Dry-stall vs Horticultural pumice

David Moore david.moore@neudorff.com
Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:38:07 PDT
Dear Ms Swartz,
Thank you for the detailed clarification.  Apparently our feed store is
confused, but I will try to confirm in more detail.  
Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]
On Behalf Of Monica Swartz
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 6:46 AM
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [pbs] Dry-stall vs Horticultural pumice

It seems that there is once again confusion on "Dry Stall" and "Stall Dry",
two different products.
Dry Stall is pure pumice, I believe it is from the same mine near Death
Valley that supplies horticultural pumice to most of North America.
Stall Dry is a calcined clay (I prefer Turface MVP, less dust and slower
breakdown).
It is obviously easy to confuse the two product names. Just this weekend I
bought two bags of Dry Stall at my local feed store, and they loaded Stall
Dry in my car!  m

Hi, I ran into this thread and want to offer a clarification: as I
understand it, Dri-Stall is technically a 'calcined clay' (fired but not to
the point of full vitrification).  This is why the material does not break
down like aggregated clay in its natural state.  The physical
characteristics of the clay ensure that it retains its high CEC after firing
(which also burns out any organic matter.)

I am looking for insight and observations (or even better,
scholarly/technical references) that might guide me on choosing proportions
of calcined clay and horticultural pumice when preparing a media for
long-term container growth of specimen plants.  Here locally (Santa Cruz
County, CA) some of the bonsai enthusiasts are HUGE advocates for Dri-Stall,
I have them to thank for turning me onto this material.  If these folks
trust their precious plants to Dri-Stall I consider this a solid
endorsement.

I appreciate any insight and suggestions, thanks very much!

Dave Moore





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