Uses of perlite dust

Question

At the bottom of my bag of perlite, there is lots of white powdery perlite dust. Are there any practical uses of perlite dust in gardening? Is the white powder beneficial as a soil amendment? If there are no beneficial uses, I might dispose the perlite dust by putting it into the trash.

Answer 1

I can't think of any gardening use for fine perlite dust past mixing it in the soil for whatever drainage/aeration benefit may remain. Other than its mechanical properties, perlite is more or less glass. Pretty darn inert. Here is another question talking about that part: Recycling potting mix with perlite: Would I get garden soil with perlite dust?

Perlite does have other uses, although I'm not sure if they apply on this scale.

• Filtration
• Construction
• Industry
• Insulation
• Animal Husbandry

Do you keep chickens? Or filter things very often?