How you wash yor pumice? Machines? Tools?

Horticulture
1

Hey folks,

How do you wash your pomice before repotting?
Does anyone has some special tool?

Thanks
Christoph

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2

I have a 5 gallon bucket with 1/2" holes all over it. I take that bucket and dunk it numerous times into a larger container.
If the pumice is to be used in a soil mix that contains akadama, it will need to be dried thoroughly.
If the drying phase is not done the akadama will pull the water from the pumice, thus making it too soft for chopsticking during your repot. :smiley: :evergreen_tree: :love_you_gesture:t2:

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3

I don’t wash mine. I just screen it to using 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 mm screens when it is fairly dry. Most of the fines drop out nicely and the remainder of them wash out in the first really good watering when i water until the water coming out of the drainage holes is clear or nearly clear. That also washes out any pumice and akadama that you crushed during chopsticking.

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4

Thanks, do you have a picture of the gallon?

5

thanks for your input…

6

I don’t have a pic.
I drilled 1/2" holes spaced 1 1/2"-2" apart over the whole bucket.
I wash my pumice because my source is a extremely large pile that has been outside for over 20 years.
Like @MartyWeiser, I would just sift if the pumice has been processed and bagged. :smiley: :love_you_gesture:t2: :evergreen_tree:

7

I generally buy bulk pumice from the pile since it is cheaper. It has been sitting out for months for years so it has a fair amount of fines, but the good stuff is still cheaper than the screened and bagged stuff. I use a large set of nesting screens that I made to fit on top of a large plastic mortar tray. The screen area is about 40 x 60 cm and slide the with the stack on top back and forth across a smooth table to shake it - a bit like the Mirai one on rollers.
One trick to separate the different particle sizes is to make sure the screens to not too heavily loaded - 1 - 2 particles thick is optimal.

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