Perlite vs rice hulls?

Aratilis

New Member
Hi guys! im having a hard time looking for perlite in my area. most of the gardening and home improvement stores here only sells rice hulls instead of perlite., I hope you can provide me with the answer which is better or better yet what are the pros and cons of each one. Thanks!:smokin:

and i forgot, will the mix be the same? what would be a good ratio?
 
Perilite is a diritive of silca[volcano ash], it is heated untill it expands to the little white balls we all know. Silica dust can come off the perilite and enter your lungs [not good] silica is basically a glass and can cause lung cancer.This is probaly why you are having a hard time finding it. The rice shells on the other hand are more user friendly and I would think a third of your mixture should be rice hulls[much safer]. Vermiculite is also like perilite and can cause health problems to. go organic whenever possible to reduce the risk of lung injury.:grinjoint:
 
I have never used rice hulls, but from what I've read it appears to do the same thing as perlite. I would be tempted just to try it to see how well it works. Yes, I'd mix it with your soil.
 
can i use a mix of only rice hulls and potting mix? or adding vermiculite would be better?

I would use a little sand for water retetion and ariation.also organic matierals like wood chips are good to, they give a little CO2 in the soil as well. A plant only needs a medium to anchor to.pebbles,wood chips, dirt, rockwool the additives you want to use are for airition and moisture retention. you can subtitute these with the listed materials posted here.dont forget proper drainage, the ratio could be 60% dirt 20%sand 10% pebbles10%rotting wood chips. and if choosing a organic compost ,go to the local horse race track and pick up some manure.Race horses are fed a killer diet and the nutreiant levels in these manures are much higher than the stuff bought commercialy.Oh ya and its almost allways free!!!:ganjamon: almost forgot Manure Tea mix some of that race horse manure with some well water and let it ferment for about 1 month,then feed to plants like any other water based plant food.
 
can i use a mix of only rice hulls and potting mix? or adding vermiculite would be better?

Gee i forgot the question, Yes virginia there is a rice hull additive, thats 20-30% of your soil mix.The onlything I feel might complicate things would be from waterings,the rice hulls will probaly find thier way to the top of the soil and will need to be groomed back in as needed.:bong:
 
thats going to be a problem if it rises up and float, i guess perlite is still better?

LOL Perlite will also float.

Rice hulls will work fine. I would use them if they could be sourced locally, but no go. The perlite is manuf less than 100 miles from me so .....

Pumice is also good if you can source it locally.

Don't bother with vermiculite at all. It retains way too much moisture.

DD
 
Yeah,rice hulls float a bit. They're used by brewers when using a heavy wheat dominant mash to loosen up the bottom few inches to get complete drainage.

If you can find them heat treated and sterilized they should be worth a shot as a growing medium. Untreated they hold a lot of molds and fungi,great if you're brewing Sake' but not so hot for anything else.

The one problem with them I could see is they're rather small,light,and fragile. Over a 3-4 month growing cycle you might get some problems with them compacting. I've only used them for brewing purposes,and they're a one shot lautering (mash drainage) aid there.

Pumice or small pea gravel mixed in as Droopy suggested might be a good way to go.

There are puffed rice hulls used by the brewing industry,too. They're about the size of medium sized perlite. I don't have much knowledge or experience with them as they were coming on the market as a lautering aid as I was getting out of the biz. However they looked much more robust than regular rice hulls.
 
Hi guys! im having a hard time looking for perlite in my area. most of the gardening and home improvement stores here only sells rice hulls instead of perlite., I hope you can provide me with the answer which is better or better yet what are the pros and cons of each one. Thanks!:smokin:

and i forgot, will the mix be the same? what would be a good ratio?

Same mix/ratio.

I'm just the opposite. Perlite is mined and made ~75 miles from me, so there is plenty and no rice hulls.:icon_roll

Heard nothing but good about the rice hulls, but I'm not going to pay shipping to check them out. A friend who uses them says they last ~3 years before breaking down. We both recycle our mixes.

I quit using vermiculite years ago as it made my mix too water retentive. The peat moss retains enough on its own.

DD
 
WOW!!

Nothing like forgetting and repeating yourself!:thedoubletake::loopy::hmmmm::hmmmm:

DD
 
just go to home depot for perlite or vermeculite. the perlite is 17 bucks for a MASSIVE bag and vermeculite is slightly more at 20 for the same bag.i was able to fill eight 5 gallon pots with around 30% perlite and still ahev about 60 or 70% of the bag left over.
 
Yeah this thread is two years old now. haha
I use Rice Hulls, and will be for years to come.
I bought a 50 pound bag, and had it delivered.
It cost me 48 bucks for 7 cubic feet.
I really wanted to try it tho, and am happy I did.
I mix them with Coco, at about 25%.
I bought 21 cubic feet of the Coco just to have the right amount of both on hand.
The brand of Coco I bought is called cocotek. It's kinda crappy.
It's full of salts, and fine grinds. Nothing but brown water came out.
It had the texture of oatmeal mush until I added the Rice hulls.
Now it's like super coco! haha. but really tho. It's springy, and sponge like.
It does kinda end up on top a bit. Not really floating. More like the coco sinks.
Still perlite is much worse. It really does float up.
I think the rice hulls are way better. Even a renewable resource too!
 
Has anyone tried rice hulls with hydroponics? I have an oxygen pots system on the way and want to try this as it by far the cheapest medium in my neck of the woods -

Thanks
WG
 
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