Anyone using Turface or something similar?

[FlipTX]

This is my first year using Turface in containers. I think it's clay that's been fired at very high temperatures. It's supposed to fight compaction, help with aeration, while holding its weight in water, all that good stuff. Last year I had problems with compaction due to overhead watering twice a day in hot weather. So I thought Turface might help reduce the need to water as much, or at least help keep the soil from compacting if I still had to water as frequently.

It's too early in the season to tell if it'll make a big difference, so I was wondering if anyone else has been using it, successfully or otherwise. I use about 3-4 cups of the granules per 5 gallon container and twice that in my 10 galon containers. It's not cheap, but I figure I'll compost the rootballs this summer and end up re-using the granules in the in-ground garden next spring.

[jdwhitaker]

I have not used Turface, but I do use expanded shale, a very similar high fired clay product. This has got to be the best stuff ever made for containers. I use literally tons of it. It is very cheap if you can buy it in bulk (around $40 per cu. yd.) It aids drainage and aeration as well or better than perlite, while at the same time holding water and nutrients quite well. It also doesn't float to the top like perlite. My typical container mix is a 3:1:1 ratio of pine bark/expanded shale/peat. I'm thinking about leaving out the peat and using more expanded shale the next time I mix a big batch. It is supposed to also be an excellent amendment for clay soils--which doesn't do me much good but could be helpful for you.

Here's where you can buy expanded shale in bulk (it is sometimes sold under the name Tru Gro):

Living Earth Technology
972-869-4332
1901 California Crossing Rd.
Dallas

Living Earth Technology
972-578-7632
5032 Spilt Trail
Plano

Living Earth Technology
972-274-2835
3150 South Beckley Ave.
Lancaster

Living Earth Technology
972-771-6211
1520 East I-30
Rockwall

Soil Building Systems
972-831-8181
1770 "Y" Street
Dallas, TX 75229

CJM The Soil Supermarket
281-342-6113
281-342-6115 (fax)1700 Highway 90A East
Richmond, TX. 77469

[FlipTX]

Thanks, jdwhitaker! I'd heard it was much cheaper to buy in bulk. I'm trying to visualize how much a cubic yard would be in my garden. My available inground gardening space is very limited but maybe this fall I'll be able to incorporate a bunch of it into the soil as well as my containers.

My homemade container mix sort of mimics ProMix, with the addition of composted manures, a handful of Osmocote or Medina dry fertilizer per container, and the Turface. Sometimes I toss in mushroom compost or composted pine bark.

[jdwhitaker]

A cu. yd. will cover 100 sq. ft. a little over 3 inches deep. I believe 3 inches is the typical recommendation for soil amendment, along with 3 inches of compost. That's just what I've read, no personal knowledge of how well it works. You might just use it for containers, then gradually add it to the soil when you dump your old potting soil.

For container estimations, a yard is about 200 gallons.

You usually have to buy at least 1/2 yard if you bring a pickup or a trailer. I believe you have to buy even more and pay extra if you have it delivered.

Jason

[Rena]

Good info. I grow 95% of my tomatoes in containers. I will try one of these next year. -Rena

[FlipTX]

Yowza... 200 gallons. I still have some left from the 50 lbs I bought hehe. Maybe it'd be worth my while to find some other gardeners around here who need some, and all of us chip in for a portion.

So far I've only been having to water my containers once every 3 days, but of course it's only been 75-80 degrees so far. A couple weeks from now I'm sure I'll have to step it up, especially once fruit starts forming.