Lava Sand—Tiny Bubbles,
Big Impact in Your Garden

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Lava sand is crushed scoria, a reddish brown to black volcanic slag. It has a texture full of tiny holes, making it look like a hardened sponge.

Those holes represent individual, isolated gas bubbles in the original molten rock.

Many gardeners consider lava sand to be an excellent source of energy for the soil. It makes soil nutrients more available to plant roots.

The sand increases the water-holding capacity of the soil, and separates heavy clay particles.

And gardeners and professional crop growers have discovered how useful it is as a mineral supplement, especially in an organic program.

What Lava Sand Does

This sand, used as a soil amendment or additive, helps with the following:

• It provides a high cation exchange capacity in the soil.
• It helps release or acts as a catalyst to help release nutrients to plants.
• It has a high water retention ability due to the small holes.
• It has a high paramagnetic energy, which acts as plant growth stimulator. This also helps reduce pest problems.

Lava sand is definitely the most well-known rock substance. Its pH is a bit more than 8, which helps reduce the acidity of sour soils. This helps make soil nutrients much more accessible to plant roots.

It's also very long lasting and withstands destruction of the soil.

Use it in virtually any soil along with almost all plants. Place it out at any time of the growing season at a rate of 40 lbs for each 1,000 square feet (e.g., a 20x50 garden bed).

Help new perennials by adding in a few ounces of lave sand as much as 2 inches deep before planting. Then incorporate some into the soil around the perennials.

From Lava Sand to Organic Fertilizers