Turface MPV,Pro League,Profile Ceramic

larry mac

You guys (and girls) probably already know all this stuff but I'm just discovering some of it. I used regular turface years ago (mid to late seventies), but haven't seen it since. Now there are more products available it seems. There's some interesting info on these products at their website, turface.com.

In addition to Turface MPV (thanks treebay & steez for recommending it), theres:


Turface Pro League - smaller uniform particles, superior drainage & absorption.

Profile Porous Ceramic - here's the technical info:


Key Physical Properties
Color: Brown to gray
Porosity: 78%: 41% Capillary, 37% Non Capillary
pH: 6.0-6.5
CEC: 33.6
Particle Density: 2.5 g/cc
Electrical Conductivity: 0.4 mMho/cm
Particle Stability: ASTM C-88 Sulfate Soundness Test should not exceed 4% degradation over 20-year period.
Other: Natural, inorganic. Does not Swell
Chemical Composition: SiO2 - 74% Al2O3 - 11% Fe2O3 - 5% All other chemical equal less than 5% and include CaO, MgO, K2O, Na2O, and TiO2

Particle Size Distribution:

U.S. Standard Size Mesh Particle Distribution
+6 mesh 15.0
+8 mesh 31.5
+12 mesh 18.9
+20 mesh 30.9
+30 mesh 3.1
+40 mesh 0.5
Pan 0.1

Wouldn't 20 mesh be rather large?

Has anyone used these other products?

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larry mac

Pictures didn't load first time.

Attached Images

mpv & pro league.gif (32.1 KB, 146 views)

TreeBay

20 sounds pretty small. I think that's about 1/32 inch size, really a little smaller than you'd like to go except for shohin or top dress.

The particles get smaller as the mesh increases. If I recall correctly, sifting regular Turface through a window screen you'd lose about a third of the material. That seems consistent with the numbers you've posted. 20 mesh and larger would fall through a window screen.


30.9+3.1+.05+.1 = about 33 percent fines.

That's why I switched to MVP for a larger AND more uniform particle size.

Here's a writeup on mesh sizes:

http://www.hamgil.com/sieves.html

Regards,

Matt

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larry mac

Thanks Matt, I had it backwards all right.

So it looks like the Profile porous ceramic is not a good candidate, and even though they don't give the technical info on the other products, the pictures clearly show the Turface Pro League to be much smaller than the MPV. If you got 33% fines on the MPV, then I guess the pro league would be almost all fines.

best regards, lm

TreeBay

No I was talking about regular Turface

> If I recall correctly, sifting regular Turface through a window screen you'd lose about a third...

Turface MVP is much better. Maybe a tenth fines, so in larger growing boxes you might not need to sift it at all - your mileage may vary.

Regards,

Matt

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larry mac

After searching high and low, I finally found some at a nursery here in Dallas. It's "Shultz Clay Soil Conditioner", sold in 25 & 10 lb bags. It also has the PROFILE logo on the label, indicating it is NOT the Turface MPV, but the regular or smaller Turface.

Also, after going to all that trouble, I found out that Walmart carries it. I had looked there before and hadn't seen it because it is in the "pool supplies" section. It's called "Shultz Aquatic potting soil", also with the PROFILE logo. A 10 lb bag is $6.97.

Matt, I think my particle size results were similar to yours. I used 4 screens. A 7mm, 5mm, 3mm, & a window screen seive I made following advice on this forum (thanks). I believe the window screen is 1mm but have not measured it yet. All seived results were measured by volume.

~ all went freely thru the 7mm seive

~ >3mm (<7mm) = 38%

~ >1mm (<3mm) = 34%

~ <1mm = 28%

regards, larry