Rice hulls might be a good inexpensive alternative to perlite. They are selling for about $8-$9 for 6 cubic feet. One of the advantages is avoiding all the dust breathed in from using perlite and it's recycling a waste product. It's supposed to be as porous as perlite when used at up to 20% of the potting mix, and even higher porosity when used at a greater % as that.

Just did some research online, I'd like to give it a try. Where can I buy it $8-9 / 6 cf?

We use rice hull as we have it cheap in Malaysia & Indonesia for potting mix. Very ideal when mixed together with cocoa peat and soil. We use perlite during rooting only.

I found it here, but it's in a 50 lb bag for $27.99 + shipping?.  They have an interesting article about it.  They have it cheaper in smaller lots on Amazon.  Just search.  There are a few vendors.

Suzi

Try asking a feed store.  They usually carry as horse bedding.  For plants, you want the par boiled rice hulls, but not treated with anti-bacterial agents. 

Rice hulls are used in brewing beer, so you might want to try the home brewer's supply shops.  That's where I found them when I needed them for a project at work.

The rice hulls would compost and break down I believe. Perlite doesn't not that I have noticed. I know when I do my general potting I use pine bark fines that are just beginning to compost.  The pine barks fines start out light and well draining, after a time in the pot it composts. shrinks in volume, and loses the light free draining character and is basically heavy top soil. Pretty much anything that composts will turn out that way. The perlite helps retain that loose free draining and light weight character better than any thing else I have tried. Turface may not break down either, but it sure is a lot heavier than perlite, maybe not a big deal in 1 gal, but when you get to larger pots something to consider. Perlite I consider cheap at $12/4 cubic ft. I might look at the hulls to replace some of the pine bark fines however if I can find it in bulk as stable bedding, but around here I have only seen fresh sawdust avilable in bulk for stable bedding

Yes Strudeldog,you are 100% correct. Rice hull compost after some times. Normally, we dont use fresh rice hull.we  will pre compost with brown/red sugar and EM (effective micro organism).

The mix with rice hull is a bit heavier than the perlite and one good think is that rice hull dont have dust like perlite.

Since you mention perlite dust, I thought it is a good time that folks realize there are hazards associated with inhalation of perlite dust.  There are warnings on the bags and I know the greenhouse manager for the USDA repository at Davis has mentioned wearing masks in his presentations I've been at (he's also the safety officer for the USDA operation at Davis).  Well, I caught a cold last month or flu (had a fever for four days) but, even after finally beating off my cold after 2-3 weeks, I've been coughing quite a bit.  I know I've been breathing some perlite dust even though I've tried to avoid it.  I did some searching online and chronic coughing is a symptom of perlite dust inhalation.  It doesn't seem that it causes permanent problems but there was one report of 26 workers who inhaled perlite dust during some accident and they all had chronic coughing for six months.  I started wearing a dust mask today.  I may just set up a potting station outside and work with a fan to blow dust away from me.

To avoid the perlite dust , I open the bag and use a watering can or other fine spray to pre wet the upper layers of perlite before I take it out of the bag.
As long as you don't need to screen it , this works very well.

Long term exposure to perlite dust can be deadly. Spray bottle misting and masks are highly recommended. My father was a greenhouse owner for many decades, and his final years of dealing with emphysema due to smoking was made worse by particle inhalation in his 55+ years operating a commercial greenhouse business

I just bought three 50lb bags of rice hulls for $8.50/bag.   That includes free delivery.  The person delivered it the day after I ordered and she even would have delivered it to the backyard if I asked her to.   She says they deliver anywhere in California and Arizona.   I think they also go to Nevada but not sure.   There's not a rice farm anywhere close to Phoenix, so if you live elsewhere, I would think you could find it near where you are too.   They do treat the product with Diatomaceous Earth (DE) and a clay product, but that shouldn't hurt anything  The person selling it says they have a big lily grower using their stuff for gardening.   I'm going with this stuff from now on.  Will let you know how it works over time. 

Here is the link to the craigslist ad whom i got it from: http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/grd/3553872145.html

strudeldog, Par boiled rice hulls will break down a lot slower than other components in typical pine bark-based potting media. So, you will need to replace your media due to problems associated with your other components before the rice hulls show meaningful degradation.

Here are some references some may find useful:
http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/18/3/384.full.pdf+html
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/45/4/643.full.pdf+html
http://www.hriresearch.org/docs/publications/JEH/JEH_1990/JEH_1990_8_1/JEH%208-1-14-18.pdf
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/39/2/232.full.pdf
http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/18/4/650.full.pdf+html

Update:  The rice hulls work great.  I like them much better than perlite.   The figs are growing at a phenomenal rate.    

Pros:  Price wise, they are a great deal.  Their delivery was free, but now it's $25, but they are available at my local Feed Store for $10.50/bag.   The same amount of perlite costs around $25-$30 here.    I think one bag is 6 cu feet but it seems that I would use at least the equivalent of two 6 cu feet of perlite for the use I get out of one bag of the rice hulls.   I think they pack the bags tightly and once the bag is open,  the rice hulls uncompact.   .   No sifting and no dust.   It doesn't seem to breakdown that easily.   Perlite seems to breakdown faster and the quality of the Thermorock perlite around here is very poor with lots of dust.   They are more environmentally friendly than perlite.

The cons:  Some of the rice does sprout, but that hasn't been a problem for me because rice won't grow in the dry desert.   Also, I put wood mulch in my pots which prevents any rice from growing.   You also have to put mulch on top of the pot because otherwise, birds love to come over to the pot and peck around the pot to eat the rice which results in soil getting kicked out of the pot.   Don't use rice hulls with starting cuttings, especially indoors.  The gnats like it and some of the rice sprouts because there's more humidity.   I just use Oil Dri with Perlite and no gnats, but the minute I used the rice hulls, gnats galore.   

I always use Rice hulls mixed with manure and top soil...its good for Repotting baby tree from cup to bigger container (pot) For rooting cutting i use chopped of Kadaka roots (asplenium nidus)

I'm gonna seek out a local supplier of rice hulls and give them a try. I like the idea that they will break down in time and add nutrients to the soil. I'll try them with other non fig plants as well. Thanks for the info!