What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Cherrystone Chicken Grit?

I took a drive out to a farm supply store a long ways off today to see if they had anything that looked promising as mineral potting media for succulents and I found a bag of stuff called Cherrystone Grit in the chicken feed department that is made from "sharp insoluble crushed quartzite gravel". It's about 3/16" in size called Size 2 on their website .

Here's the website:
http://www.cherrystonegrit.com/index.html

I was wondering if any of you have used this for plants of any kind? The back of the bag says "Also great for also aerating potting mix" and the website says it's even aquarium safe.

A 50 # sack was only $9 so I had to try it, it doesn't get much better than $0.18 a lb!:D

From their site FAQ just cos it's funny:
"Turkeys raised in the Midwest and Canada have been eating New Ulm Quartzite Cherry Stone Grit since the 1950’s. It’s likely that the bird you were served at Thanksgiving was raised on Cherry Stone Grit!"
 
I`m glad my turkeys are getting a proper diet, lol
 
I don't know amigo. The fact that it's advertised as "sharp" makes it sound not so desirable for repotting plants with delicate roots.
 
i thought that you almost needed it to be sharp, becuase it kept the media from packing down and smothering the roots...

but I'm not sure...
 
It's not any "sharper" than the fired clay grit (Shultz aquatic plant soil) that I use already. It doesn't cut your hand when you squeeze it. I assume it just means it's sharp enough to help digestion, not rounded like pea gravel, as birds are eating the stuff it's not razor sharp.
 
Actually very coarse sharp sand might be desirable in some cases. The mix in my Pinguicula agnata x gypsicola (bought potted) contains sharp sand similar to what Barry Rice talks about and shows in his photo:

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3280.html
http://www.sarracenia.com/photos/pinguicula/pcors02.jpg

My dad used to raise pigeons and he would buy grit for their crops. It was coarse and reddish - redder than aquatic plant soil - it had a flinty smell sort of like the smell from lighting a match. The pigeons would go nuts when you sprinkled this stuff out. I have know idea what it was made from. Could have been crushed brick for all I knew.
 
I can't say about that particular stone, as granite is all I can get here, but I use grit in my bonsai soil mix. It's served me well for that purpose for 13 yrs. It works great for gizzard roughage in my fowl too... imagine that. LOL
 
The sharpness of that grit wouldn't be an issue with roots I think...

It probably would make a good aeration additive in potting soils though, 'cept for the weight.

Make a nice top-dressing for cacti and succulents I imagine......maybe even for some CP's.
 
quartzite would be safe to use, its fairly inert, its sandstone thats been changed by heat and pressure deep underground.......give it a try, should work fine......sometimes there are impurities such as iron oxide or carbonate but its normally there in such low quantities it doesnt really matter for what your doing....
 
  • #10
Wow, that's a great find - I'm going to check some of the feed stores around here and see if I come across any surprises. Looks like that particular company is limited to the Minneapolis area. :/
~Joe
 
  • #11
If you're looking for cheap sand - check out blasting sand at a local masonry supply. It comes in different sizes so you have a choice how fine you'd like. Around here, it's only a few bucks for 100 lbs. I purchased sizes 00, 0, & 1 several years ago.

However (probably like the grit), you'll want to test it for carbonate-type stones (that will increase TDS and pH). Our local stuff is almost completely inert quartz-type stone & works great once it's rinsed well. However, when talking w/ a friend in Los Angeles, he said all of their blasting sand was unusable. Since the stuff is heavy, firms will source local material whenever possible to reduce transportation costs - so YMMV.
 
  • #12
What I really want is cheap scoria. There's a lot of volcanic activity around here so it's used a lot by landscapers. I've got a grudge against the one place near here that sells it in bulk, though - the plants from their nursery always have pests in them and the clerks give me attitude when I try to return them. D:{
~Joe
 
  • #13
There is a sand and gravel place south of here that sells that stuff in bulk by the ton. It's cheap. I crush it up, sift it, and use it in my bonsai soil too.
 
  • #14
I use grit for my finches, but it is crushed oystershell. Just be aware that some commercial grit mixtures will have that or other calicum-rich materials in it.
 
  • #15
They do have the crushed oyster shell avaialble right next to the cherrystone. I was actually curious about using that in a soil mix for certain plants that like a higher PH. I'd bought some pelletized limestone (it felt like small rocks) but it basically "dissolved" in the pot and glued the soil together. Don't use that if you have the chance! :D

I'd like to just use plain small pumice but shipping is insane on rock and nobody sells it around here.
 
  • #16
I like oystershell grit because it provides the birds with calcium, something the females in particular need for their eggshells and that they don't get enough of from the normal diet I feed them. I assume that means that it dissolves also, but at what rate I can't say. Oystershell cant dissolve all that fast or we would not have oysters.

That said I don't beleive it comes out the other end.
 
  • #17
That's what I was thinking, these poor birds must hate going to the bathroom...! :D
 
  • #18
Swords - I use it with practically every kind of cp! Around here they call it cherry-granite-turkey-grit.

It works wonders with my reniformis.

Granite is supposed to have some sort of minerals in it that are good for neps, too.

USE IT.
 
  • #19
uhhhh granite is pretty chemically stable.....not sure what minerals a plant could pull out of it......the stuff that can be pulled out is in such low quantities your plants prolly wont notice it.....or atleast you wont notice a difference in your plants...............
 
  • #20
now theres a cheap hobby: neps planted in granite. Maybe N. edwardsiana in marblestone? :D
 
Back
Top