chris25 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:03 pm
I'm just picking this thread up again to get myself up to date on what's currently available. I've tried various options in the past but without the opportunity to "shop", as it were, I need to look again at mail order.
Firstly, I can't seem to find the Ikea product (Vaxer) any more; does anyone know if this is likely to be available in the future. It's an expensive option but I've found that it's very good for small plants and seed-raising.
Secondly, I have a bag of the moler clay as used to mop up spills in garages, etc. and I like it, especially for the price, but it's a bit fine for larger plants. I understand that Sanicat is similar but has a larger particle size. Is this the case?
And finally, which pumice supplier are people using these days? I've bought from Kaizen Bonsai once or twice and they're very good, but quite expensive, especially when carriage is factored in. I wonder if there's a better way of buying in bulk.
Thanks in advance,
Chris
I've bought mine from Specialist Aggregates from Rugeley.
For the Pumice Crush (7809) it is £33 per 8kg, or £156 for 15 bags of 8kg.
It is white in colour and looks quite nice.
I bought some smaller pumice off eBay in Germany, but they aren't sending to the UK at the moment.
The size is perfect for me I think, bigger than the Ikea stuff and more rounded. I tried growing in the Ikea stuff before but didn’t really like it. Seemed hard and sharp and the small size still stayed wet for a while.
I also picked up some lava rock, kanuma and kyo-dama to try. Already had JI no.2 and granite here so should have some results soon.
The German ebay supplier, natursteingarten, or something like that, was shipping excellent stuff. I’ve got three or four bags in store, but hope they are back in business supplying to UK soon.
Even with shipping from Germany, they were cheaper than I could find in UK. Maybe a UK supplier could work out the supply chain and compete....
Thanks all for the generous and useful responses. Quite a lot of information to sort through there - I'll check out all the options and, if I think I can contribute more to the thread, I'll post again later.
Did you have problems growing cacti and succulent generes with pure pumice? I mean, South American generes need more acid PH substrate (more organic components).
I think I have understood that you always apply fertilizer, no matter the substrate's mix, is that right?
And, if you use pure pumice, do you apply fertilizer depending of the generes? (Ariocarpus, Blossfeldia, Mammillaria, Turbinicarpus, Rebutia, Echinocereus, Telocephala, Lithops, Haworthia, etc.)
The main problem growing cacti is not the growing medium but the pH of the water. Where possible use rainwater and adjust the pH to 5.5 - 6.0 for optimal nutrient uptake and growth. I use pure pumice or Lava Rock. The only pest that I get are mealy bugs which are easily dealt with by the use of 70% Iso Propyl Alcohol.
I spent the afternoon repotting plants including several I bought at ELK in 2019 and the majority of these were growing in various pumice mixes, some very fine others coarser. Plants included Opuntias (obviously), Lobivias, Rebutias and Sulcos. All have very well developed root systems similar to those I was used to seeing on plants obtained from Michael Kießling who uses a similar mineral only mix. Not having a large supply of pumice I repotted them into this years mixture (30% JI no 3, 30% grit and 40% Kitty Friend (being the new name for Sanicat) and will be interested to see how that take to the change. I also have some of the new Tesco product which is now exactly the same as the Kitty Friend as far as I can tell - IE it’s is no longer small grains. Interestingly it is currently almost exactly the same price and both are a good deal more expensive then when I first started using them for Bonsai a few years back.