Crushed red brick

[strangebrew]

I'm finding it impossible to find the small scoria locally lately, landscape yards only stock the large but I've noticed crushed red brick turning up.

How do you think this'd go as a top dressing or even as a soil additive? You can break it with your fingers so I'd imagine it may break down a little over time but I was wondering if there'd be anything in them that plants might not appreciate.

What are they made of anyway?

[Chiral]

mmmmm isn't red brick just clay and lime...from memory my neighbors dad when I was a kid worked in a brick factory and it was just clay cooked but there was some additives to different bricks with different colours and textures...couldn't really say what they where though....yeah the small red scoria is hard to find.... I found a cubic tonne for free in the local paper and only went and took about 6 styro boxes and left the rest but the stuff for sale in Bunnings etc is kinda large.

H.

[mac]

I have not had any problems using it in a few of my pots & soil mixes, i have also used it in seed raising mixes & to topcoat punnets without any problems for the seedlings

Edited May 24, 2009 by mac

[watertrade]

I used to use crushed terracotta pots until I found because of the porous nature of the terracotta I start getting green mossy stuff growing under the surface.

This might be the same for brick?

I currently use washed decomposed granite from the local landscaping place - I wash it and screen it into three sizes. The mid size stuff 3-9mm size I use on most of my smaller plants. Like below. Its quite heavy so doesn't wash away and not too porous.

Edited May 24, 2009 by watertrade

[Birdman]

Watertrade WOW, it looks bloody great too,awesome little collection

you have.The red of the brick really sets the greens off,beautiful.I

know what im going to use in future.

[strangebrew]

I think that's the washed decomposed granite Birdman. Yeah that looks great, never seen that here.

Awesome plants watertrade, a very nice set-up indeed.

[TheFriendlyPlanter]

I use a blend of crushed brick, broken terracotta, and charcoal (50/50 with sand) as soil additives for Trichos and the roots go mad over it. I always assumed it was the porous nature that made these additives so beneficial. I think pearlite is also pretty good as an additive for this reason, but I haven't tried it (yet).

Not sure if lophs would like as much porous material though.

Just make a few different blends, see which ones are the best, and report back. And may the force be with you!

Edited May 24, 2009 by San Petrovinski

[KanJe]

What you want to look for is scoria 7mm to dust. Then what you can do is sift it to your desired size. You can buy different size sifts from prospecting shops.

This also helps wash off the sediment which can cause issues with drainage.

It depends what you growing as to what ratio of it you want in your soil mix.

Were you just wanting to use this for top dressing or for a soil mix?

Edited May 25, 2009 by KanJe

[strangebrew]

What you want to look for is scoria 7mm to dust

You might be lucky enough to get scoria that small in Melbourne mate but the only time I've seen it that small is after I've had a sledgehammer in my hand.

I used to be able to get 15-20mm, which was a cool size for pretty much everything, but now there's only 30-40mm around.

[KanJe]

You might be lucky enough to get scoria that small in Melbourne mate but the only time I've seen it that small is after I've had a sledgehammer in my hand.

I used to be able to get 15-20mm, which was a cool size for pretty much everything, but now there's only 30-40mm around.

I think I know a place that will deliver strangebrew. I'll look into it further and pm you the details.