Any reason clay balls never get suggested

Why do clay hydro Tom balls never get a mension for air part of the mix?

I’m gonna buy my pearlite as lava is expensive
But they got clay balls too ?? What about them any good ?

2cent said:

Why do clay hydro Tom balls never get a mension for air part of the mix?

I’m gonna buy my pearlite as lava is expensive
But they got clay balls too ?? What about them any good ?

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Got ‘em in my pots as we speak

i have them in my mix i dont know why people dont talk about them. i also lined the bottom of my big pots to create an aeration level at the bottom using those.

Seems years ago was all the talk all over
Now I do organic it’s like pumice perlite rice husks bloody styrafoam but not clay pebbles lol

I remember ph trouble with them but only if ya didn’t rinsethem

never would use styrofoam. i also have pumice, lava rocks, perlite, zeolite, activated carbon and some finely ground basalt in my mix. i dont know the more the merrier yes? no?

This is a very good question it may be the way that they are made? I am not really sure.. the love of rice hulls is that they are by product of some other process so they are being recycled or reused, the perlite will float to the top of the soil supposedly and also it is not a very sustainable or environmentally friendly process to make hence why the pumice is used. You used to hear a lot more about Hydyroton for sure but I believe that was more for hydro applications. I do agree that pumice is not cheap at all for sure.

Pumice doesn’t float and has places for microbes to hide and water and air gets trapped

perlite floats….not good

Clay balls can be used but they are not porous

I have clay balls in myoutdoor “whateva” soil it’s just recycled soil I use for out door plants it has pumice too and perlite and reuse it for whateva lol

Rice hulls are good they add silica but they decompose and pumice well is rock…i use them too love em

So from what I have come across, clay pebbles at the right ratio (no more than 10% of your soil mixture) is extremely beneficial to your soil. Off the top of my head, its slightly bigger size and pourousness, its a great home for soil microbes. Its a game of cat and dog in the soil food web, protozoa and nematodes always on the hunt for food so this gives bacteria a place to live and hide.

It can create complications if the ratio is off, that is all I can recall. Too much in your soil is bad.

As for Perlite, just be careful. Watering creates clusters that can result in hydrophobic areas of your soil forming and that it going to create issues. I know Pumice is pricey but so is losing a crop.

I found it
Clay balls have so high cec they absorb salts and in a year they need washing as they strip not and make soil sodium when they have reached max as they release it apparently