Finding Vermiculite

[james]

Vermiculite comes in 4 cu ft bags. It's bulky and light weight. You might see it under the trade name "Therm O Rock". Don't buy the small bags -- that will end up being too expensive.

In California and other states, Home Depot sells vermiculite and perlite as soil conditioners. You can find it in the garden section.

If they don't carry it, check with your local wholesale nursery, and pool and commercial ag. supply companies. They should have it.

If you can't find it locally, contact Forno Bravo, and we can ship it to you.

James

[Alf]

Here in the UK vermiculite is readily available from most good builders merchants. We use the brand name “Micafill” from Travis Perkins http://www.travisperkins.co.uk/ with good results. It might be best if you give your local branch a ring first as not all branches carry stock.

Alf

[Johan]

You can also find Vermiculite at some of the industry safety stores (Interstate Safety) as it is used a lot in the Hazardous Materials Mitigation industry. It is both an absorbent for hydrocarbons and an adsorbent for some materials with a specific gravity of +1. It is very reasonable at these supplies stores.

[james]

Johan,

Welcome aboard, and thanks for that. Great lead. How is the weather in Tahoe, and when does ski season start?
James

[mitexas]

I found the vermiculite for my oven at Uline, a company that provides packing materials. They sell large bags of the large material that I used.
uline . com is their web site.
Good luck.

[Balty Knowles]

I found some at my local landscape supply. Manufacturer is Therm-o-Rock from Chandler AZ. I'm sure they could point you to a distributor. I hope I got the ratio right I used 4:1 for a 3" pad x 5ft dia which just turned out to be the whole bag.

[Hot Shot]

I bought a lot of vermiculite in the 4 cubic ft. bags in Denver at American Clay Works. It is very easy to get to-right off I-25. I used the vermiculite in my garden.

[james]

Hey Hot Shot,

Do have a lot of clay in your soil? How did it work trying to lighten up your garden soil?
James

[Hot Shot]

Originally Posted by james

Hey Hot Shot,

Do have a lot of clay in your soil? How did it work trying to lighten up your garden soil?
James

James, All our soil is predominately shale and clay, I just forgot all of that and did the square foot Gardening by Mel Barthalamew, his 2nd book, where you make your own soil and garden on top of the ground in 4' X 4' by 8" high boxes. The boxes set on top of black weed barrier from Soil and Conservation. My soil that I made is 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compos, that I made last fall. This is the most friable soil that I have ever had my hands in. It is fabulous. My garden is out doing every body elses in the neighborhood. And it could have a lot to do with my green house where I started my plants. It is a flowerhouse brand, that provides an abundance of circulation. If you are interested, I will tell you where I got my greenhouse. I am a first time gardener with purple ribbon results. Hot Shot

[Stiennon]

Try pool supply stores as well. Vermiculite is used under vinyl pool liners.

Richard