Growstones

Wanted to start a thread on growstone as there is very little info on them in actual use, mostly mentioned in passing but I've heard they raise ph way too high and the company has several versions i imagine they differ mostly in what size they are broken up into, but what I have is the hydroponic version g1, and I'll be using it in soil as an aerator instead of perlite (planned on hydro long ago didn't work out so I already had a bag just sitting) I've already washed them several times using ph down water. Was hoping people could post their experiences with it whatever medium it might be because in theory the product is very nice retains water and air has many microcosms for roots and may provide silicon as it is a glass based product, downside being after further scrutiny calcium carbonate is used as a foaming agent to create the pumice like structure and while it's a very green product using glass from landfills it is primarily soda lime glass both of which are high in ph, so to wrap it up i think this thread would be a very concise information source simply due to the lack of existing information, happy hunting, er growing.

I love growstones as they dont roll around everywhere lol
And no orange dust in the res

But i dont use a drip feed or anything so i never noticed that they messed with ph

I just use em to anchor my clones in netpots for the rdwc

says here how to prepare.


http://growstone.com/the-data/steps-before-use-ensuring-a-dust-free-ph-neutral-growstone/

Thanks for kicking off the thread guys, and the growstone instructions, while that is the prep, the first-hand experience part for the thread is because the few blogs and various website threads say even after heavy washing ph is still quite high, but it tends to be the recirculating or aquaponics that have ph problems, also they still chip and rub against each other making more dust (possibly raising ph by more particles influencing it) thanks for the input, trying to have this thread be a growstone info hub so anyone considering them can be well informed, keep up the good work. Also it's my first grow and I'd hate to see it go down because of unforseen ph issues lol.

Welp, transfered into new pots with eyeball 20% growstone fingers crossed for no ph spikes. If they do occur at least I'll be a martyr for preventing others making the same mistake. On the other side of the coin it may be a very good perlite replacement as it holds water while still aerating. *continous drum roll over the next month*

been using them for years now without issues. i was using them alone for a year or so and just started mixing wiht hydroton since i had a shitload of that lying around for the last couple of years.

somebody started a post maybe a year or so ago and was having pH issues. i never did. i was suspect that they didn't prepare them properly.

"holds most water and air of any medium" was what sold me on them. and they are made in ABQ, New Mexico, USA.

rkymtnman said:

been using them for years now without issues. i was using them alone for a year or so and just started mixing wiht hydroton since i had a shitload of that lying around for the last couple of years.

somebody started a post maybe a year or so ago and was having pH issues. i never did. i was suspect that they didn't prepare them properly.

"holds most water and air of any medium" was what sold me on them. and they are made in ABQ, New Mexico, USA.

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That's good to hear on the ph, when I washed mine I filled a bathtub of them with water. Drained the water several times ph rose past 8 and then I let them sit a full day in ph down water per instructions. But enough about prep, something I was wondering (doesn't really apply in my case cuz soil) but they have a somewhat sharp and rough texture, I'd imagine there's a high possibly of root damage from any movement to the container, what's your take on that? I had them cuz of a hydro plan that didn't work out a while ago may go back to it with the stones.

Randomestguy said:

That's good to hear on the ph, when I washed mine I filled a bathtub of them with water. Drained the water several times ph rose past 8 and then I let them sit a full day in ph down water per instructions. But enough about prep, something I was wondering (doesn't really apply in my case cuz soil) but they have a somewhat sharp and rough texture, I'd imagine there's a high possibly of root damage from any movement to the container, what's your take on that? I had them cuz of a hydro plan that didn't work out a while ago may go back to it with the stones.

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i've used them in rdwc net pots and as the medium for hempy buckets by themselves. now they are in waterfarms wiht the hydroton so i haven't had issues with too much movement causing issues in all 3 setups.

Randomestguy said:

That's good to hear on the ph, when I washed mine I filled a bathtub of them with water. Drained the water several times ph rose past 8 and then I let them sit a full day in ph down water per instructions. But enough about prep, something I was wondering (doesn't really apply in my case cuz soil) but they have a somewhat sharp and rough texture, I'd imagine there's a high possibly of root damage from any movement to the container, what's your take on that? I had them cuz of a hydro plan that didn't work out a while ago may go back to it with the stones.

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Actually by design they are nicer on roots then balls

Balls pinch the roots grows stones irregular shape gives roots cracks and crevasses

I've used them alone, and mixed with coco, and think they're a great addition to your medium, but wouldn't use them alone for hand watering again.

