Substitutes for crushed lava?

PatArizona

G'day all you Soilsais...

From my experience...

OilDri is a brand name...there are other "oil/water drying" agents. Mostly, they are interchangable...IF IF IF they are HIGH FIRED, and "natural earth" and NO ADDITIVES...

Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil and Profile (probably same as SAPS) sam "...IF IF IF they are HIGH FIRED, and "natural earth" and NO ADDITIVES...

The above goes for Turface as well...

I have used (1) OilDri, Profile and Turface interchangably...for years, and (2) Pumice and lava interchangably...for years, as well.

However, (1) and (2) are not interchangable.

Further...here in the USA, I would not waste my time looking for a suitable kitty litter...been ther, done that...doesn't work.

That's what works for me. It may work for you...or not.

Pat

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subnet_rx

I actually found the Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil at an out of the way nursery yesterday. It says it's a ph-balanced fired clay called arcillite? Since it goes in aquariums, I'm assuming it won't break down very easily. It looks good enough to use for me, and it's the closest thing I can find. I'm just unsure about Oil-Dry, even though I might have to use it at some point in the future, because everything else is so hard to find. Turface is easy to find for me, and cheap, but I've read several opinions that it should not be more than 10% of your soil mix.

So, I'm going with the aquatic soil, and a mix of pine bark mulch for my tropicals, and I think I'm going to try some 1/3rd schultz cactus mix, 1/3 aquatic soil, 1/3 pine bark for my portulacaria afra. The cactus mix is sand, perlite, and charcoal. Since I have several small plants (about 1 year old), I'm going to try different mixes and see if I can come up with one that is easy to find in my area and outgrows the others.

jfecme

While we are on this has anyone used Estes brand aquarium gravel? It comes in lots of different shades in natural stone.

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Over 25 years experience - good and bad, and still learning!

Jay

Jumping in here a bit late...but... as for Turface. I have, and still do, use it. In some cases as one of the ingredients and in some cases as the only ingredient of the soil. Yes, I use a 100% Turface an 100% inorganic mix. I've used it on Trees in grow boxes and on trees in Bonsai Pots. I've found it to work well. It does require you to water more often and to fertilize.

I'm sure there may be other opinions and I am interested in why someone would say only 10%

Jay

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subnet_rx

Here's an article by Colin Lewis. He also notes that the manufacturers of Turface recommend that it only be used as a minor soil ingredient.

http://www.shadysidebonsai.com/bons...aihorticulture/