Fertilising Cypripediums

[Peter Maguire]

Angie,

2-3mm is a bit small if if want to re-use it year after year as I suggested, it's ok if you are not planning to repot regularly. If you can get the next size up I find that better.

[Maren]

Hi Angie,

definitely one size up as Peter suggests. It'll get smaller with wear and tear - or is it erosion??

[angie]

Ok, I think this was all he had in stock. ( 1mm and 2-3mm ) But will check before ordering. It would be better if I could use it again, makes the price not feel so bad then.
Thanks again.

Angie

[Slug Killer]

I used to buy pumice direct from the importer and sell on but found that there was no call for it them!!
You could try e-mailing them and asking costs or if they know any outlets of their products. I was buying at 500kg a time of grade TG (5 or 6mm) £0.52/kg delivered. It's the delivery cost that makes it expensive when ordering any less. Try searching online for pumice aggregates and you may find more. It's used extensively in the building trade and very cheap until it gets repackaged and sold for horticulture!

Offices are based in Newcastle Under Lyme but storage depot I think is near Hull.

http://www.pumex.co.uk/website.html

you can also e-mail the following companies:-

http://www.yoraggltd.com/

http://www.techfil.co.uk/Markets/Horticultural-Gravel

Or an expensive option would be - http://www.specialistaggregates.com/pumice-gravel-p-1540.html

Regards

David

[angie]

Thanks David for this information. I never new it was used in the building trade. My husband is in construction and has never came across it.
Like you said its the delivery costs that makes everything so expensive.

Angie

[Anthony Darby]

I went to the local garden centre (Kings Plant Barn, Botany) to get some course sand for the lawn. I notice it is pumice sand. I also noticed they sold bags of pumice gravel in at least three different grades, primarily for hydroponic cultivation.

[Maren]

Hi,

last time I contacted Maple Aggregates (info@mapleaggregates.com), they quoted £200 for a cubic metre bag of 3-5mm pumice. That is a very good price. They even sent me samples, which I still have, but that was a few years ago.

I went to Belgium with a van and bought a cubic metre of loose pumice, which cost me roughly the same, including the cost of fetching.

[angie]

This pumice is hard to get, the company sent samples but yes I think the 2-3mm is to small the next size is 5- 10cm. The man was really helpful.
I have emailed some more of the links that David has given. David I think you need to import pumice and sell it to us or Maren you need to drive to Belgium again. I will come and help 

Angie

[Maren]

Hi Angie,

I'm quite prepared to buy a tonne bag of pumice, if I can be sure that people want it. As David says, often these things seem like such a good idea and then they go flop. The hurdle that remains is the cost of getting the pumice to the people who want it. It's the shipping that kills this sort of community project.

[Slug Killer]

Maren

If you use a courier company like Parcels2go online it cost under £10 for up to 25kilo and it will be the major courier companies like DHL that collect from your house and deliver in 1-2days.

Angie you could ask the depot in HUll for a test bag of 25kg which is about 50 litres when dry and arrange your own courier as above to collect. May be worth asking saying you would like to test the product before buying in bulk.

One word of warning for anyone else buying direct from the importer on a pallet in 25kg bags - ask for bags of dry pumice as a 25kilo bag that is wet will end up being 15kg when dried out in the garage.

[Maren]

David,

that's all very useful advice. I appreciate your comment about the wet or dry weight, but I rather doubt that the supplier will make that distinction. My guess is it'll be wet and turn out a lot less than hoped for. But there speaks the voice of the long suffering purchaser of things that don't turn out to be as expected.

[Peter Maguire]

There could be a case for one person to place an order then bring supplies along to a show or conference for other people to collect there. We're probably now talking about repotting in the autumn so the SRGC discussion weekend springs to mind (unfortunately we've missed the chance to organise something for the international conference).
Having previously bought 25kg bags from Viresco before, I have a feel for what 500kg would equate to (in terms of volume - it's 20 x 25kg bags, obviously). If there is enough interest, than I could conceivably fit say 10 bags in the car on the way to Dumfries. It would, I suppose depend upon the cost of the pumice (using David's figures, the cost of carriage would be £260.00 ), and whether I could sell on remaining stock to local growers here in the northeast; I wouldn't need more than a couple of bags myself at present.
Our local group has done similar bulk buys like this in the past with composted bark bought by the pallet load and also imported a palleted load of Swedish peat a few years back (and my Shortias & Berneuxias are growing very nicely in a peat block sitting in a tray of water  )

[Slug Killer]

Maren

I complained to the company when my stock arrived as the bags must have been filled wet but then stored dry before being sent to me. They replaced all the bags that were short within two days.
Unless you fancy the trip to Belgium you can also collect from Maidstone from Techfill. This quote was two years old but for TG grade it was £0.48/kg.

Techfil (Europe) Ltd
Tel: ++44 (0)1622 717780
Fax: ++44 (0)1622 710551
e-mail: info@techfil.co.uk
Web: www.techfil.co.uk


Peter
The figures of £10 was for sending/collecting one bag via courier. I bought 500kg at £0.52 DELIVERED + Vat which worked out at just over £300. Pumice when dry-ish is two liters per KG. In other words I had 1000 litres of pumice including delivery for £300.

It's the delivery that costs the most, If someone was to collect from Hull in a van or trailer I'm sure the cost of the bags would come down to very little as it's about £80-£100 to have pallets delivered in the UK, so you could take that off for starters.

David

[angie]

Aberdeen is so far from everything and yes it's the delivery that puts the cost up on everything but if it's something I need I just try and forget the price and be happy that I managed to get it.
It's just so much easier for you folks down south. 
Anyone got a trailer and fancy a weekend break in Aberdeen 

David I emailed that company but haven't had anything back yet.

Angie

[Maren]

Don't forget the cost of van hire, diesel etc.etc. Soon adds up. It cost me as much for collecting it as Dave paid for having it delivered.