Michael,

I'm not sure what sort of lava-stone based mixes you have seen, but I and
most others around here use the red lava rock as our primary soil
ingredient. Once it has been screened, as one must do with most soil mix
ingredients, it has no more fines than anything else. The remaining fines
are a function of the size of screen one uses.

I find red lava rock to be a quite satisfactory soil component, whether used
straight, or in combination with other ingredients.

Regards,
Roger Snipes
Spokane, WA. USA. Zone 5-ish

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Persiano"

I have had many individuals bring me trees with root zone problems related
to the "fines" in lava stone-based soil mixes. The "fines" seem to create
drainage problems.

For this reason, I am not an advocate of the reddish lava stone mixes that
I have seen.

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