AusBonsai

Hi all
Forgot to post this last week, but Ray is now Stocking Maidenwell Diatomite.
His first delivery was last week and I forgot to pick up a bag to check out while there on the weekend.

He sold out of the larger size Zeolite on the weekkend so when he gets new stock we will be on our way

Happy Dayz as I do not need to get to Enfieled any longer

Ken

I didnt know Maidenwell was still in business?
Just called their contact numbers.. disconnected

Just want to point out that my latest Mount Sylvia Diatomite had a lot of problems with softness.
Hopefully, this is not an issue with Maidenwell.
I am stopping using diatomite in my mix and moving to filtered scoria. The risk is too high.

great news Ken! Was eyeing my stash off nervously this repotting season. Next year will probably see me out. I've found the performance of diatomite to be fantastic, though I did get mine well before reports started rolling in about more recent purchases softening when wet, so I'd like to continue to use it. Hopefully the maidenwell diatomite is nice and hard.

Ray's is the furthest place I travel for bonsai related things in Sydney and Enfield is much closer. Is their diatomite still of good quality? If not, I certainly will make the trip to Ray's and stock up.

Thanks for the help mate.

Cheers,

Ces.

Ces wrote: Ray's is the furthest place I travel for bonsai related things in Sydney and Enfield is much closer. Is their diatomite still of good quality? If not, I certainly will make the trip to Ray's and stock up.

No idea as I have not had to buy any for 2 years.

Re the softness,, the last batch i got from enfield was fine, but I always test each bag before use so have no concern about softening in the pot. Imho score is not a replacement for Diatomite

Ken

kcpoole wrote: Imho scor[ia]e is not a replacement for Diatomite
Ken

What are the functional differences do you think, Ken?

Scoria is a porous volcanic rock and has larger open holes in it and is very heavy. The rock is not water holding itself, it just retains it in the holes.
Diatomite is a microscopically porous soft rock that is very light when dry but absorbs much more than it own weight in water and releases it slowly.

Pumice for me is a better product than Scoria as it is also light but has lots of larger holes like scoria and is somewhat porous itself.

Ken

hey ken i was at rays last weekend to buy my first jbp and picked up 2 bags of diatomite i went to sieve it last weekend and noticed that the smaller particles was a little soft has anyone had this issue or did i just get the only 2 bad bags