Did you try grain elevator/feed stores in your area for Gran-I-Grit in grower size or #2 cherrystone?

You should be able to use perlite in lieu of the granite with good results. I would be sure to screen the Turface, though. I would also consider rinsing the perlite to help leach most of the fluorine-containing compounds from the perlite - especially if you're growing a plant known to be fluoride-sensitive.

Al

Thanks Al, I will check for feed store around our area. Perlite I will soak it in water to remove powdery stuff. Turface requires screening? Do I screen to gather what size turface particles?

kandhi,

Yes you will enjoy using the gritty mix very much. My woody plants love it, so much so that I have large roots sticking out of the drainage holes even after a spring root pruning.

The local road commission recently topped our rural roads with something called "slag stone". It's basically pea gravel sized pieces of baked/fired rock containing many dozens of small holes. Visually it reminds me of volcanic rock but with a weight and density of slate or shale. They did not say specifically what type of rock this is, only that it's natural stone and not man-made.

I have no idea whether washed and screened slag stone would be acceptable, but it looks quite porus so it might be good for holding water.

I also saw a landscape company (can't recall the web address) that sold "slag sand". This slag sand looked very similar in size to crushed granite. Again, no idea what type of stone this is, but might be worth looking into.

HTH

Dave

If you're going to use only Turface as a medium, it will be very water retentive. To reduce water retention, screen out the fines to increase macro-porosity (big soil pores). I screen through a #10 screen or insect screening & use the fines somewhere else & reserve the coarser material for use in soils.

Dave - the material you're describing sounds like Haydite, which is somewhere between Turface & granite (closer to granite than Turface, though) in porosity.

Al

Plants responds to gritty mix differently. But the most amazing plant is Jasmine Maid of Orleans. I got this sick MOO just a month ago from my friend. He over potted this poor thing with peat and very little perlite, when I pulled the plant out of its pot, most of the roots rotted away, only root at the top are good. I washed off all soil and pot it into one gallon with gritty mix. Today I noticed 3 very thick hairy white roots poking out of the drainage holes, although the plant didn't grow one single more leave. I can imagine a grow spurt is in pending. Sometimes we are impatient about plants not doing a thing, we could be wrong. It's just doing things we can not see but critically important.

I repotted over 10 plants this year from peat or 5-1-1 into the gritty mix by bare rooting, all plants are behaving quite similar, they don't grow any new leaves at all but all have amazing root growth.

Al,

Yes the slag stone could be haydite (fired slate/shale) or similar product. It feels heavy like haydite but looks a bit different. Whatever it is it's been fired I believe as it's full of holes, similar to lava rock but much denser.

I'll try to post a photo in the next couple of days, maybe that will help.

BTW, one of the oldest concolor firs (the one with roots extending out the drainage holes) growing in the gritty mix has started another new growth cycle. It's already had two previous growth cycles this season and a few buds have opened up over the last couple of days.

Typically I believe most woody plants concentrate on root building and storing energy for winter, so a new flush of growth this late is a bit unusual in my experience.

I found a landscape supplier that carries various grades of "slag stone". Don't know anything about this retailer but at least you can view the various grades of slag stone.

Links:
http://www.arnettslandscaping.com/images/prarie%20materials/2Slag.jpg

http://www.arnettslandscaping.com/images/prarie%20materials/6ASlag.jpg

As Al mentioned, the material in these photos does look like haydite, very similar to the Espoma Soil Perfector I occasionally use. However, the slag stone used by the road commission in front of our house looks slightly different (more air holes and lighter gray color).

HTH,

Dave

Al, I could not find any farm/feed stores in our metro area. Should I go ahead with 1:1:1 bark/peat/turface mix? Size of the bark 1/8inch, peat and Turface course without powdery stuff. I will mix some controlled release fertilizer/garden lime for fertlizer. I had tough time finding Turface, it costed $23 for 50pound bag.

Here's a photo of the "slag stone" as used by our local road commission. Not sure how good it would be in containers.

{{gwi:40868}}

It's much too large to be considered ideal, and it's physical properties put it between Turface and granite, but closer to the granite than to Turface.

The gritty mix contains no peat at all. The purpose of the gritty mix is to eliminate the soil ingredients that break down quickly (peat) and replace them with something far more durable that is appropriate in size and guarantees very good aeration for extended periods.

What large city do you live near in VA?

Al

Al, Sorry, I did mean perlite not peat in gritty mix. I live in Vienna, VA. I checked with some granite and marble centers in VA and they do not carry any crushed granite either.

kandhi,
Did you check any of these feed stores? They should have the Gran-i-grit in the grower size or something similar for chickens? The granite and marble places will not have what you need. You need to check with the feed stores that sell feed for chickens.
Ward

Here is a link that might be useful: Feed stores VA

Ward,
The link was helpful, I was able to call one of the stores and they have gran-i-grit 50pound for $10. I am very excited to go and get one and can't wait to start my gritty mix. Thanks

kandhi,
Gran-i-grit comes in 3 sizes, starter, grower, and developer. Make sure you get the right one, grower size. The developer size is too big and the starter too small. Reminds me of Goldilocks and the 3 bears :-)
Ward

I checked with all the feedstores listed in the above link ricewo posted above. All of them carry starter variety and they do not carry growers kind. Now back to square one on the look for gran-i-grit. It is ok to use pea graval?

You can use the starter size if you have to. Tell your supplier to order a bag or two of grower size from HIS supplier. They're made by the same company, so it should be no problem.

Or - Go to MSN Yellow Pages. Enter feed stores in the appropriate box, then add your city/state in the other box. You'll get lots of hits. Eliminate the chain outfits & call those that sound like they would cater to rural animal feeds (ducks, chickens, goats, sheep ........). It's likely that if one place near you carries grit, others will, too. If feed stores doesn't work, try grain elevators.

Al