I ran across this last week. I wanted to share it with Hill country folk
as it seems to be good information, though, your soil can't take use of
it as much as we can on the coastal prairie. But you might have a friend
that may ask you if you know what's good in a situation with clay/gumbo
and this can be an additional
response.

Nitro-phos website is not up.

Does anyone know about shale?

Here is some information on expanded shale:

EARTH-KIND PROJECT NETS SURPRISE SOLUTION FOR HOUSTON'S GUMBO SOILS! =


Caldwell Pink, an antique rose, was one of the winners in a new Texas =

program called EarthKind Roses, instituted by Texas A&M to identify the =

toughest landscape roses for Southern climates that would perform
without chemicals and with very little maintenance. Other winners were
Livin' Easy, The Fairy, Sea Foam, Pearle, Marie Daly and Belinda's
Dream. =

=

During these trials, a wide variety of roses were tortured beyond belief
and the winners were awarded the EarthKind title. Learn about their =

experimentation conditions (worse than even lazy gardeners inflict!) at =

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkindrose or by requesting a free =

EarthKind packet from: Dr. Steve George, Texas A&M Research and
Extension Center,17360 Coit Road, Dallas, TX 75252
=

The EarthKind Rose experiments also resulted in what looks like a great
new product for Houston gardeners and others who have to cope with gumbo
soil: expanded shale. Steve is extremely high on this naturally
occurring mineral rock dug up around Dallas and heated until it becomes
porous
inside. =


Remember how they used to tell us to work gypsum into the soil? Most
experts now agree that was not a very effective additive. But this one
seems to really do the job. It is just starting to be marketed and is
only
carried by a few large Houston nurseries (specifically Cornelius) at
this time. But any nursery can order some from you as it distributed by
Nitro-Phos,
a local company. You will also get information on expanded shale in
the EarthKind Rose packet mentioned above. =


This is only for gumbo or clay soils; it is not a benefit to sandy soils =

which are already porous enough. -- BBS.
-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/reference.html