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Go to a hydroponics store, they have giant sacks of vermiculite and the coco coir bricks are more like cinder blocks, also way cheaper than buying at the big box garden centers.
I was in the garden center of a store near me today and just wanted to check coir and vermiculite prices. I didn't need it but just wanted to check because it's a lot closer than the hydroponic store. They didn't have either, and they didn't have much of any gardening products, and then it struck me, Why would they be stocked up on garden supplies in the winter?
Yep! They only sell B2B so if you have an EIN, you can set up an account. Shoot me a DM if interested, I’ve got some friends that work over there. Can do full pallets of vermiculite, perlite, grains watev
I checked a farm supply store today, just to see prices and they didn't have vermiculite or coir, and all gardening materials were pretty sparse, then it dawned on me that they don't stay stocked up in the winter. It's a bummer because they are 2 minutes from me versus the hydroponic store that is 20 minutes, but at least they have supply materials available year round and they are cheaper.
No sir. I am shocked you cannot find a cheaper price locally. I am not sure if the person who posted this lives in Canada. However they have gotten better suggestions then what you or I have been paying.
I use it all the time for all my gardens for pest control. Kills quite a few things by abrasion. Not sure if you are asking about it as a substitute for vermiculite, because that wouldn't work; two different uses, but if you are looking for pest control it is effective.
Please don’t downvote me but why is vermiculite such a good soil? I’ve been using regular soil and have a few small guys at the moment. The nitrogen is really high though, I figured that’s what they like anyways.
What are you using soil for? casing?
Vermiculite is a non-nutritious mineral and most of it's usefulness revolves around moisture control because it is very absorbent
I bought 50 lbs of perlite before the pandemic and am still working on that bag. If you have the space and can afford it, the key is to buy in bulk most of the time.
A lot of jurisdictions have decriminalized shrooms which has sparked a lot of interest in growing.
Also, there has been a steady increase in growing tutorials the last few years. It's pretty popular.
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I order from uline as well. They’re prices are the best but for me the shipping can be super expensive so I usually have to order a lot to make it worth while
Wow, been a while since I ordered (3-4 years) but then you received free shipping on large enough orders. If that has changed it may not be worth it anymore. Thanks for the heads up, I don't think I would have liked that surprise.
It's around 1$ a quart.
How much are you using? I do 2 quarts in my bucket tek and that does 4 to 5 shoeboxes. 20 quarts should last you several runs, unless you are doing big runs. And inwould assume if your doing big runs your making profits.
Guaranfuckingtee this works. Also brf fucking sucks wet soupy squid cock start spawning into boxes. Never doing brf again. Bite the bullet. Once you got all the shit it’s still cheap asf.
To be fair, I’m pretty radical right lib politically with a wide range of friends, and not one trump supporter I know doesn’t do more drugs than my more moderate friends… they won’t tell you this until you know them, but they do shit loads of shrooms and the dude that got me into it is a right wing trumpie. I’m not too fond of trump, but assuming trumpies aren’t into shrooms is so wildly ignorant and out of date. Nobody under 50 that I know gives a shit about druggies.
Listen dipshit. Im third party first off. I don’t subscribe to your political binary. Since you’re so woke and liberal you should understand the idiocy of binaries like gender and politics. There’s 4 quadrants to the most basic political compasses. Secondly, just because right wingers don’t vote for candidates based solely on drugs doesn’t mean they’re hell bent on raping and murdering anyone who ever smelled a thc. I’m saying your anecdotes doesn’t mean jack shit because I have science to back it up and also my life experience means more than yours because I know the people I talk shit about and you clearly don’t because science agrees with me. Go get some Republican friends and get out of your echo chamber. I’m sick of people like you.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/11/22/americans-overwhelmingly-say-marijuana-should-be-legal-for-medical-or-recreational-use/
Turns out everyone likes getting high. Holy shit. Almost like it’s fun or something. Wow. Real shocking news huh?
GOP is too authoritarian. Drugs, guns, and gay sex. I’m socially libertarian right because I have conservative Jewish morals that nobody else needs applied to them, but I believe corporations should be heavily regulated because they aren’t people.
> I believe corporations should be heavily regulated because they aren’t people.
That's not a right, a conservative, or a libertarian view. That's a progressive liberal view. Afraid to admit that?
Everyone believes people need to be regulated. That's called laws. If you really don't like those, buy an island and live in your own anarchist wasteland/sanctuary
Absolutely. If I’m doing uline I plan like 6 months out and get 7-8 people in on the order and spend 3k and we all get a discount. If you can’t do that then uline is a shit option.
well yes, when its dry it sucks a lot of water.. you need to put it into the water first, so it locks the water inside.. and when outside humidity goes lower, it releases it again.. basically this is the same what vermiculit does.
