Vermiculite in San Diego

[ralogan55]

Anybody know where to buy coarse vermiculite in San Diego other than Home Depot?

HD wants $19.95/2-cu. ft. bag....ouch?

[rl2sing]

I got mine at Armstrong Garden center in Temecula. It wasn't coarse, probably medium. $20 for a 3.5 cu ft bag. The only coarse I could find was at a Hydroponic store also in Temecula but it was $35 a 4 cu ft bag.

Lee

[ralogan55]

Thanks, Lee. I called Armstrong and they have it in either 3.5 or 4 cu ft bags at...$35/bag. Is there some reason vermiculite got expensive all of a sudden?????

[GianniFocaccia]

I paid $27/bag for 3.5cu' at Home Depot but that was 6 mos ago. Have you tried a pool construction co?

[eprante]

I purchased mine at Home Depot, $16 per 2.2 cu ft bag.
Eric

[ralogan55]

I tried calling one pool supplier but they had neither vermiculite or perlite and tried to sell me somethibng I've never heard of. They thought I was looking for DE.

I checked at HD over the weekend and it was $19.95 per 2 cu ft bag.

Maybe I should just bite-the-bullet and pay $35/4 cu ft bag. So much for doing this on the cheap.

[GianniFocaccia]

A quick scan of vermiculite at Lowe's is $24 online for the same 3.5 cu' bag I bought at HD.

[dmun]

At that price point it pays to do mail order.

[ralogan55]

You'd think living in North San Diego county with all the nurseries you'd be able to find vemiculite easily and inexpensively, but noooooooo..........only great price was at the pallet level. Not going there.

Lowe's and HD just have the 8qt or 2 cu ft stuff at around $20, so I passed. Lowe's advertised $23 vermiculite online, but they don't have it and can't get it.

So, I found both vermiculite and perlite at Grangetto's Farm & Garden Supply in Escondido. Coarse Vermiculite: $28.50/3.5 cu ft bag. And....coarse perlite for $11.59/4 cu ft bag. So I bought 3 bags of perlite and one bag of vermiculite. I couldn't believe the price difference!!

Advice needed: Just double-checking, but can I still use the 6:1 perlite/portland cement mix in my hearth and be okay? I've seen some mix recommendations as high as 12:1. What I don't use of either I can take back or use in my seedlings.

Any other final tips (I don't want to screw it up)?

Thanks.

[GianniFocaccia]

Can't comment on the ratios for perlite, but you're correct: you can go 12:1 or as high as 6:1 on the vermiculite. I went with 8:1. Just know that the higher the amount of Portland the lower the insulation value. You might want to hang on to any vermiculite that's left over in the event you insulate your dome with it.