Mother Earth Coarse Perlite - 4 cu ft (36/Plt)

Where Mother Earth Coarse Perlite Sits in the Grade Ladder

Perlite is naturally occurring siliceous rock, kilned at 1600 F until it pops and expands up to twenty times its original volume. What comes out is sterile and sits at a neutral pH of 7.0, which is why it adds air to a mix without moving the chemistry. This grade is screened to 1/8 to 1/4 inch, and that is the whole decision. The same line runs a Size 3 at roughly half an inch and a Size 4 at about an inch across. Coarse is the one that disappears into a potting mix instead of floating to the top of it. A pallet holds thirty six bags of 4 cu ft, which is 144 cu ft of media and 972 lb on the deck. That works out near 27 lb a bag, light enough to carry one handed and awkward enough that nobody enjoys it. A starting ratio of one part perlite to three or four parts potting soil improves drainage. Adjust from there by crop and by how wet your room runs.

Working With Coarse Horticultural Perlite in Soil and in Hydro

The reason to add it is porosity, and porosity is what stops a saturated mix going anaerobic between waterings. In a peat or coco blend this grade opens the structure without creating channels that send water straight to the pot base. Wet the bag before you open it, or at least mist as you pour, because dry perlite dust is unpleasant and it gets everywhere. A dust mask is the normal precaution and the pallet quantity makes that advice worth repeating. In hydroponics it runs loose in a pot or bucket as a standalone medium. A neutral pH there keeps the feed solution doing what you set it to do. Being sterile out of the bag, it carries nothing in with it, which is the point of a manufactured medium. It is also inert, so it brings no nutrition and no buffering capacity whatsoever. Growers who want a chunkier skeleton for a heavy soil build should look at the larger grades instead. One honest caution on the pallet: this quantity only makes sense if you are mixing media by the yard. A single bag of the same grade is the right call for anything smaller.

Key Features

• Coarse grade: Screened to 1/8 to 1/4 inch, the middle size in this line.
• Neutral pH of 7.0: Adds air to a mix without shifting the feed chemistry.
• Sterile as supplied: Nothing comes into the mix with it, which is the point.
• Expands up to twenty times: Kilned siliceous rock, which is where the air space comes from.
• Pallet of thirty six bags: 144 cu ft of media delivered in a single drop.
• 972 lb per pallet: Around 27 lb a bag, so one person can move them one at a time.
• Mix ratio: One part perlite to three or four parts potting soil.
• Standalone hydro medium: Runs loose in pots and buckets as well as a soil amendment.

Technical Specifications