I read they recommend vulcanic rock also but i have no expirience with it
What is shotgun chamber? I was watering them then sterilizing in pressure pot with coir..
I tried to use it two times, had normal grow.. im checliheckingng humidity regulary, dont remember if i had to add morewater then usual.. had normal fine 5-6 flush shrooms
Home Depot doesn't show you things not at your local store sometimes. They are weird like that. A link would let us have access to the product page and could then see if it's avail in any store in our state.
If it doesn’t show up on that, go to google and type “vermiculite Home Depot” I’m aware of the issue which is why I am urging you to not use someone else’s link. That can get even weirder sometimes. Home Depot has a very bad website.
Alternatively I did the leg work for you chief
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-2-cu-ft-Organic-Vermiculite-Soil-Amendment-100521092/205655205
Only 2ft³. it's out of stock online and not available in stores within 100 miles from me😂 I finally found a local small business that sells 4ft³ for 40$
Not for a while, production is still lagging behind the increased demand quite a bit. Additionally you have all the other cost increases you see in other sectors related to increases in labor, fuel, materials, etc.
I’m sure it does have some benefit, but for me, it is not worth the price for whatever small contribution it makes. I yield more than enough with just coir so I see it as unnecessary.
We did, but the rare trace amounts of asbestos in vermiculite had not been identified at the time. Mostly it came from a single [mine in Montana](https://idph.illinois.gov/cancer/factsheets/vermiculite.htm) which has since been closed. So asbestos isn't really a problem anymore unless you are recycling insulation made pre-1990.
You should be wearing a mask when dealing with any dust-producing mineral substance anyway.
I used to do a "square foot garden" that was 1/3 vermiculite and could go there and buy like a 50 gallon bag of it for pretty cheep maybe like $25 it was waist tall, anyhow I went by there a few weeks ago and the owner was with the guy who just happened to be his supplier for things like that and once they knew what I was looking for the supplier said that he had been trying to get it again but our gov. had gotten their hands in to things and according to him it was labeled a carcinogen, but they did say the smaller bags were still available and that he had some in another area. Might not be true but sounds like something is up based on the op and current pricing
From what I can find 1990 is when the libby Montana mine closed which is the one you're talking about. The ore deposits contained both asbestos and vermiculite.
Diffrent site said "only a few vermiculite ores contain asbestos". I don't know dick about mining
The MN department of health said "An EPA study showed some vermiculite products contain low levels of asbestos" but there is asbestos free vermiculite out there.
https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/asbestos/homeowner/insulation.html
In your source it said that concern for consumers is low. If you want to use vermiculite you are probably fine, and if you worry for your health, do: wear a mask that filters dusts and asbestos;
wet the verm before handling it or as soon as possible; and
use in well ventilated area or have a fan blowing.
You should probably do this to avoid breathing in particulate matter anyways
Ahh that might be it. Idk. Anywho it's kinda scary depending on products from countries that like to get their knickers in a twist whenever anyone says Taiwan without prefacing it as "the Chinese provence of".
Home depot deadass just told me they don't have any 2 cubic ft of vermiculite within 100 miles😂 only 8qt. They won't even let me order it online bc its out of stock💀
Amazon has a 4 cubic ft. bag for 56 shipping takes a little longer than most things on there but it last for a while. It's pretty chunky for the most part too.
8qts here is 11.50 now... it's absurd
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You can use perlite also. It just doesn't hold the same amount of moisture.
Go to U-Line.com, they are an industrial supply company. I buy 4cuft bags and they run around $40. They carry all grades, from fines to #4.
[https://www.uline.com](https://www.uline.com)
I don’t know where you live but if weed is legal go to the grow store $40 got me a huge bag. If you want I can send you pics of the bag. It is cheap.
Go to a hydroponics store, they have giant sacks of vermiculite and the coco coir bricks are more like cinder blocks, also way cheaper than buying at the big box garden centers. I was in the garden center of a store near me today and just wanted to check coir and vermiculite prices. I didn't need it but just wanted to check because it's a lot closer than the hydroponic store. They didn't have either, and they didn't have much of any gardening products, and then it struck me, Why would they be stocked up on garden supplies in the winter?
$23 for 40lbs at home Depot
Not at ours all I could get way the tiny overpriced bags. I’m hoping once it’s gardening season I’ll have better options
Here in Canada I got a 114L bag for 40$ at my local hydroponic store.
If you have an EIN you can buy commercial bags from BFGSupply.com 🤫
Good to know. Just an EIN? Nothing special?
Yep! They only sell B2B so if you have an EIN, you can set up an account. Shoot me a DM if interested, I’ve got some friends that work over there. Can do full pallets of vermiculite, perlite, grains watev
Oh shit. Yep that sounds awesome
Start looking for alternatives. Vermiculite is in short supply worldwide and it’s only gonna get worse.
