Making your own clay pebbles-possible?

[Lelani]

Hi, I am starting a new system and cannot source the clay pebbles in my area. Can I make my own using the red clay I bought for my kids at the pottery shop? It can be baked and then used. Has this been tried before? Does anyone know what the clay pellets you buy commercially are made of? What makes them special except for their size?

[RupertofOZ]

Expanded clay balls... are made from clay... fired in a rotating kiln at 1200+ C....

[Mantis]

Hi Lelani and welcome
Clay balls are nice to work with and light.
They are expensive and 20mm scroia or grey metel or pebels are just as good and much cheaper.
My next project , I am thinking will be scroria as it is light, and has a large surface area for bacteria to grow on.
And by what Rupert says , clay balls are not worth trying to make. Maybe thats why they are so expensive.

[dufflight]

You can offset the cost by just using the clay to top dress over gravel. The larger plants will not fall over when there roots get into the gravel and the clay is easier to plant into.

[Shane]

Expanded clay balls... are made from clay... fired in a rotating kiln at 1200+ C....

& that there is why it's far cheaper to either buy the clay balls or use a different media (or as Dufflight suggested a mixture of both with top dressing)

I run 12+ furnaces (very advanced kilns if you like) every day @ work. some firing under air, others under vacuum.
Some short programs run at only 700+ Deg C for a few minutes,
Others run longer (overnight) 8+ hour programs holding @ 1865 Deg. C.

.....trust me.....it just wouldn't be feasible financially to bother making your own unless you were producing on a MASSIVE commercial scale,
I'd never bother to do it.....& I've got more equipment capable than your average 'back yarder'.

Cheers,
Shane.

[Lelani]

thanx for all the help guys.