If I’m not mistaken, pumice is heavier than perlite

I use the 3/16 from GPP for my small plants, usually in 4" pots. I use the large pumice mostly in soil mixes of 50/50 soil and pumice, for plants like Sansevieria and Euphorbia in pots that are 6-7" or larger. All my Sans are in some kind of soil mix with pumice and possibly poulry grit.

Regarding weight, pumice can be heavy, but....In my opinion, wet Turface is considerably heavier while perlite is lighter. If I were going to hang a gritty mix plant, I might use just pumice alone.

I thought pumice & perlite were the same weight. But if its a good deal lighter than my mix of perlite, chicken grit & turface then Ill just switch at least the hanging pots to pumice only.

Perlite is much lighter.  Pumice is much better and more expensive.

Switch to perlite if you want lighter pots. Perlite.

I don't know where perlite comes from, but pumice is a rock from the ground. Heavier than perlite.

Perlite comes from rock in the ground but is expanded at high temperature. Can say the same for pumice too!

socks,

The difference in weight is nearly non-detectable in pots when one uses pumice versus perlite. Pumice is superior in every way to perlite, AFAIK.

Rebecca,

It depends on what you're planting, but 3/8" pumice is ideal with most C&S.

When media particles have a general shape other than flat (roughly rounded or ovoid) and are comprised of particles which won't pass a .100 (1/10") mesh, the media will not hold water in the pores between soil particles; and, since a medium comprised of 1/10-1/8" would provide all the aeration any plant I can think of would ever need (while allowing there may be a few exceptions), there is no notable value in using particles any larger than 1/8". In fact, when all is equal other than particle size, doing so decreases the media's ability to hold water and increases the rate at which water will evaporate from the entire soil column, this, because of the direct relationship: increasing particle size = an increase in gas exchange = more/faster evaporative water loss. Those concerned about avoiding extra effort take note because when particles are larger than .100" and increasing, the decrease in watering intervals required to keep coarse media moist is an exponential relationship as opposed to a direct relationship.

This happens to be another of the compromises we all make as growers. Since it's not a perfect world, and media components are not usually available in a size range as restrictive as .100-.125", we settle for what's available and take advantage of the compromise to use a larger fraction of the components we use to build our media.

Summed, it's best to stay as close as the grower deems practical to a particle size of 1/8" (up to 1/4" for any organic fractions to allow for some breakdown over time) so we are maximizing water retention while still ensuring the level of excess (perched) water is nil or as close to nil as possible.

Al