Horticultural/Alpine Grit

[ian mcdonald]

I use chick grit in seed compost and also as a topping in seed pots to keep moss and liverwort at bay. Reasonably priced at some garden centres or larger pet suppliers. Larger shops that is, not pets. Hope you get accommodation soon Matt.

[Matt T]

...will find a link and post it here in 5 mins.

Lawrence, you can find some useful info here

Hope you get accommodation soon Matt.

Thank you, Ian.

[Lawrence]

Thanks Matt, appreciate your help, looks an interesting link and good luck with the accomodation as well
Lawrence

[Maggi Young]

 Just for interest - the grit we use is granite  and measures approx  6  to 8mm. We use that in the mix and as a top dressing.  It is the type sold in Scotland as "harling" grit - that is to say, for rendering the outside of buildings.
Good stuff!

[Lawrence]

Thanks Maggi
Sounds like the grit I am using should be fine then as it is of a similar size if not smaller. The suggestion of using bark to increase the AFP, might be the way to go, a local garden centre sells a good quality composted bark, but it has a little nitrogen added to compensate for the nutrient loss incurred  during the break down in the bark, not sure if the small amount of nitrogen will be detrimental to the alpines though

[ArdfearnAli]

I agree with the lowering of AFP by the addition off finer grit and sharp sand. Unless a large quantity is added will reduce the AFP by filling in the air spaces. We use a peat bark perlite compost commercially which we mix ourselves. We are looking for a sphagnum peat with an AFP of around 16%. We use perlite to keep the weight down for transportation around the nursery and also to shows etc but grit around the 5mm mark will do exactly the same. We get a local grit in Inverness from our sand/gravel quarry which is 6mm natural which contains most at 5mm but some slightly smaller and some slightly larger. I get it by the trailer load at around £25-00 per ton. For finer grit for sowing seeds etc we use concreting sand which we dry and then sieve to remove the fines leaving a grit around 2mm which is ideal for seed sowing etc.

Alasdair

[ChrisB]

What a lot of work Alisdair!  Hadn't thought of sieving concreting sand before, must try this!