Crushed Granite

[FrankP999]

Soooo.... back to one of my original questions: the use of crushed granite in custom countertops and countertop shops as a source? (Say that three times real fast). Anybody ever heard of such?

Tom, I do have a bag of lava I picked up last time I was at the Monastery in Conyers. Thanks for the advice on that vs. granite.

Frank

[Tachigi]

Originally Posted by FrankP999

Soooo.... back to one of my original questions: the use of crushed granite in custom countertops and countertop shops as a source? (Say that three times real fast). Anybody ever heard of such?

Tom, I do have a bag of lava I picked up last time I was at the Monastery in Conyers. Thanks for the advice on that vs. granite.

Frank

My pleasure! As far as crushed granite form counter tops...never heard of such a beastie. I would think it would be pretty hard to grade and size.

[Jason]

Not that I'm advocating granite but I know many feed stores (at least around here) carry Cherry Stone grit for chickens and Turkeys which is granite. It's not white. It's like a brown-red color. Most people that do the granite/bark/turface mix advocate the Turkey grit (See their website on sizes:http://www.cherrystonegrit.com/). The stuff is heavy as hell but it's not ugly and it's got sharp surfaces. I've used this in the past but what Al and Tom have to say has merit. I've been migrating towards Lava. Oh...and did I mention this stuff is heavy as hell?

[Bill S]

Tachigi was being humble, he can get you premixed soil, or lava to add to your mix, his experiance I dare say is loading a lot of it from a truck into his barn somewhere.

http://www.northstarbonsai.com/Home_Page.html try him out he's one of the good guys, has a bunch of stuff other than soil too.

[rockm]

"many feed stores (at least around here)carry Cherry Stone grit for chickens and Turkeys which is granite. It's not white. It's like a brown-red color"

Be EXTREMELY careful in using other poultry granite--I've run across very nicely colored crushed granite (reddish brown) in feed stores that was grit used for pigeons. Thing was, it contained an oil additive (anise flavored oil) to get the silly pigeons to eat it. Oil in bonsai soil is a very bad thing....

The only Cherry stone grit I could find online is traction grit made in Minn. It's not white, but it's not exactly inconspicuous. I'd use #1 or #2:
http://www.cherrystonegrit.com/grit_sizes.html

Crushed granite is a very acceptable, inexpensive and readily available soil additive, despite what the Californians and California wanna-bees say. Pumice is vastly expensive and mostly hard to come by on the East coast--despite what you hear. I

However, more directly to answer the question asked,--if you're searching for specialized granite and are willing to pay for such a thing, you might as well use pumice. You're probably going to be about as lucky finding special granite and you're probably going to pay a premium for it. There are no extremely special qualities that granite has that can't be filled by pumice or a number of other ingredients. If you don't like the color, I'd search for haydite...expanded shale

[kytombonsai]

Frank,

I used to use a product called Texas Grit. It was a mixture of browns in color and fairly sharp. I was told that it is used for a couple of things, one being for sand blasting and the other for a mixture that contained epoxy and grit and covered sidewalks and patios. Mainly around pools. The problem with it is the weight. Works great in a literati style pot where you can use the weight for the pot but terrible for larger trees.

Tom

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by rockm

Crushed granite is a very acceptable, inexpensive and readily available soil additive, despite what the Californians and California wanna-bees say. Pumice is vastly expensive and mostly hard to come by on the East coast--despite what you hear.

However, more directly to answer the question asked,--if you're searching for specialized granite and are willing to pay for such a thing, you might as well use pumice. You're probably going to be about as lucky finding special granite and you're probably going to pay a premium for it. There are no extremely special qualities that granite has that can't be filled by pumice or a number of other ingredients. If you don't like the color, I'd search for haydite...expanded shale

I went out to the rockery today to shoot some pictures of supplies readily available in my area. I live in a modest town, not that big and surly close to the same size as Macon Georgia.

This California wanna-be has tried everything under the sun to grow plants in. I have used granite products, mostly DG in my soils. There is nothing wrong with using this as a soil additive if shear weight is what your after. Other than weight there is no other benifit from this component that could not be fullfilled with the simple addition of sand which is readily available everywhere.
A quick google search in Macon Georgia turned up many possible places that will sell crushed rock products with this place even showing crushed brick, which I have used and find a very valuable soil component. It is not readily available to me or I would use it more.

My rock yard carries in bulk and pre bagged:

1/4 red and black lava. They were out of the black when I was there.

1/4 Cali-gold crushed rock. Pretty good stuff if adding rock to your soil is what your after.

1/4 DG (decomposed granite) grey in color and good size. Good if wanting rock again.

Sand, best component if no other good components available. Sand and potting soil 50/50 makes great bonsai soil.

1/4 brown crushed rock. I have no idea what this is, probably a crushed shale product, again good if you wish to add rock.


All my other components are imported Japanese soil products that I buy at bonsai conventions or bonsai dealers. They ain't cheap but they are best, cause they are bonsai soil specific and that means something. Will they make better bonsai? Probably not. I can afford them so I use them, your mileage may differ.
Cheers, Al