|
Some of these posts are very old and might contain outdated information. You may wish to search for newer posts instead.
|
DGB
Stranger
Registered: 09/19/16
Posts: 437
Last seen: 10 months, 3 days
|
Basalt/crushed black lava rock sand.
#23865109 - 11/25/16 02:05 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
So, for my area I can't for the life of me find pavers sand, or course sand or any other variants of that, I've been to every homedepo, lows ,Walmart ,garden center, and every small headwear store in a reasonable distance from myself and they only had concrete mix, no one carries hort sand, the only pumice I found was like $8 for a sandwich bag sized amount, the closet thing I can find was the crushed lava rock basalt sand the grain size is right but I read some ware that said large amounts of basalt/lava rock is so alkaline and will kill the cacti, not sure if that's true or not seeing as there is a field of opuntia growing out of the local lava rock cliffs.
I did have the option of granite chic grit but it was like $20 for 25lb I did get some but now that I look at it 25 isn't much at all, the garden center had turface 50lb for $35, but a headwear supplier has I giant basalt sand bag for like $10 and its twice the size of the turface bag. The auto stores have floor dry but it's like $20 for 20lb, and none of the local pet stores carry the right cat litter. I do have access to a lot of calcium carbonate beach sand but I assume even once washed of salt its still not going to be a good option.
So, I'm not entirely sure what my best option is, especially since I plan of potting a lot of cacti. I do have perlite and access to bulk for pretty cheap so I'm not completely out of options but from reading around it sounds like I should pad my cactus soil with more than just 50/50 potting mix and perlite.
|
trichlover
Wandering and Wondering



Registered: 09/19/16
Posts: 178
Last seen: 2 years, 1 month
|
Re: Basalt/crushed black lava rock sand. [Re: DGB]
#23865181 - 11/25/16 03:29 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
I've used NAPA floor dry(diatomaceuous earth) and filtered out the smaller particles through a strainer, and used that along with a mix of perlite/potting soil with pretty good success among cacti and succulents that I repotted from a sandy mix. I've even potted some of my seedlings in pure sifted DE and they seem to like it.
--------------------
|
mandrin13
Stranger


Registered: 07/08/14
Posts: 1,111
Loc: Socal
Last seen: 3 months, 7 days
|
Re: Basalt/crushed black lava rock sand. [Re: trichlover]
#23865307 - 11/25/16 06:26 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
No where do you mention which cactus you plan on growing, not all cactus use the same type of soil you know.
-------------------- Even Jesus got stoned.
|
LSoares
Farmer



Registered: 10/09/13
Posts: 3,209
Loc: Portugal
Last seen: 4 years, 3 months
|
Re: Basalt/crushed black lava rock sand. [Re: mandrin13]
#23867847 - 11/26/16 03:23 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Do you have access to a pH meter? I would ask for a handful of each of the turface and basalt, soak it for a day or two in a glass and measure the pH of the water then (use a glass with nothing but water for control). While it can be possible for the basalt or lava rock to be alkaline, those things are so hard and stable I find it very unlikely it will affect the pH of your mix.
For the record, lava rock is the basis of all my mixes and has been so for a good number of years. I prefer it to granite because of the increased porosity, but if I were you I would use a mix of both - or even the three of them.
|
El Torcho
Time for tea?


Registered: 04/16/15
Posts: 1,365
Loc: Lone Pine Hill
|
Re: Basalt/crushed black lava rock sand. [Re: LSoares]
#23867953 - 11/26/16 06:27 AM (7 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
--------------------
"Well it sounds trivial, but the key insight is . . . . . you don't know shit" ~Dennis McKenna "There is more to human existence and to reality itself than science can ever give us access to." ~His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama
|
|