|
| Much thanks to cebury for locating the source for me, THANK YOU CHRIS! Even though he lives 2 hours away from me.
I got 2 bags of the Manna Pro Poultry Grit, 25 lbs, $7.80/bag. There's no indication of grit size on the bag, so I just felt with my fingers, seemed about right. Does it look OK to you gritty mix experts?
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by bgtimber75 (My Page) on Fri, Jun 10, 11 at 19:06
| Not really on topic but does anybody else find it strange that they feed chickens crushed granite? |
|
- Posted by loveplants2 8 (My Page) on Sat, Jun 11, 11 at 1:48
| Hello Everyone.. Great find..Looks like it's perfect!!! I know your happy... what a great feeling to find all of the ingredients... Bgtimber..The chickens need the grit to help with their digestion needs...yes, it does seem strange... LOL Take care everyone.. Laura in VB |
|
- Posted by jojosplants Az. z. 9 (My Page) on Sat, Jun 11, 11 at 3:27
| newgen, What a great find! It looks good to me! May I ask where/what kind of store you found it at? I have found it in 5lb bags, and was told by the feed store where I got it that it only came in 5lb bags. Seemed odd to me! I can't seem to find much info doing a google search either. Thanks, |
|
- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Sat, Jun 11, 11 at 13:06
| Excellent! Good work, Chris and Newgen! I've found that many birds pick through my container mixes to steal small pieces of grit for digestion.
Josh |
|
- Posted by greentiger87 none (My Page) on Sat, Jun 11, 11 at 18:16
| I've gotten frustrated trying to find this, so I'm still figuring out how to best filter decomposed granite into the "grit" portion. I did finally see it today at a local feed store/gardening center, but it was outrageously priced relative to the volume...far higher than the Reptibark that I've ended up using. Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open. |
|
| JoJo: This was at a "feed" store, they sell lots of other foodstuffs for cows, horses, pigeons, chickens. |
|
- Posted by glad2garden 5 Chicopee Mas (My Page) on Mon, Jun 13, 11 at 12:31
| This morning I was at my local feed store and found Sol-Speedi-Dri, 50 pounds for $14. If anyone wants to know where, it's Village grain on Yelle street in Chicopee, Massachusetts. On the website for Sol-Speedi-Dri it says it's applications include "Increasing water and plant food retention/conditioning potting soil". So I'm guessing it's the right stuff. |
Here is a link that might be useful: speedi dri
|
| Glad2garden: I'm not sure what you are planning to use the Sol-Speed-Dri as a substitute for. It would not be a good substitute for the granite grit because it is highly absorbant, and granite is not. If you are thinking it might be a good substitute for the Turface in the gritty mix, I'm not so sure. People substitute NAPA Oil Absorbant (or floor dry) product #8822 for the Turface, but a lot of other oil dry products wouldn't work. The NAPA product is calcined clay. The link you provided says the Sol-Speed-Dri is "Attapulgite, a naturally occurring mineral,... crystalline hydrated magnesium alumino-silicate." I am not a scientist, but I would be nervous about adding something with aluminum in it to potting soil for edibles. I hope someone who knows what this stuff is will chime in. |
|
| Sorry. I should have said the NAPA oil dry product you want, #8822, is diatomaceous earth, or DE, not calcined clay. Calcined clay is in some other products people use as a substitute for Turface. |
|
- Posted by greentiger87 none (My Page) on Tue, Jun 14, 11 at 2:32
| Virtually all clays are made of aluminum phyllosilicates - the aluminum is locked into insoluble layered crystals. In fact, turface is calcined montmorillonite / illite, both of which are aluminum phyllosilicate clay minerals. It's only soluble aluminum ions that cause phytotoxicity, the form in clay is essentially inert. Attapulgite as a turface substitute is discussed by Al in the link below. Its not clear if the product you bought is calcined - perhaps you could call and ask. Or just do the water test - soak it in water for a couple days and see if it stays hard, intact, and stable. If you have freezing temperatures, you may want to try freezing/thawing as well. Calcining converts the clay to a hard, stable, inert ceramic - making it useful as a growing media. The upshot of the linked thread is that surface area, porosity, and nitrate retention of attapulgite are inferior. |
|
- Posted by greentiger87 none (My Page) on Tue, Jun 14, 11 at 2:40
|
| No, it's not strange that poultry is fed grit... they require it to aid in the digestion of food. They have gizzards, and a different internal system than we do. They don't chew or digest like we do. I, too, use the Manna Pro Poultry Grit as one of the ingredients in my rendition of the Gritty Mix. Some folks use cherry stone or pumice, or crushed brick, or another inert stone product as that portion. The poultry grit should be labeled as 100% crushed granite. It shouldn't contain anything else, or any additives or coatings. It might require rinsing to remove the dust, or a quick run through a screen to remove any minute particles, but other than that, it works great as the cherry stone portion of the mix.
|
|
| Oops, sorry for the accidental deletion of the photos. Here they are.
|
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Container Gardening Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.