Adding perlite to my mix

[Josh]

Just after your thoughts. There is a nursery next to us at work that grows our seed for us. They usually do cuttings but as we know them they do our seeds. Anyway he has bags of perlite he wants to get rid of.

image.jpg

He has grown cuttings in it but changes mixes regularly to keep them clean. Most companies would use this mix several times before discarding but he'd rather swap more regularly and never have an issue. He has offered it to us if we want to. We were thinking of adding it to some some garden beds to bulk them up.
I was wondering would there be any benefit adding it to my bonsai mix. I currently use 50/50 diatomite/pine bark. It works well as is but figured I can get as much of this as I need for free and would reduce my costs.

My question is: what if any benefit would this add to my mix?
And : what if any negatives do you see?

Thanks
Josh

[Boics]

Perlite is almost like polystyrene.
It's very light which can be a bonus to some.
On the negative side it often floats to the surface of a mix and can then blow around a yard easily when dry.
In controlled indoor environments I reckon it would be great but for me I don't really care for it much.
Being an inorganic component I can't really see it being much better or worse than anything else we use (Diatomite, Zeolite etc) the only real variable that I see with inorganic substrates is the ability to retain water...

My conclusion - it's free, give it a go and let us know your thoughts!

[Scott Roxburgh]

Basically man made pumice and its free, probably had the dust removed too.

The only concern I'd have is to ensure you know what chemicals have gone through it.

Take it all and use some for garden beds and cut you mix down to 1:1:1 on some trees and see if you like the results.

[Ray M]

Hi Josh,
I have used Perlite for many years. I mainly used it for planting air layers after removing, ground layers after removing, trees I've been growing in the ground and have reduced the roots quite a bit after digging them and planting them in a new container, when planting cuttings. In recent times I am tending to use it with all my repotting. It is very light and helps to keep the weight down and makes the mix more open. It is very cheap, I buy it in 100 litre bags for less than $40. I mix it at a 50/50 ratio with my mix.

Regards Ray

[Josh]

Thanks for the comments. I figured even its just to reduce the cost of the mix then its worth it. I'll trial a couple of trees (not important ones) in some mix and see what happens. Will let you know.

Josh.