AusBonsai

howdy all you Diatomite fans ,
can not get Diatomite down here in tassie searched everywhere best i can come up with is getting it from victoria ,question would you guys and girls
pay arond 45 bucks for a bag of it or would you search for another option for a different medium ?

the price you pay for living on an island

i know this is stupid but mainland australias an island too

Hi rawhide,
Maidenwell sells diatomite straight from the mine for $11 for 40L bag, weighs bout 5kg or so ..... So it all boils down to freight costs and tIme....

Cheers
Mick

cheers Mick
gave maidenwell a call ,no problems with the price from the mine ,the freight cost were astronomical
very scary indeed ,hence the victorian option

de_keizer wrote:i know this is stupid but mainland australias an island too

de keizer very true but no stretch of water that people charge the earth to cross between states

So where in VIC can I get my hands on this great stuff

give Sage horticultural a call I got some there about 3 weeks ago about 26 bucks a 40 liter bag

Rawhide that's gold info mate cheers!

Rawhide, diatomite is a great product I have been using it for many years now. i use the freshly purchased stuff for my good trees then recycle it for the growing on stock so do get pretty good value from it. Diatomite takes years to break down so could be a good investment for you.
Craigw

an alternative to diatomite is the aqaumix medium sold at the big B cant think of it right now but it is spongalite which is similar to diatomite, I found it needed some organic mixed in though as it dried quite quickly straight.

yeah checked out the aqua mix,
but quite expensive when you have a large collection bout 13 bucks for a ten liter bag ,
but certainly would be an option if you only had a couple of trees to repot
cheers jason

Maybe we could get a bulk order shipped to tassie if others are interested?
Could end up reducing the costs a bit?

Hey Rawhide

Check out if you can get Zeolite. Another great product for potting mixes. Not sure if any grows in just straight zeolite, but I mix up to 50% in mixes. A great mineral for trees and helps with water absorbtion and fert retention.

Tony

Jamie wrote:an alternative to diatomite is the aqaumix medium sold at the big B cant think of it right now but it is spongalite which is similar to diatomite, I found it needed some organic mixed in though as it dried quite quickly straight.

Unfortunately aqaumix medium sold at the big B is no longer spongalite but now seems to be Mt Sylvia Diatomite. You may find some older bags at the bottom of the pile that still have the spongalite (unless I get to them first). You can tell the difference as the old bags are long like a 25kg potting mix and the new stuff is a stubby bag.
Unfortunate comment is because I liked spongelite in my mix and now don't know of another source

Tony Bebb wrote:Hey Rawhide

Check out if you can get Zeolite. Another great product for potting mixes. Not sure if any grows in just straight zeolite, but I mix up to 50% in mixes. A great mineral for trees and helps with water absorbtion and fert retention.

Tony

I tried out Zeolite on some cuttings (cotoneaster) a couple of years ago - store-bought potting mix with gravel vs zeolite vs something else (forget what) - best results were in pure zeolite. I use it in my mix, but am not averse to sticking trees in neat zeolite either. I have a young pine growing in a mix of zeolite and scoria [lava, if you like]