Dry-stall vs Horticultural pumice

Monica Swartz eciton@alumni.utexas.net
Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:45:40 PDT
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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