Filtering Pumice / Dry Stall

8 years ago

I have been buying pumice as 40 pound bags of the horse bedding product named Dry Stall. I filter that pumice manually, and I end up with a fair amount of dust that I end up discarding. What I have noticed is that any pumice dust I do not filter out quickly washes out of a pot with a filter at the bottom of the pot.

Rather than invest all of this time in manually filtering pumice, could we just add pumice right out of the Dry Stall bag into a large pot with an appropriately-sized screen over the drain hole, then simply soak the entire container a few times and let all that dust just flush out the bottom of the pot? It might save a lot of time and effort and be nearly as efficacious as the manual filter.

I would never try to do this with a heavier material like Turface. Somehow the lightness of pumice seems to create this unusual drainage characteristic where the dust is able to easily work its way through the container to the bottom. I am just curious if any of you have tried this trick, and how well does it work?

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Comments (3)

aloebot
8 years ago
I just use the pumice without washing it. I have not worried about any ill effects from the dust (other than not wanting to breath it). I guess I have gotten the affect you are seeing without paying much attention to it. If the pots were indoors it could get a little messy. All (most) of my plants stay outside all year long with a few exceptions.
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked aloebot
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay
Original Author
8 years ago
So I just learned hard lesson number one about pumice. I put a small screen on the container hole at the bottom, and I normally rely on the weight of the material in the pot to keep the screen in place. Pumice does not weigh enough, and the screen just slides to the side. All the pumice was coming out the bottom of the pot. I guess in an all-pumice pot I need to glue the screen down with epoxy.
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Jeff (5b)
8 years ago
Put stones over the screen. Plus they provide 'good drainage'. ;)

I haven't done that on purpose, but I've noticed a bunch of it coming through the first time I water. The problem, as I see it, is it's tough to know how much of the total dust is coming out of the drainage whole, and what's left in the pot. And then, if what's left in the pot is causing any kind of a backup anywhere. I use 1/8" pumice, so that might be more of a possibility.

I've read of people who screen only, which I started to do, some who screen and wash, which is too much for me, and some like aloebot who don't worry about it. I can't imagine it causing a significant clog with large enough drainage holes, but I started using a window screen to sift pumice and perlite just in case. Not sure if that was helpful. Would love to hear from anyone who knows more.
westes Zone 9b California SF Bay thanked Jeff (5b)