I am about to mix my no till soil but some of the recipes say to use pumice. Is there a purpose for pumice other than aeration for the roots ? If so can I use growstone instead. Do you think any of the growstone has material that would leech ?
Growstone vs pumice
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Tommy McCain
Manure Connoisseur
The no till recipe was put together on the west coast where volcanic pumice is available at any local hardware store. I am on the east coast and use two sources in my no til pots (10 and 20 gallons). Red lava rock and perlite is what I use. I put the lava rock in an old tractor tire and hit it with a hammer to make the size smaller. Home depot has this rock and most garden or landscape supply companies. Just remember that all of these (growstone, pumice, and lava rock) will make your pots weight a million pounds. This is why I switched to perlite because it is light and cheep. No till was designed to be fluid and change with what is available to the grower. I would not order anything online especially something as heavy as aeration. I have been growing no til for over 2 years now and have accumulated a lot of "failure" knowledge. Let me know if you have any questions. I love to help.
edit: Aeration is something that you need but I have not necessarily found a vast difference between pumice, lava and perlite. Just make sure around 1/3 of your pots are aeration or your root growth will suck. Also, there is a lot of talk about rock dust in no till. Put around 1-2 cups a cubic foot of soil. Not anymore because I have seen it turn the soil to concrete.
I love pumice . I am lucky I can get my own from the local beach . I prefer it over perlite and it lasts a lot longer . @Tommy McCain -- Failure Knowledge -- I love it . and have plenty of experience at it . 
Tommy McCain
Manure Connoisseur
I am sooo good at growing...because I was soooo bad when I started!! There was a lot of..."well that didn't work like I wanted".I love pumice . I am lucky I can get my own from the local beach . I prefer it over perlite and it lasts a lot longer . @Tommy McCain -- Failure Knowledge -- I love it . and have plenty of experience at it .
Edit: Dude I know you do not have access to amendments and such like others on here. But in the past week I have seen a post about collecting seaweed and pumice from the beach. You lucky dog you!
The growstone is super light weight I already have some this is why I’m asking. I also can’t source pumice ( which I stated on first post.) I have a bunch of stuff already and if I don’t have to go hunting and buy anything else it’s easier for me.
Edit : I live in CA and finding pumice is not easy as you claim. None of these nurseries have it and if they do they want such a high price. I do not want to drive over 30 miles to buy pumice lol especially with the gas prices and how much traffic is out here.
Edit : I live in CA and finding pumice is not easy as you claim. None of these nurseries have it and if they do they want such a high price. I do not want to drive over 30 miles to buy pumice lol especially with the gas prices and how much traffic is out here.
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Here is a pic of the growstone I want to say it is nearly as light weight as perlite.
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Some nice pockets in that stuff for microbes to colonize.
I can send you a sample if you like ? I got this bag maybe 1.5 years ago I believe it was 2 cubic ft ? I have to look at the bag and much much cheaper than pumice.
I never thought about that. I used this growstone for my succulents and they really like it. I actually put too much in some of my adenium pots so I need to repost and add more organic matter.
