I'm not sure, @Fire. I didn't realise I was answering the wrong question - which strictly was where can I buy pumice - or being a troll by pointing out that there's no need to struggle with the expense and difficulty because there is something better. I thought the poster's main complaint was that it's costly and difficult to source so I just said that muck is better. I certainly didn't mean to give offence and offered the best advice I could, based on more than 30 years working heavy clay.
It's not "the wrong question" or offensive. It's just that literally the OP asked
I am struggling to find an economical supplier. Is anyone aware of anywhere
that sells it in greater quantities?
The OP is not interested in wider discussion, but that is the culture of this group. That's my take anyway. When I joined I too found it odd when I encountered the group's determination to a question not asked by the posters. But that's how it rolls. I enjoy the rangey wider debates. But I can understand the frustration of being told that other questions are more relevant and that others know better.
I'm sure that with minimal effort OPs can pick out of our answers what they deem to be relevant to their question. If that doesn't appeal, there's always Google. Enter ' cheap pumice for gardening ' and you should get an acceptable answer, maybe.
Hello Forum members, I can see that my question in this forum has resulted in some interest, as I am asking for advice on a topic that is not part of our common approach to gardening. As you seem interested, and have made the effort to contribute to the discussion, I will explain a little about my motivation here. If you are interested, please read on, but otherwise, I do not want to take up your time. During lockdown, I had quite a lot of time on my hands, and was at home a lot, and I ended up going down the rabbit hole, that is YouTube, of the concept of soil improvement and natural ferltilisation. I watched a lot of videos on this, and found it really interesting. Also, what can be nice about YouTube, is that you can find some very enthusiastic people, and thier enthusiasm can be contagious. I learned about the concept of rock dust, which is about feeding your soil with very finely ground rock, that makes available minerals at very high surface area quantities, for the benefit of enriching the diet of bacteria, I learned about worm castings, and the concept of enriching the diet of your worms with things like seaweed, shell fish shells, insect frass, biochar, coffee grounds. I learned the value of earthworms, manure, compost. I learned about compost tea, the properties of chlorine in our tap water, and I make this regularly in my kitchen with a compost of my own home made wormcastings, and feed it topically to the leaves of my plants and to the ground. These are all things that I learned, and interest me. As an individual, I am motivated by novelty and experimentation, and all this variety of approach is fascinating to me, and gives me a great deal of enjoyment to experiment with. One of the things that I also discovered is the need to maintain ecosystems of bacteria and funghi, and also that the funghi do not like to be distrubed, just like worms. The funghi build networks under ground, and digging your ground disrupts those netwroks, just like you might imagine breaking a spiderweb. As with a spiderweb, the funghi can rebuild their network, but why break it if you can allow it to grow and flourish. Pumice is something that is ph neutral, does not rot, and so is peristant, and retains moisture and air. According the knowledge that I have gained, this is a good thing for plants, root systems, bacteria and funghi. Pumice is popular with hydroponic gardeners, and with those that grow succulants. These characteristics are why I have been experimenting with adding it to my soil. Unlike things like bark, it doesn't rot, which means that it will persist for longer without the need to dig in new volumes. It could be that adding pumice to the soil has no meaningful impact on the health of my garden, but if that is the case, I will have lost nothing, and gained only the pleasure of learning thorugh experience. I'm sorry if you found my comment about answering the quetion offensive. I agree, my comment was a bit sarcastic, and so I am sorry about that. But, I would ask instead, that if you encounter people with new ideas, looking for encouragement, don't be so quick to give them the benefit of your experience, and instead encourage them to explore their interestes. Gardening is something for everyone to enjoy, and there are many paths to success, conventional and less conventional.
if you encounter people with new ideas, looking for encouragement, don't
be so quick to give them the benefit of your experience, and instead
encourage them to explore their interests.
I agree it's not good to shut down people's enthusiasm and novel departures. Volanic rock dust is a standard soil amendment for opening up the earth and keep it aerated. This in in itself might help with encouraging micro life.
You might find this video interesting in discussion of perlite and pumice. As Jason says "the soil business is the trucking business". Pumice is heavy, inert and has to be washed and shipped from around the world. (The same can be said of Coir). It depends what effect one is after, but free manure may be an interesting replacement, with micros and nutrient in-built. Or maybe importing large amounts of pumice is useful.
Both pumice stone and volcanic rock ‘dust’ have their uses in the garden as soil amendments. As far as I’m aware they do and provide different things in the garden but certainly do not do/provide the same thing as manure or organic matter. It would be complementary to the application of that.
Pumice, because of the open structure, is supposed to good at aerating and opening up heavy clay soils, but because it’s essentially silica (glass) and does not break down easily, I’m not sure whether it adds anything to the microbial and fungal health of the soil nor whether the minerals and trace elements it contains are easily available for plant uptake. I have used a very local source of this in my garden (I live close to a volcanic zone) but not for soil health per se..
Basalt rock dust is supposed to be excellent at remineralisation of nutrient deficient or exhausted/overworked soils as the high mineral and trace element content is more immediately available for plant uptake. I suspect it might also be better for overall soil health vis microbial and fungal activity but I have absolutely no evidence to back that. There are UK sources, mined in Scotland (Remin brand) so it does not have to have a high environmental impact, or at least no more than many other garden products.
Is it worth a compare and contrast with the basalt rock dust re purpose/effectiveness, price, application rates etc?
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I can imagine that improved aeration of the soil might result in better microbial growth within the soil … so, as you say @Nollie … pumice might be a useful addition to a combination of ingredients for improving heavy clay, rather than a solution on its own.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Both pumice stone and volcanic rock ... but certainly do not do/provide the same thing as manure or organic matter.... Pumice, because of the open structure, is supposed to good at aerating and opening up heavy clay soils.
Manures can do this too and provide food for fungi and microbes. That was my point.
Posts
I certainly didn't mean to give offence and offered the best advice I could, based on more than 30 years working heavy clay.
If that doesn't appeal, there's always Google. Enter ' cheap pumice for gardening ' and you should get an acceptable answer, maybe.
I agree it's not good to shut down people's enthusiasm and novel departures. Volanic rock dust is a standard soil amendment for opening up the earth and keep it aerated. This in in itself might help with encouraging micro life.
You might find this video interesting in discussion of perlite and pumice. As Jason says "the soil business is the trucking business". Pumice is heavy, inert and has to be washed and shipped from around the world. (The same can be said of Coir). It depends what effect one is after, but free manure may be an interesting replacement, with micros and nutrient in-built. Or maybe importing large amounts of pumice is useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wT6zwhjJtg
Pumice, because of the open structure, is supposed to good at aerating and opening up heavy clay soils, but because it’s essentially silica (glass) and does not break down easily, I’m not sure whether it adds anything to the microbial and fungal health of the soil nor whether the minerals and trace elements it contains are easily available for plant uptake. I have used a very local source of this in my garden (I live close to a volcanic zone) but not for soil health per se..
Basalt rock dust is supposed to be excellent at remineralisation of nutrient deficient or exhausted/overworked soils as the high mineral and trace element content is more immediately available for plant uptake. I suspect it might also be better for overall soil health vis microbial and fungal activity but I have absolutely no evidence to back that. There are UK sources, mined in Scotland (Remin brand) so it does not have to have a high environmental impact, or at least no more than many other garden products.
Is it worth a compare and contrast with the basalt rock dust re purpose/effectiveness, price, application rates etc?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Manures can do this too and provide food for fungi and microbes. That was my point.
That is what I was suggesting.