Lots of pumice comes from New Mexico and surrounding areas, which might as well be in CO when speaking to shipping rates anywhere east of the Mississippi.
When I last priced it, it would be like $40 to ship a 20lb box, of which the actual pumice costs $12.50…or a 45 lb bag for like $20 + $70 for shipping. To really make it cost effective, you’d need to start looking at buying over 150 lbs at a time so you can start to defray the freight cost per pound.
I had to figure it was coming from someplace very dry given its nature, was definitely thinking the southwest. Makes sense that BAS would have access to it. I guess we have to find a more readily accessible substitute here on the east coast. The red lava rock sounds promising I guess. Curious if they’re similar in weight/density, gotta do some research
I’m really liking this thread man. Very entertaining. And pretty plants.
Perfect timing @BigMike55 , just when I’m out of likes! 
It’s great to have you here my man!
Isn’t it obsidian that has been heated like popcorn?
Perlite…
expanded volcanic glass, heated to 1000°C until it ‘pops’ (like popcorn) to many times its original size.
The thing about the red lava rock is that it’s typically sold in much larger chunks than most people want in their soil. Crushing/breaking lava rock into smaller chunks is really labor intensive, but should ultimately end up providing the same benefit.
One of my local-ish shops has started carrying pumice in bulk, but his pricing at retail for the quantities I’d need would be almost what it would cost per pound to ship 45lb bags from the NM source.
I’ve also read about people using Turface MVP for aeration. It’s a soil conditioning product commonly used in baseball infields. I haven’t tried it, mostly because I haven’t found anywhere locally that readily stocks it…but I haven’t looked hard either. Also, I have no idea of the cost, but it seems like it may be cheaper and/or more widely available if it’s used for upkeep on baseball diamonds & stuff.
Go stop by your local ball field and get a couple test handfuls of turface. Or just ask a maintenance guy working out there. Prob has pallets of that shit
I’m seeing the same thing with rice hulls as well. I’m able to get rice hulls at cost luckily, but retail prices on a bale are absolutely insane. Given how cheap 4cu ft Perlite bags are I’d definitely choose Perlite over rice hulls if I were forced to pay retail… (50-75$+ a bale). It’s understandable with shipping costs, but I’m not going to eat that cost haha. I believe Home Depot carries turface, though in my opinion it’s probably better suited for bulking up a succulent mix than as an aeration ammendment due to lacking pore space & surface area. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t turface a calcinated clay that holds a lot of water?
Another amendment that improves structure and drainage is Pine Bark Fines. The high lignin content will provide more food for the fungi present. Partially composted pine bark even better (old bags sitting out uncovered all year). “High quality” potting mixes have used barks for as long as I can remember and there used to be a guy using the name Al on Gardenweb that popularized a 5-1-1 mix using pine bark mulch/fines. Very cheap compared to the other popular craft amendments so little investment required to experiment…
I think you’re correct about what it’s made from. From a size perspective, it would be similar to rather fine pumice…like 1/8" and smaller. and porosity is about 25% less than pumice. The product is marketed to help prevent soil compaction, such that there’s space for air in the soil. Isn’t that part of the reason to use aeration material in soil? I’ve also read in various places that more sand/clay in soil mixes may be beneficial.
Would it be as good as pumice? Doubtful. I’d think it should be roughly as good as rice hulls but may not break down as fast.
But yeah, rice hulls generally cost me around $40-50 per bale shipped to my house. Over half of that is shipping cost…but still cheaper than the same volume of pumice.
I’ve read about people slowly driving over their bags of lava rock to break it up. Probably what I would do if I had to use it in my soil. I’m definitely not gonna spend an hour or two doing it by hand. Did that with some Down To Earth crab I got a while back, it was all chunky, big pieces of shell, woulda taken years for it to break down in my soil. But after an hour, I was just like,”Fuck this, I’m ordering some from BAS,” haha.
if you’ve got a nice heavy 3/4 ton or larger truck…I’d bet that would work well. But something like a Honda Civic isn’t likely to put enough pressure on it to crush it into smaller bits without slowly driving over it for months.
Guess that rules out my Tesla 
Rice hulls are good aeration, and provide silica fort plant growth, but it’s important to understand that they break down fairly quickly, so aren’t good for long term aeration in, say, a no till or recycled soil
I’ve tried that with an F-150 extended cab loaded with tools, back and forth repeatedly… lava rock is tough, gas is expensive, lol!
Yeah, for me always by the time they break down an aggregate soil ped structure begins to take place that maintains adequate drainage and aeration as is evident by the abundance of aerobic life. I think they are useful for getting a living soil started, and from there on out you can begin to rely on organisms as well as the living and decaying roots of “cover crops”. There are a lot of soil maintenance practices that contribute to a healthy well drained soil beyond the remaining physical amendments. I do realize there is no one-size-fits all and what works for me may not work for everyone but anecdotally I still have rice-hulls based no till pots going strong on 15~ years. As always your results may vary, interesting topic for sure!
Tried to take the day off but ended up having to do some emergency bullshit for a job I haven’t even won yet… anyway…
Yeah I’m home now and I don’t know where to start lol
Y’all been BUSY!!!
Everything’s on fire.
The amount of smoke that is rising all over the world right now.
Woke up in a shit mood, and then I see the date.
Enjoy to the fullest, take it all in.
