Pumice

[Slug Killer]

Hi, I'm after some pumice as an Italian friend swears by it but I'm finding it hard to get hold of in the UK. Any ideas?

Ps I'm new here so this might have been covered before. Sorry if it has.

[Maggi Young]

Various folks have mentioned the use of Pumice, and we did have a query about availability of similar products in Europe, but came to no firm conclusions at that time. Some members have mentioned their trips to buy Pumice for their garden use, this has mostly been in Germany, as I recall. Let's hope someone comes up with a good suggestion for you SlugKiller. Welcome to the Forum, by the way!

[Martin Baxendale]

Hi, I'm after some pumice as an Italian friend swears by it but I'm finding it hard to get hold of in the UK. Any ideas?

Are you looking for pumice grit? If so I know a set-up who used to supply it in various grades and I'll be checking on Monday to see if they can still supply, as I need new supplies, so can post confirmation then.

[Slug Killer]

Hi, thanks that would be great. I did have some before that was around the 5mm-7mm size and I grew my Cypripediums in it. They loved the stuff with a mix of perlite, John Innes 1 and some fine Melcourt potting bark. We need more volcanoes in the UK

[Slug Killer]

Thanks Rob, what a forum, Ive been looking for ages and now I've just ordered some in less than a few hours of posting on here.

[Slug Killer]

I e-mailed first and got some knocked off as well, always worth a try

Thanks everyone for your help.

Slug Killer

[Slug Killer]

Hi me again. Just wondering if anyone here as used pumice for Cyp seedlings as I've got some coming from Phytesia and they recommend putting in pumice for the first year after after coming out of the flask. I've lost a few in the past and it gets very expensive and I don't want to have any big losses. Any advice anyone?

Slug Killer

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

I wish pumice would be available here. There was only one chance to use it in the past. It was "raw" and dust had to be sieved off it but results were beyond praise.

After years of replacing (?) it with coarse sand, coarse perlite and grit (giving great results, I do not complain) a friend triumphally appeared with a really big bag of "volcanic sand": That material looked the best, like bread crumbs of many sizes, only a little "devilish", that is a disturbing faint sulphur stench could be smelled.

To summarize with, within a week lots of newly potted bulbs were dying for good!

I never tried "volcanic sand" again, you bet, and can only read about fortunate people having real pumice for their mixes.

Best regards

[Slug Killer]

Ok think I will give it a go. Maybe try and grow half in pumice and the other half in a different mix.

Regards

Slug Killer

[gote]

May seem a stupid question but are you talking about composts for Cyps in pots only?
If not, how would you use it?
Göte

[Maggi Young]

Good question, Göte. I have asked the opinion of a friend who is an orchid  specialist, to see what he thinks about pumice as a growing medium for other orchids....more particularly indoor varieties.

[Iturraran]

Wish I could locate a source of pumice in Spain!
Maggi, when you wrote about a product some people were looking in Europe, was that TURFACE?. It has a very good press in the States...

[Maggi Young]

Yes,  José, it was Turface that was discussed.

[Slug Killer]

The person I have just bought some off (David) www.pumicesupplies.co.uk has some good information regarding pumice on the site under the INFO tab. As Rob said, you can use it on it's own and I have done this before but it did require a lot of feeding and watering. I now plan to use as a mix as I've suffered lately with rotting roots that have been water clogged. That’s the main advantage of pumice in the mix. I also use around the shoot as it protects it and stops it getting over wet. In my early days I had quite a few rot off which is expensive. Surprisingly when the main shoot does rot or snap off it normally gets replaced by two small nodes if your lucky.

I also use seaweed extract but use a much weaker dilution than the manufacturer recommends, I usually dilute half again as I find it too strong for my Cyps.

A friend in Italy who grows Cyps in the ground mixes pumice in before planting and has great results. I'll ask him to supply some photos when I speak to him next. Pumice is much cheaper there. Bit expensice here but you can use it again and again. If I'm spending Ł50 on a nice Cyp, what's a couple of quid for a decent mix.

Slug killer.

[Slug Killer]

Box arrived today via DHL. Very happy with the stuff as I don't like Tesco's finest cat stuff. Hopefully my Cyps will like it to.

Thanks for your help everyone, hope the weather holds for me tomorrow.

Slug Killer