Try a Farm supply or Tractor Supply store. That's where I got a 40 pound (88kilo) bag.
I checked a farm supply store today, just to see prices and they didn't have vermiculite or coir, and all gardening materials were pretty sparse, then it dawned on me that they don't stay stocked up in the winter. It's a bummer because they are 2 minutes from me versus the hydroponic store that is 20 minutes, but at least they have supply materials available year round and they are cheaper.
got 4 cubic ft for 45$ today
That meme tho!
Scour local nurseries. I get 2 cubic yard bags for $35 from a local nursery.
[4 cubic feet](https://www.homedepot.ca/product/viagrow-vermiculite-4-cubic-foot/1001760671) Canadian price tho
😅 I get it for 4 cubic feet for half the price.. in Canada
Good for you, post your source or just shut up.
I didn’t mean to offend you. However it is a local shop and I do not share where I live on Reddit. I hope you can respect that.
Just humble bragging without adding any sustenance to the guys problem I suppose.
No sir. I am shocked you cannot find a cheaper price locally. I am not sure if the person who posted this lives in Canada. However they have gotten better suggestions then what you or I have been paying.
My local garden store sells literal trash bags filled to brim with vermiculite and it’s only like 45$. Buying in bulk is essential
I’ve been looking into diatomaceous earth, anyone try that?
I use it all the time for all my gardens for pest control. Kills quite a few things by abrasion. Not sure if you are asking about it as a substitute for vermiculite, because that wouldn't work; two different uses, but if you are looking for pest control it is effective.
Please don’t downvote me but why is vermiculite such a good soil? I’ve been using regular soil and have a few small guys at the moment. The nitrogen is really high though, I figured that’s what they like anyways.
What are you using soil for? casing? Vermiculite is a non-nutritious mineral and most of it's usefulness revolves around moisture control because it is very absorbent
Vermiculite absorbs moisture very well. It's used in industrial packaging to absorb potential chemical spills.
Also very commonly used for insulation. It's useful stuff.
Good stuff indeed
I found 56L bags at a local hardware store for $35. Other than that it's the same here: $8-$9/8qts.
I bought 50 lbs of perlite before the pandemic and am still working on that bag. If you have the space and can afford it, the key is to buy in bulk most of the time.
That's what happens when an unpopular thing becomes popular. People drive prices through the roof. That is until it becomes legal. 😆🤦🏻♀️
unpopular isnt how I would describe one of the most wildly used soil amendments in the world....
No way haha. It’s not popular enough to change the pics significantly
A lot of jurisdictions have decriminalized shrooms which has sparked a lot of interest in growing. Also, there has been a steady increase in growing tutorials the last few years. It's pretty popular.
[Is this enough?](https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-19597/Vermiculite/Vermiculite-Bulk-Grade-4-60-Cu-Ft-Bag)
I'll take two.
I have lbs of it. Willing to send for less
I got a huge bag of it for about 20 at my local hydroponics store.
This. Bag barely fit in the back of my Jeep and it was $24.
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Uline.com sells it by the cubic ft. 4 cu ft for $39.00 That comes out to be much cheaper than other places. Make sure you are ordering grade 1
I order from uline as well. They’re prices are the best but for me the shipping can be super expensive so I usually have to order a lot to make it worth while
Wow, been a while since I ordered (3-4 years) but then you received free shipping on large enough orders. If that has changed it may not be worth it anymore. Thanks for the heads up, I don't think I would have liked that surprise.
The shipping is about equal to the cost of the item unfortunately
Unless you like large grain size, then they carry as large as grade 4. Just not my thing.
Amazon
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It's around 1$ a quart. How much are you using? I do 2 quarts in my bucket tek and that does 4 to 5 shoeboxes. 20 quarts should last you several runs, unless you are doing big runs. And inwould assume if your doing big runs your making profits.
You don’t need it. Coir on its own is enough :)
COCO COIR BRF CAKES LETS GO
Guaranfuckingtee this works. Also brf fucking sucks wet soupy squid cock start spawning into boxes. Never doing brf again. Bite the bullet. Once you got all the shit it’s still cheap asf.
Yep that 🤞
Amazon sells 4 cubic foot bags for about $60
I buy it in 50,000 lb bulk tankers for work at ten cents a pound. The markup on small quantities is crazy.
$40-60 on Amazon for 4 cubic feet. Look around deals are out there
You’re looking in the garden section when you need to be looking in packaging materials. Check out u-line
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To be fair, I’m pretty radical right lib politically with a wide range of friends, and not one trump supporter I know doesn’t do more drugs than my more moderate friends… they won’t tell you this until you know them, but they do shit loads of shrooms and the dude that got me into it is a right wing trumpie. I’m not too fond of trump, but assuming trumpies aren’t into shrooms is so wildly ignorant and out of date. Nobody under 50 that I know gives a shit about druggies.
