Scoria versus Akadama

[pasquale]

Does it hold moisture at all?

As i said I have only just used it in a couple of pots at this stage. Its made from weipa clay from Weipa, Nth Nth Qld, its quite pebbly and I just used it as a drainage medium in the base of a couple of pots. whats the best way to test for moisture retension?

Hi Woz,
I just came across your post. The Weipa pebbles are probably bauxite (Weipa is the site of a large bauxite mine). Jon C mentioned it above, I haven't used it for growing. If it is truly clay, rather than pebbles, it should hold water to a degree. Maybe you could test it by adding water to some in a closed container and see if the water is absorbed?

[alpineart]

[quote="daiviet_nguyen"]At the risk of making a fool out of myself with this question, I have been hestitating posting this question,
but finally I mustered enough gut...

Hi Mate good topic i currently have 150 trees , trainers and seedlings planted in a various combinations of
Red Scoria 8mm Minus ,sifted Cracker/Crusher dust {6mm minus granite sharps} and composted pine bark. I step outside the square that all find taboo .Red scoria and Black marble Scoria are 2 different products .Red does absorb miosture the Black doesn't .I mix batches up to the 500kg loads and i have found the Red Scoria a very good Medium .Simply wet the red leave it over night and tap it with a hammer ,it will still be wet/damp inside.The trees i have are healthy and are Pines , Junipers and Deciduous .With the deciduous a finer blend of Scoria is added close to the rootmass.The scoria when wet is dark red and as it dries out it turns a lighter pink colour ,this is a good indicator that a splash of moisture is required .On close inspection you can almost see where the roots are by the colour change in the Scoria .Hope this Helps .

100_3516.jpg

100_3517.jpg

100_3518.jpg

Cheers