Aside from their use in the medium, if you cover your soil with them, they'll pretty much put a stop to any kind of fungus gnats using your soil to lay their eggs.

Thanks for all the input guys, this thread is becoming a good little growstone encyclopedia. Hopefully it helps people who have several options make a final decision or try gs at all. Can't say I'm actually green but I'd say recycled glass is way better than strip mining any day even if it's like .02% fight the fight guys

Got several fungus gnats I erased from existence, just top dressed in growstone . Hopefully I caught it so early there either was no problem or the stones are gonna *mortal combat voice* finish it. Posting here cuz if growstone fixes the problem it's relevant to this stonepedia.

I bought the growstone gnatnix stuff, used it as a top dress and even put in the the floor trays of the pots so the gnats couldn’t get in the bottom. Well after a few weeks any time I disturbed the pots I would watch dozens of gnats fly out and dozens more still just crawling all over the gnatnix.

I ended up getting mosquito bits and filling a 5 gallon bucket with water and a cup of the bits and used that to water and the gnats were gone in 2 weeks.

But the gnatnix did end up being a good small size airifier for me next batch of soil as I just dumped the pots, gnatnix and all in a container to reamend and recycle the soil.

J-Icky said:

I bought the growstone gnatnix stuff, used it as a top dress and even put in the the floor trays of the pots so the gnats couldn’t get in the bottom. Well after a few weeks any time I disturbed the pots I would watch dozens of gnats fly out and dozens more still just crawling all over the gnatnix.

I ended up getting mosquito bits and filling a 5 gallon bucket with water and a cup of the bits and used that to water and the gnats were gone in 2 weeks.

But the gnatnix did end up being a good small size airifier for me next batch of soil as I just dumped the pots, gnatnix and all in a container to reamend and recycle the soil.

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I've yet to see any gnats on my end as I might not have had a problem to begin with, growstone is pretty much the same thing just different sizes between types but it works by stopping them from getting in and out of the soil cuz they land, crawl around looking for wet and don't find it, were you completely covering the top layer? Like no soil access at all? Cuz it's not a chemical product, just makes them think there's no wet soil conditions

Randomestguy said:

I've yet to see any gnats on my end as I might not have had a problem to begin with, growstone is pretty much the same thing just different sizes between types but it works by stopping them from getting in and out of the soil cuz they land, crawl around looking for wet and don't find it, were you completely covering the top layer? Like no soil access at all? Cuz it's not a chemical product, just makes them think there's no wet soil conditions

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Yeah I put an inch and a half layer on each pot but I also had a heavy infestation. Oddly they had no noticeable effect on the plants (the gnats or the stones), just really annoying every time you touch the pots to get a small swarm flying around.

I had luck with Diatomaceous Earth previously but it created a crust that made watering difficult. I switched to a DE that had bentonite clay and that made things worse by turning the top layer into a ball of clay. That’s what led me to the gnatnix.

I think the problem is my compost gets a large amount of them from being outside and apparently the hardy ones can crawl on the gnix and not care lol.

But like I said before the BT in the mosquito bits has taken care of them, I just throw some in a five gallon bucket and let it sit a week. I also mix the bits into the soil and the. Use the BT water for the wetting process of cooking my recycled soil and once every week for waterings and that has taken care of the problem.

J-Icky said:

Yeah I put an inch and a half layer on each pot but I also had a heavy infestation. Oddly they had no noticeable effect on the plants (the gnats or the stones), just really annoying every time you touch the pots to get a small swarm flying around.

I had luck with Diatomaceous Earth previously but it created a crust that made watering difficult. I switched to a DE that had bentonite clay and that made things worse by turning the top layer into a ball of clay. That’s what led me to the gnatnix.

I think the problem is my compost gets a large amount of them from being outside and apparently the hardy ones can crawl on the gnix and not care lol.

But like I said before the BT in the mosquito bits has taken care of them, I just throw some in a five gallon bucket and let it sit a week. I also mix the bits into the soil and the. Use the BT water for the wetting process of cooking my recycled soil and once every week for waterings and that has taken care of the problem.

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Nice, I might recommend DE on top of the mix as a nice side effect is I think the growstone helps spread the water a little better during watering instead of carving the soil around, you noticed any ph activity from the stones? Jw cuz I don't want my first grow going down for something that easily avoidable lol.

No I had no ph problems and honestly I didn’t rinse it initially. Obviously with waterings it foot rinsed but whatever residue washed from it into the soil had no noticeable affect.

And just so I’m clear I don’t want to bash the product, I may just have had too heavy of an infestation and maybe if I have it more time it would’ve worked. But when you’re growing a plant for only 12-15 weeks, 3 weeks is 1/4-1/5 of the total grow and I just got impatient.

