A garden is only as good as the ground that it's planted in. Discussion forum for the many ways to improve the soil where we plant our gardens.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
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I'm looking to buy Perlite in 4 cubic foot bags and on Ebay, Amazon, etc. those vendors who sell it at about $12.00 per bag then want another $30.00+ in shipping charges. Is anyone aware of a local source in the San Jose area?
thanks, Ray ![]() |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: California Central Valley
Posts: 2,542
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I've seen it at OSH, but I didn't notice the price. (Probably it's half the size at twice the price.)
Have you called your local landscaping supply companies and rockeries? I haven't noticed any at the ones around here, but some of the potting mixes use small-size red lava rock instead of perlite, so they may sell the lava rock separately. Another idea is to call horticulture depts. at colleges and find out where they get it. Try Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. |
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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There is Nor Cal Perlite, a manufacturer in Richmond, CA. They
have distributors in Fremont (L&L Nursery Supply, a national chain) and Half Moon Bay (Romeo Packaging Co.). Too far to go? You might have to head down to Gilroy: http://local.botw.org/California/Gil..._and_Supplies/ Edit: PS: You might find this discussion interesting: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...227405502.html (Looks like there might be a place right there in Campbell that has some products useful for improving the aeration in the containers.)
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-- alias Last edited by dice; July 18, 2009 at 05:11 PM. |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Alaska Zone 3/4
Posts: 1,857
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Gosh ... here we can get it at Lowe's and Home Depot. They don't carry it there? I think here it's around $16-$18 for the bag. The garden centers also carry the big bags here. Good luck!
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
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dice and Sherry,
Lowes only carries the 8 Qt bag in San Jose. I was able to get a 3.5 cu. ft. bag at Home Depot today for $23.00. dice, thanks for the Ewing Irrigation link. I can literally walk to their store from my home. Will be over there Monday morning to check out the Turface products. Ray |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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The local HD had a big bag of perlite a couple of years ago
sitting in the garden dept. It was $17. I did not need it, so I passed it by. The next spring, it was still there, just the one bag, a whole year later. That might explain the reluctance of big box stores to stock this stuff in quantity. (In a nursery supply or farm store, it probably would have been gone in a week.)
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-- alias Last edited by dice; July 18, 2009 at 09:01 PM. Reason: clarity |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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Looking at this description at a nursery in NY that carries
Turface products: http://www.bissettnursery.com/hardgo...il_turface.htm The bonsai guys swear by it (they prefer the larger structure of Turface MVP, asserting that Turface Profield is too fine and gives up too much large pore air space), but it seems like Turface actually holds water and nutrients and then releases them as the soil dries out. A lot of them grow bonsai trees in 100% Turface. I am not sure that will achieve your goal of reducing the water holding capacity of an existing potting mix, unless you use a lot of it, like half and half, where the large structure of Turface MVP does the job by simply replacing a bunch of the potting mix with air. You might explain that to the guys at Ewing, that what you want is for your container mix to simply hold less water for the same volume of mix, and yet still wick water up through the wicking basket. See what they recommend. (I would want something that does not absorb water at all to reduce the water holding capacity of existing potting mixes. I bet the choices for that would be perlite, crushed lava rock, or pumice, but they may know of other widely available engineered products that will do that.) One good thing that Turface does is not degrade to smaller particles. You could have a container full of mix that you have been using for so many years that there is nothing left there except silt, Turface, and perlite that came in the original bag, and you could still screen the Turface out of it and reuse it.
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-- alias Last edited by dice; July 19, 2009 at 04:52 AM. Reason: clarity |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
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dice,
Here are the trials that I am planning on doing over the next month or so: 4:1 ratio Miracle-Gro potting mix and Cactus mix 4:1 ratio of Sta-Green potting mix and Cactus Mix 4:1 ratio of Miracle-Gro and Perlite 4:1 ratio of Sta-Green and Perlite 5:1 ratio of Miracle-Gro plus Perlite 5:1:1 ratio of Miracle-Gro plus Perlite plus Turface MVP Are there any other ratios that you would suggest? Ray |
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#9 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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![]() Quote:
setup really, and I don't know if it would wick efficiently. The wicking basket might need to be full of all potting mix.) Ami had mentioned one time getting perlite used as insulation for less than the cost of horticultural perlite. I do not know who carries it, though, or what the particle size is. You can get some idea of the different perlite applications by looking at the products list at a manufacturer like Nor Cal. For example, they have a Jumbo horticultural perlite mainly used for hydroponics: http://www.norcalperlite.com/NorCal5.htm (That sounds perfect for what you want.) Turface MVP might work despite holding water itself (still supplies a lot of air space), one would just have to try it and see (and see how much it costs compared to an equal volume of perlite). So, one other test: 3/4 potting mix, either brand, with 1/4 Turface MVP.
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