Perlite is a form of shapeless volcanic glass that is heated up to 1,600°F, at which point it pops just like popcorn and swells up to 13x its former size, leading to a very lightweight material.

It’s sometimes referred to as “swollen pyrite” and is nicknamed “volcanic popcorn.” If you use a microscope to look at a piece of gardening perlite, you would see that it’s relatively porous.

Additionally, the cavities in horticultural perlite help to store nutrients and some moisture that plants might need but drain excess water away. It’s clean, disease-free, non-toxic, lightweight, and insanely easy to work with.

Perlite is often used in the garden and industrial settings. It’s generally mixed into ceiling tiles, lightweight plasters, or masonry as an insulator.

Perlite has many applications, as a gardener, it’s an essential element in your garden.

Perlite is used in soil mixtures to improve ventilation and alter the soil substructure to keep it loose, resist compaction, and well-drained.

A one-part mixture of peat moss, loam, and perlite is ideal for container growing, allowing the pot to retain enough oxygen and water. Perlite is equally fantastic for rooting cuttings and promotes much stronger root formation than the ones grown in only water.

Perlite is also used on cement and gypsum plasters, masonry construction, as well as loose-fill insulation.

Aside from that, it’s also used in municipal swimming pool water filtration, pharmaceuticals, and an abrasive in polishes, soaps, and cleansers.