I still have the gnatnix mixed in with my soil along with the larger gs-1 for airification and have not had any problems with ph.

J-Icky said:

No I had no ph problems and honestly I didn’t rinse it initially. Obviously with waterings it foot rinsed but whatever residue washed from it into the soil had no noticeable affect.

And just so I’m clear I don’t want to bash the product, I may just have had too heavy of an infestation and maybe if I have it more time it would’ve worked. But when you’re growing a plant for only 12-15 weeks, 3 weeks is 1/4-1/5 of the total grow and I just got impatient.

I still have the gnatnix mixed in with my soil along with the larger gs-1 for airification and have not had any problems with ph.

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Yeah man, if anything growstone was made into gnat mix as an afterthought and honestly it's more preventative rather than solution, just marketing to make people buy it for all infestation stages imo

Anyone know why they went outta buisness gnats are kickin my ass

Randomestguy said:

Wanted to start a thread on growstone as there is very little info on them in actual use, mostly mentioned in passing but I've heard they raise ph way too high and the company has several versions i imagine they differ mostly in what size they are broken up into, but what I have is the hydroponic version g1, and I'll be using it in soil as an aerator instead of perlite (planned on hydro long ago didn't work out so I already had a bag just sitting) I've already washed them several times using ph down water. Was hoping people could post their experiences with it whatever medium it might be because in theory the product is very nice retains water and air has many microcosms for roots and may provide silicon as it is a glass based product, downside being after further scrutiny calcium carbonate is used as a foaming agent to create the pumice like structure and while it's a very green product using glass from landfills it is primarily soda lime glass both of which are high in ph, so to wrap it up i think this thread would be a very concise information source simply due to the lack of existing information, happy hunting, er growing.

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For anyone living in Japan, interested in growstones, and looking for an effective and economical growth medium on the local economy...

Came across a product called 防犯防草　

Randomestguy said:

Wanted to start a thread on growstone as there is very little info on them in actual use, mostly mentioned in passing but I've heard they raise ph way too high and the company has several versions i imagine they differ mostly in what size they are broken up into, but what I have is the hydroponic version g1, and I'll be using it in soil as an aerator instead of perlite (planned on hydro long ago didn't work out so I already had a bag just sitting) I've already washed them several times using ph down water. Was hoping people could post their experiences with it whatever medium it might be because in theory the product is very nice retains water and air has many microcosms for roots and may provide silicon as it is a glass based product, downside being after further scrutiny calcium carbonate is used as a foaming agent to create the pumice like structure and while it's a very green product using glass from landfills it is primarily soda lime glass both of which are high in ph, so to wrap it up i think this thread would be a very concise information source simply due to the lack of existing information, happy hunting, er growing.

Click to expand...

Living in Japan and looking for an economical hydroponic/aquaponics media I stumbled upon something which appears to essentially be Growstones but which is sold as a completely different product here.

It’s used here in Japan as gravel which is noisy under foot and therefore intended to scare away burglars or intruders sneezing around your property. I had just read about growstones and wishing I had some. But I was also imagining how long it would take/how expensive it would be to order them off Anmazon USA...

Randomly came across something that looked identical so I read the side of the bag. Amazing find! It’s called 防犯防草砂利 which means burglar déterrant/weed deterrent and side of the bag says it’s made of recycled glass in a furnace blasting process that sounds like that used for growstones. In Japan, you can find it in the Local garden and home center or go to amazon.co.jp, copy and paste 防犯防草砂利, and the product pops up.

Very economical grow media solution for those of us living in Japan. Just be careful and PRE-SOAK and rinse these just like they were growstones because they will also spike your pH. Dealing with it now in vivo in my grow bed. hope it works out/from what I’m reading on the boards it may take me a few weeks to months until I’ve completely stabilized the ph...

But definitely worth a try if you’re here in Japan. Since they float, I loaded the top with Japanese crushed granite or 化粧砂利　(make-up gravel). It’s very heavy and is holding everything down well. To boot, the Japanese garden gravel is a really beautiful crushed granite that is super popular in Japanese gardens where it is known as 白川石　or white river stone die to its contrasting components of granite and mica conjuring images of a river bed.

BTW, I am into hydroponics for growing vegetables and culinary herbs and not for the other kind of herb. Since the latter is illegal here, I think it explains why hydroponics is less popular here and why ai need to improvise like this.. but then again necessity is the mother of invention and I’m glad I discovered a new source of growstone!