Using 100% Pumice

[Bonsai2]

Due to the poor overall quality of John Innes 2 and 3 that I have experienced from different suppliers and now the demise of the use of peat, the substitutes that I have seen to date seem to be using types of wood shavings as a substitute which seems to me to be far from ideal.

With the above in mind, I purchased 2-3mm Pumice just over 3 months ago as an experiment and repotted 17 Mesembs into the Pumice. The results so far are good and the plants appear to be thriving.

I currently have 24 species of Mesembs - 50% summer/ winter growers and feed the Mesembs on a monthly basis with 1/4 strength Maxicrop Seaweed Plant fertiliser and will do so during their growing seasons.

I also sowed 8 Faucaria tuberculosa seeds in Pumice and 7 have germinated. They took a few days longer to germinate than those in JI2 but are really healthy.

In 2016, I potted up 2 x Schlumbergera truncata (Christmas Cactus) in pure IKEA Pumice and they flowered each year for over 2 years before giving them away. (IKEA no longer sell Pumice)

My next order of Pumice will either be 2-4mm or 3-5 mm as the slightly larger pieces will give the Mesembs a stronger hold.

I will check plants, roots,etc at 12 months and if OK, will replace my JI2 substrate with Pumice.
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[Mark07]

Interesting, I’ve often wondered about 100% lava rock, pumice. Can I ask please where are you buying your pumice from? It appears hard to get hold of in the UK.

Thanks,
Mark.

[Bonsai2]

Hello Mark

I have an order in with Amazon UK at the moment. It is 3-5mm in size but it also states its 2-4 mm in the same post. The link is below:
https://amzn.eu/d/iXrucea and I will get mine delivered on Thursday. They offer a range of litre sizes.

Sorry, the link is not working in this BCSS post. Details are as follows: Amazon UK
Pumice Plants Bonsai Trees Cactus Succulents Horticulture 3-5mm Substrate Flower (10 Litres)
Visit the B2C Store

£21.95 (£2.20 / l)

I have also purchased 2-3 mm from Soil.Ninja which I am currently using.

[Mark07]

That’s great, thank you for the info. I’ll check it out.

[stechad]

The link works for me by the way!

[Chris L]

https://www.specialistaggregates.com/pu ... -6063.html

https://www.specialistaggregates.com/pu ... -6097.html

This is where I get mine from.

(Can't do the price comparison in my head... Only on phone)