# Pea gravel



## abax (Jul 6, 2014)

Can someone tell me precisely what pea gravel is? I've been told a good
mix for Chinese Cyms., ensifolium in particular, is hydroton, osmunda and
pea gravel. I can't imagine that pea gravel is regular gravel made from
limestone that would make the mix quite alkaline, wouldn't it? Could it
be the kind of gravel used in aquariums?


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## gonewild (Jul 6, 2014)

Pea gravel is gravel with stones the size of peas.
It is used to denote the size not the mineral content.

Some places pea gravel might be limestone and in others it may be granite.


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## Ray (Jul 7, 2014)

Angela - go with semi-hydro for the Chinese cymbs.

Several years ago, I imported about 500 of them a month from Taiwan. They all came in as 2-3 old growths, one new growth, in-spike, bare root. I put them all into S/H and never lost a bud. The damned things exploded the pots pretty soon, too. You can see the cracks in this pot.


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## abax (Jul 7, 2014)

O.k., so far I've mixed mostly the irregular clay aggregate from you, a bit
of osmunda and a bit of medium Orchiata. I have a beautiful Marni Turkel
Cym. pot with holes in the side and little feet. Does this sound about
right? I assume the ensifolium var alba prefers a neutral mix, but in researching the potting medium, everybody has a different idea about
what makes the perfect mix. I intend to do semi-hydro as it appears that
it's been grown that way for many years. Thank you Ray.

Thank you Lance. The local stone quarry has absolutely no idea what the stone is
in the pea gravel they sell for driveways and such...also they'd prefer to sell it by
the ton.


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## Ozpaph (Jul 7, 2014)

Coarse aquarium gravel would work - a bit expensive though.


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## gonewild (Jul 7, 2014)

abax said:


> Thank you Lance. The local stone quarry has absolutely no idea what the stone is
> in the pea gravel they sell for driveways and such...also they'd prefer to sell it by
> the ton.



Your better off to use the expanded clay. It's lighter weight and provides the same function as pea gravel. The gravel is just inorganic filler that keeps the media structure constant for a long period of time.

Many years ago we grew our cymbidiums in a mixture of pea gravel and redwood shavings. The plants grew very well but a two gallon pot was awful heavy to move, and we had thousands to move! I used the pea gravel just to stabilize the shavings but the main reason was because the gravel was cheap! The weight of the gravel actually caused the plastic in the pots to breakdown quickly (plastic pots were new then) Because of the weight problem I stopped using the gravel and learned how to grow in pure wood shavings. Now the expanded clay products like Ray sells solve the problem.
If I were you I would just use the expanded clay 100%, it will look the prettiest in your nice pot anyway. Water it a lot.


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## John M (Jul 7, 2014)

abax said:


> O.k., so far I've mixed mostly the irregular clay aggregate from you, a bit
> of osmunda and a bit of medium Orchiata.



Angela, where are you buying Osmunda? I was looking for a supplier awhile ago and couldn't find it for sale ANYWHERE. I used to get it from OFE in Florida, or Tropical Plant Products.

Thanks.


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## abax (Jul 7, 2014)

Somebody gave it to me years ago for mounting. I didn't like it for that
purpose and stuck it away with my other orchid supplies. I just found it
this morning. How much do you need?


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## Ray (Jul 8, 2014)

So how are you going to ship that plant material into Canada?


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## eteson (Jul 8, 2014)

John M said:


> Angela, where are you buying Osmunda? I was looking for a supplier awhile ago and couldn't find it for sale ANYWHERE. I used to get it from OFE in Florida, or Tropical Plant Products.
> 
> Thanks.



You could try EcoWeb. Once some moss gets established on it it is better than Osmunda.


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## NYEric (Jul 8, 2014)

Ray said:


> So how are you going to ship that plant material into Canada?



Mail.


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## abax (Jul 8, 2014)

Wuh oh...never thought of osmunda as being plant material, although I
really knew it was. Gettin' old is hell!

I'm not quite so brave as you, Eric. I'm ascairt of the coppers!


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## NYEric (Jul 8, 2014)

First of all, pea gravel is what people w/ kidney stones do! 
#2 Even live plants can be transported to Canada legally if not in bark.


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## gonewild (Jul 8, 2014)

There should be no problem for a US person to mail fern fiber, the US cops don't care that you mail it out but the Canadians might that it comes in....but that is on the receivers side.


