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Thread: Lava rocks for landscaping

  1. #1
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    Lava rocks for landscaping

    I am having trouble finding a good source for lava rocks for landscaping. I want both intact boulders as well as crushed lava rock/gravel. In SOCAL it was easy to find but in south central Oklahoma it is NOT easy to find. I need to get as far up the "food chain" as possible as I am willing to take an entire 18 wheeler load but not at retail one sack at a time prices.

    Pat
    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  2. #2
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    Lava rock, spring,???Has that primordial springtime urge to rearrange the landscape surrounding ones abode again struck? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

    If you are satisfied with slate, granite, the odd piece of quartz and some metamorphosed slate??? we may be able to accommodate your requirements. How many trucks did you want? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

    Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

  3. #3
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    As I'm sure you know, Pat; most "lava" rock is burned coal cinders. Do you have any old, coal-fired power plants in the area? (The newer facilities will probably have burned such finely-ground coal that the slag will not produce "rock" but more like sand.)

  4. #4
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    Lava from burnt coal... What an interesting concept. I hadn't previously realized that volcanoes were big coal fires. Oh well, whatever... I still want crushed lava rock and various size lava boulders.Maybe an old old old coal fired plant might burn really huge chunks of coal resulting in satisfactorily sized "lava" rocks (lava = clinkers???) Or... perhaps one of the underground coal fires that has been burning for decades could be mined for "lava" rocks.

    Nah... I think I will try for either "traditional" lava like is mined in some of the western states, native rock, or a combination. The goal is to seriously reduce if not elliminate burnable materials between my circular drive and the house. NO MOWING between drive and house and mowing exterior to driveway to be by brush hog. A few specimen plantings well contained in curbing with such species as pampas grass, various cacti, succulents, and other species suitable for xeroscaping. I will install hidden drip irrigation for those plantings that require more water and any trees (farther from house.)

    Pat

    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  5. #5
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping


    are you trying to defy tradition and eliminate the "LAWN" Pat? [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

    Some folks use the soft reddish rock? from burnt coal seams to good effect for landscaping cover.

    Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

  6. #6
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    Egon, At my previous, Spanish Mediterranean style, residence (San Diego built in 1928), slightly under 1500 sq ft not counting sun porch/garden room, I elliminated grass to mow and gave away my lawnmower. I had front and rear patios with fountains and little pools, large areas of lava rock (crushed) and some boulders. I surrounded the living room picture windows with trellises for bougainvillea which I trained to climb up one side and down the other (defying the normal gravitational response.)

    In the back yard I had some flower beds, lots of hanging plants, and a raised garden space that was very productive. I had seven kinds of peppers and tomato "trees" (tomato plants still bearing after 3 years.)

    I'm not trying to duplicate my previous situation exactly but will elliminate any need to mow grass between the house and the circular drive and use the tractor and brush hog for mowing the yard beyond the circular drive when and if the cattle don't do enough. I will be fencing in a few acres for the front yard, enclosing several large pecan trees, using 3 rail vinyl fence with a hot wire between the rails to keep stock from pushing on it.

    I will probably need to find a source "out west" for crushed lava rock and lava boulders and then find an arrangement for 18 wheelers to deliver the loads. In San Diego I could find lava boulders on pallets with cheap wire fencing to hold them in place (stacked 5-6 feet high.) I could luck out and find someone carrying cargo westward who might make me a reasonable deal for the back haul.

    Failing a good lava connection my next best deal would probably be native rock such as red sandstone. It is much heavier, doesn't come in as wide a choice of colors, and to my aesthetic sensibilities is less desirable but meets my minimum requirements, barely.

    Pat
    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  7. #7
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    Oh no; you appear to advocate the abolishment of "The Lawn".

    A status symbol of many who maintain an abode on land and pride themselves on pristine green grass devoid of any growing thing other than the specified grass and achieved by copious use of water, fertilizers, chemical deterrents to any broadleaved form of vegetation that would make an attempt to establish and maintain their presence and the biweekly passing over of the cutting machine to maintain the perfect height which is really less than what is optimum.

    Front lawns may be deemed a waste of space unless one has a vehicle or two he can park there and work on. Less frontage and more usable backyard make much more sense. Or, convert the area to the growing of kitchen produce. Fresh herbs and vegetables that are not designed to be used as bouncy balls may invigorate many a jaded Palate. Add several rabbit pens and a chicken cage for fresh eggs and then there is a very viable front yard. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

    The classic symbol to the affluent who use the pristine front yard as a symbol saying they are wealthy and can afford to purchase substandard quality and tasteless fresh produce. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

    Of course turning it into a no maintenance area is another alternative. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

    Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]


  8. #8
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] After reading about your home in SOCAL, Pat, I am reminded of the time a dentist and family friend asked my dad and I if we could help him get some landscaping rock for a no-lawn motif in front of his dentist office. "Sure" Dad replied, "We can use the winch truck." We had an F-600 Ford with a steel bed, and a model M-5 Braden winch with 300 feet of 5/8" cable. Elated, "Bo" our friend, arranged for us to meet with him at Knight's Ferry, CA, a historic river town just east of Oakdale; where the numbers of lava boulders are only surpassed by the number of rattlesnakes in the 18" tall yellow grass. So we met with "Bo", and drove around a local cattle ranch until he finally selected three rocks, a big one and two liddle ones. We used a system of timbers to build a ramp similar to what the guys did when they built the pyramids, but in the end it was the Braden that did the real work, dragging that big ball of lava onto the truck. It took one person full time to shoot snakes. Bo had the cutest double-barrel .410 shotgun you ever saw. I was the truck operator, and because of all the snakes, I only stepped out of the cab to swing up onto the bed to release the dog clutch on that Braden. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] Snakes, YOW! [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] The big boulder weighed 11,000 pounds, the liddle ones were about 800 each.
    CJDave

  9. #9
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    The last native rock I brought home via tractor was at my limit. I got under a rock with my pallet forks along the shoulder of the section line that goes by in front of our house. I used the HD box blade for ballast and just barely got it out of the ditch and up on the road. It was so heavy I could not get the hydraulics to lift it as high as I wanted. All the way home (less than a mile) I went slowly and carefully but still with the rear wheels just barely skimming the surface. Turning was a challenge. I managed to get it to my rock pile but couldn't put it on the pile, just drop it by the pile. My maximum lift is under a ton, down around 1500 lbs or so, I think. As I got the long forks they are rated for 1300 lbs or so but if the CG on the load is not too far out I don't worry about that limit. The short forks were rated around 1500 or so and that seems reasonable if you mind the CG and leverage.

    Of course there is lava and then there is lava. It matters how much foaming or aeration there was in the lava. The stuff I am after is really not very dense as it is essentially foam rock. Not as light as pumice, mind you, but light as rocks go.

    It snowed here today from about 0800 to 1300 currently 1327. Hopefully it is over now for the year. Ground is too warm so no accumulation.

    Gotta go check my expectant mothers...

    Pat
    "I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"

  10. #10
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    Re: Lava rocks for landscaping

    if lava rocks is not available, go for leca (expanded clay peelets) instead

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