it's not sharp' ?? I thought roughness was desirable in promoting finer root growth. I collected a bag of small feather rocks with the intent of somewhat crushing them and sieving them some day to retain an appropriate fractional size for some 'all black' bonsai soil. (I'm not a fan of seeing the white vermiculite etc. in typical nursery soils). At my work they have full sieve machines

Is feather rock too rough?? Pea gravel (name can be used for many different fractions incorrectly) can be a rather large size that would not promote air voids with it's roundness/size like a crushed smaller material would.

FredL

Hi Happy,

I use pea gravel in my mixtures because I like it's texture and appearance. As mentioned earlier, the small lava rock that I use in large quantities is far better for the trees, but I find its appearance montonous and somewhat unappealing by itself, so I add pea gravel because I find it very interesting to look at closely when I'm looking at my trees. For me, just as the appearance of the pots we use can add or detract from the appearance of a tree, so, too, can the soil it is planted in.

Fred

Happy Gilmore

FredL, what fractional size is your pea gravel? Often here it can be 3/8's and larger full round gravel (ie. no crush). It's typically aggregate plant sieve leftovers (ie. not very good for cement).

Some also label a much smaller gravel as pea gravel or more commonly 'birdseye' that's typically about 3/16-1/8", quite pleasing in appearance and has some angular faces on a portion of the screenings. I've contemplated using this for larger pots.

So the trees do like the lava rock? Do you buy it prepped or what is your method? I'm thinking of what's an effective way to 'crush' the pieces I have without crushing them far too small.

Thanks!

FredL

Hi Happy,

Well, I went out and looked closely at what Walmart has been selling me as "Pea Gravel". I didn't measure it, but it looks to me to be about 1/4" or mabe a tad larger. Looked at closely, it is quite pretty; miniature "viewing rocks", I guess. Looks to me to be a mix of chert, quartzite, feldspar, maybe some limestone. Pretty much rounded, but with some angularity left. As I said, very pretty from close-up. As so many common things are.

I'm a huge believer in what Walmart here calls "Black Lava Rock" or, better still, "Small Red Lava Rock". Somebody called "Ozark Landscape Rock" makes the stuff. It is incredibly rough in texture and looks like some sort of volcanic cinders. It varies in size from, perhaps, 1/8" to 1/2" with occasional pieces even larger. It is fairly dusty. I use it exactly as it comes out of the bag. I don't see much point in going crazy over the dust since I add garden loam to my mixes anyway. For my money, it is the perfect primary ingrediant for fast draining but water retaining soil mixes.

I think that my soil mixes are coarser than many use. Maybe that's why I can get away with using garden loam and not separating dust from my components. My mixes are very inexpensive to put together, I like their appearance and my trees are very healthy and grow very fast, so I'm quite happy with them.

Fred

TreeBay

I would go with the lava and forget the pea gravel. Gravel that size isn't going to do much more than take up space. I rinse my lava over a window screen. In a shallow bonsai pot, all that sludge will go right to the bottom and clog drainage. In growing containers and deeper pots you should be fine without rinsing.

Regards,

Matt

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