On 8 Feb 05 at 9:11, Kathy Stokmanis wrote: > I'm still looking for pumice, as well as unadulterated bird grit... Here in British Columbia, the feed&seed places carry a number of grades of sharp granite grit for birds. It ranges from the very fine stuff for canaries through to very coarse stuff for turkeys, with intermediate sizes for budgies and chickens. The chicken stuff comes in at least three different mesh sizes. It runs about $8 (cdn) a bag of 20kg (44 lbs). (I may be misremebering the size of the bags.) They're not very big bags because the stuff is so heavy. I used to use the #2 chicken grit in my potting mixes, but the stuff has gradually gotten more and more expensive (like everything else), so I've switched to horticultural perlite. I still use the very fine canary grit for some special plants because granite is actually a good source of potassium. I also use it mixed in the potting soil for plants that I think don't enjoy an organic soil. Check the farm supply places in your area (if you haven't already). -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island