Poultry Grit w/ Calcium

I'm considering switching to poultry grit as my potting medium. I can get it here at a ratio of 90% granite and 10% calcium. Will this much calcium cause a problem?

Thanks,
Ed

If the calcium is from oyster shells, I would not use it. I use a brand of poultry grit called Grani-Grit. It is 100% granite. Maybe your farm supply store can get this for you.

Frank

FrankP999 wrote:If the calcium is from oyster shells, I would not use it. I use a brand of poultry grit called Grani-Grit. It is 100% granite. Maybe your farm supply store can get this for you.

Hi Ed,

I completely agree with Frank and have used "Grani-Grit" for a number of years. Over that time however I have used it almost exclusively on Junipers where it works very well when mixed with other materials such as ground pine bark and clay. Another product that I use is called "Mule Mix" which is a high fired clay product used for baseball fields and has proven to have a wider range of plants that seem to grow quite well in it for me. Mule Mix has a number of grades from vary coarse to very fine. I prefere using a middle grade for bonsai purposes. I did a lookup of Mule Mix distributors in your area and there is a Distributor in Tampa that you might try. The distributor is;Wingate Supply - 813 870-2620. It is reasonably priced and in my area I usually pay around $8.50 for a 50 pound bag. Hope that helps!

Ed

Some of us have been using "turkey" grit because the particles are a little bigger than "chicken" grit. But, do be careful of an oyster shell grit sold here it tends to be salty.

Ed,

In Central Florida, I'd recommend using a mix of Turface, lava rock and sand blast sand (and some organic mix for trees that need more water.)
I also use a portion of Akadama but its expensive and hard to come by.
Turface acts as a filler is a bit porous and retains water inside the particle - good for fine root growth. Same with Akadama. You'll find Turface (used on Baseball infields) at Lesco. It comes in several colors now.
Lava rock is very porous and adds lots of air space to the mix for good aeration. Its very light weight however. Pines and junipers like having this in the mix. Lava rock is available at several places - I bought a large batch from Alan Carver in Jupiter.
The sand blast sand is angular and also adds mass to the mix to help keep the trees in the pot. You can get sand blast sand from Standard Sand in Davenport near Haines City. They sell sand in various grades. Get the larger particle sand, its called size 6/10.
For organic I mix in Miracle grow potting soil or pine bark soil conditioner. BWI in Apopka carries Turface and pine bark. Bald Cypress, Buttonwoods and my ficus trees get varying proportions of this added to the mix.

Wow! What a great amount of info. Thank you all. Rob, I'm not sure what a Lesko is, but I'll find out.

Randy,Tampa is far for me, but there are occasions when I travel that way. I might just look up that distributor. $8.50 for 50 pounds sounds like a deal worth going out of my way for.

I recently was on the east coast of Florida and spent a little time at Schley Bonsai. Jason is a great guy and super helpful. I bought a one gallon bag of lava rock mix from him and I love it. But that place is a little far for me also. Next time I'll purchase a seasons worth.

Thanks again.
Ed

Mule Mix is identical to Turface. I used it when I lived in Florida. There are no dealers in NC, so I use Turface, whch is readily available.

Good to know Jim. Thanks for the insight.

EdMerc wrote:Wow! What a great amount of info. Thank you all. Rob, I'm not sure what a Lesko is, but I'll find out.

Ed

Here is their web page
http://www.lesco.com/

They have stores in WInter Park and Lake Mary.

Ed

Turface is a great product and most of us use it, BUT be careful of the size you get. Be sure to get the RED bag. If you get the smaller size it is more for picking up spills.

Billy