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## abax (Jul 8, 2014)

[email protected] ouch!

Exactly, Lance, I wouldn't want to do that to a good friend.


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## ALToronto (Jul 11, 2014)

Pea gravel is small river stones, up to 10 mm size. The stones are very smooth, no sharp edges at all. It's mostly quartz, but has a bit of everything. Even in places that sell it by the ton, you can ask to have it bagged, or you can bring your own bucket (like the orange ones from Home Depot) and shovel it in.

It's usually quite dirty, so you need to wash it before using it. I mix it with clay pellets just for added weight.


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## NYEric (Jul 12, 2014)

That is not what's sold as pea gravel here.


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## SlipperFan (Jul 12, 2014)

I have pea gravel under the floor of my greenhouse. (Pea gravel, then sand, then tiles.) Pea gravel is gravel (stones) that are the size of peas, and I understand it can be any kind of rock.


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## abax (Jul 13, 2014)

Exactly, Dot and Eric, the stone quarry people didn't know what kind of
rock they had for sale. I just skipped the pea gravel in my Chinese Cym.
mix and used clay aggregate from Ray and a tiny bit of Orchiata and a
very tiny bit of osmunda. I'm not putting anything in that Cym. pot
that I have no idea what it is.


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## Stone (Jul 13, 2014)

Chinese Cyms seem fine in just plain orchiata.
http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21872&highlight=Cymbidium+goeringii


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## John M (Jul 16, 2014)

Thanks for the comments about Osmunda, guys. I forgot which thread I had asked this question and just did a search now to find it. I doubt very much that there'd be any problem getting dry osmunda to me via the mail; but, I want to add osmunda to my regular potting mix, Angela. So, I'm looking for a long-term supplier who can supply it in bulk, not just a one time supply of a small amount for a few special plants. Thanks anyway for the offer. 

I've never seen such nicely grown plants as when plants were grown in a mix containing shredded Osmunda. I really think the natural breakdown of the osmunda does provide some nutrient that is beneficial. However, nobody seems to offer it anymore. Bummer!

I have become interested in Osmunda again because over the past few years I've noticed that when a tropical fern "volunteers" in an orchid pot....and I cut out the fern (removing enough of the crown to kill it), the fern roots (which have Osmunda-like coarse, wirey look and texture) remain in the pot and begin to break down. As they do, the orchid experiences a very significant boost in growth and vigour! I think those slowly decomposing fern roots are doing something beneficial. Plus, back in the early 90's, I had a friend who grew strap leafed Paphs better than anyone I've ever known. He swore by Osmunda and used it in his mix. I didn't pay much attention to his ideas about his mix; but now, with hindsight, I think he was right! I believe that the whole orchid world has REALLY missed the boat on this subject. There's a business opportunity here for someone to set up an Osmunda farm and grow the stuff as a potting medium ingredient for fanatic orchid growers like us. I just don't believe that all the fancy chemical fertilizer concontions in the world can really replicate the fantastic growth I saw in plants that were growing in aging osmunda mixes which were beginning to break down.


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## gonewild (Jul 16, 2014)

Osmunda fern grows around here. Harvest of wild fiber would be not so easy because od environmental law as well as logistically difficult since it grows in swamps.

It probably would be difficult to farm it for the same reasons, needs a swampy area. 

Out of interest I tried to google about how it is harvested.... or should I say was harvested? I can't find anything about the harvest process now or historically. If anyone knows of a link about the process of harvest I would be interested in reading about it.


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## NYEric (Jul 16, 2014)

Um, isn't the fern that osmunda comes from extremely high on the CITES list for restricted-commercial shipping!?


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## gonewild (Jul 16, 2014)

NYEric said:


> Um, isn't the fern that osmunda comes from extremely high on the CITES list for restricted-commercial shipping!?



I think Osmunda comes from a bunch of different species. CITES may have some listed in an attempt to stop the harvesting, but that would be based on specific countries.
Tree fern fiber species are definitely on CITES, but that is a different type of fern.


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## gonewild (Jul 16, 2014)

Free Osmunda....in your neighbors backyard....

http://www.selby.org/learningandgro...ng-orchids-taking-cues-their-natural-habitats


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## NYEric (Jul 17, 2014)

Thanks.


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