I was able to buy this for $7 or $8.00 a big bag and it was worth every dollar. It fixed my "too wet" soil in my containers and it also fixed the clay in a patch where I started a garden.
Check another store or supplier. It really should not be that expensive. The first store I saw it at sold it for $22.00 a bag not more than a mile away I found it for 7 or 8. It was a local hardware store as opposed to a garden center.

The smaller the shale the better for the containers. I don't think it really matters for the clay in my opinion but I am not an expert just an expanded shale fan.

L.C.

Your clay soil is composed of very fine mineral bits and shale is composed of not so fine mineral bits so what is really accomplished by adding more mineral stuff the the mineral stuff you already have?
What your soil really needs, and all it needs, is organic matter which even in Kansas a lot of OM is available for free, at no cost, so why spend money for something your soil really does not need?

I don't know why it does what it does, but people who have used it absolutely rave about it.

A woman in my neighborhood who has *gorgeous* plants & gardens swears by it, puts it in all her containers, says it helps her container roses stay healthy & bloom like crazy.

Expanded shale opens up clay soils so a plants roots can move around to find moisture and nutrients easier, and it can also change clay soils so water drains better, if enough is used. Organic matter will do the same thing and most often for much less cost.

Ignore kim as usual.

Get expanded shale if you can afford it. it will work right away unless you want to wait certain period of time to fix it with organic matter like compost, bagged leaves, etc. It is actually cheap to get them in bulk if you have a way of getting them home.

I'm thinking of making my own potting soil with peatmoss. Would shale be cheaper than perlite while accomplishing the same thing?

I'd recommend heading on over to the container forum w/ a question like that. Peat compacts and doesn't do well long term in container mixes. Seed starting sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container forum

What I've been hearing lately is that peat moss is counter-productive, that it actually retards growth so effectively that it's used to pack fresh produce for shipment!

& there was a wonderful special on PBS called "Bog Bodies", about several bodies that were discovered, perfectly preserved, in peat bogs.

They were so perfect that you could see the pores of the skin & the weave of the cloth of their clothing.

Carbon dating showed them to be, if I remember correctly, over 1000 years old, I'm thinking 1300 years.

Haven't yet used it but I definitely plan to. Had hoped to add it this spring but looks like I need to postpone until the fall.

No one can deny that compost is good for clay (or any soil) but it isn't permanent. Expanded shale is permanent. Because you don't need to replenish your shale amendments to the soil every year, it appears to be cheaper regarding your time and if you want fewer maintenance chores from what I'm reading.

There has been some studies. I'm convinced it isn't hype but I'm not sure there isn't some new problem it might bring to the table. Don't know if it causes more acidity or akalinity, or perhaps it causes too much drainage and requires more watering, or maybe it attracts some new pest, who knows. Guess I'll find out in the fall.

Let us know if you use it and how it works out for you.

As I said above expanded shale will open up clay soils so a plants roots can move through that clay easier, but expanded shale adds no nutrients to the soil while organic matter does. Yes, organic matter must be added continuously, just as Ma Nature intended and why she grew trees that annually drop their leaves to provide a continuous source of organic matter.