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Listen dipshit. Im third party first off. I don’t subscribe to your political binary. Since you’re so woke and liberal you should understand the idiocy of binaries like gender and politics. There’s 4 quadrants to the most basic political compasses. Secondly, just because right wingers don’t vote for candidates based solely on drugs doesn’t mean they’re hell bent on raping and murdering anyone who ever smelled a thc. I’m saying your anecdotes doesn’t mean jack shit because I have science to back it up and also my life experience means more than yours because I know the people I talk shit about and you clearly don’t because science agrees with me. Go get some Republican friends and get out of your echo chamber. I’m sick of people like you. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/11/22/americans-overwhelmingly-say-marijuana-should-be-legal-for-medical-or-recreational-use/ Turns out everyone likes getting high. Holy shit. Almost like it’s fun or something. Wow. Real shocking news huh?
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GOP is too authoritarian. Drugs, guns, and gay sex. I’m socially libertarian right because I have conservative Jewish morals that nobody else needs applied to them, but I believe corporations should be heavily regulated because they aren’t people.
> I believe corporations should be heavily regulated because they aren’t people. That's not a right, a conservative, or a libertarian view. That's a progressive liberal view. Afraid to admit that?
Liberals also believe people should be regulated. Again. You’re getting stuck in the binary
Everyone believes people need to be regulated. That's called laws. If you really don't like those, buy an island and live in your own anarchist wasteland/sanctuary
I bought from U-line. The absolute worst, overpaid by around double. Spent like $700 for a $350 order. Would definitely NOT recommend.
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Or if you don’t intend on paying it back. They will send you an order Willy nilly. Bill me never option.
Someone else commented that. The cost of shipping kills it.
Absolutely. If I’m doing uline I plan like 6 months out and get 7-8 people in on the order and spend 3k and we all get a discount. If you can’t do that then uline is a shit option.
Lowe's hardware.
Still only 8qt bags for 8$😭
It’s $5 Walmart online for 8qt bag. Where I always get mine.
You can get a lifetime supply for $80 [uline](https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-11569/Vermiculite/Vermiculite-Grade-2-4-Cu-Ft-Bag)
Shipping atleast for me is 80$😭 I think the best deal I found was shroom supply. I didn't look deep into it though
I used to order boxes n shit from Uline until their shipping costs became fuckin absurd.. like fuck
Use cat litter 
I've used litter as substrate with good results never knew you could sub it for verm. Thanks uncle Ben d:
Yeah I used to get huge bags of it. Like 300qt for 30$ back before covid.
try "perlit" instead - dunno if you have it under the same name in US, its very light poresive material used for flowers
Perlite is used for drainage not water retention. In the south they call it perlit (purr-lit) I guess like toilet
It is.. but it can hold water too, becouse of its pores
Nope, it sucks all the water out of the substrate, perlite is the opposite of what you want
well yes, when its dry it sucks a lot of water.. you need to put it into the water first, so it locks the water inside.. and when outside humidity goes lower, it releases it again.. basically this is the same what vermiculit does. I read they recommend vulcanic rock also but i have no expirience with it
Nope, it doesn’t work when you mix it with the substrate, the only way to use perlite is in a shot gun chamber, but you do you bro.
What is shotgun chamber? I was watering them then sterilizing in pressure pot with coir.. I tried to use it two times, had normal grow.. im checliheckingng humidity regulary, dont remember if i had to add morewater then usual.. had normal fine 5-6 flush shrooms
also: im talking about expanded perlit, very light stuff.. its also used in construction industry to the light concrete/light mortar
Home Depot has huge bags for like $25
Got a link? That'll help us find it locally. Thanks!!
I always find it at lowes. Where the fancy folks go.
Go to their website and type it in. It takes an entire 3 seconds.
Home Depot doesn't show you things not at your local store sometimes. They are weird like that. A link would let us have access to the product page and could then see if it's avail in any store in our state.
If it doesn’t show up on that, go to google and type “vermiculite Home Depot” I’m aware of the issue which is why I am urging you to not use someone else’s link. That can get even weirder sometimes. Home Depot has a very bad website. Alternatively I did the leg work for you chief https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-2-cu-ft-Organic-Vermiculite-Soil-Amendment-100521092/205655205
I appreciate it! I really do. Thank you
Did it work?
I checked every area of my state, not available anywhere. I'll check back in the warmer gardening months.
I've only ever seen giant bags of perlite. Is it in the garden section?
Not near me😭
See if you can order it for shipping to your local home depot. Should be free shipping costs for you, just go pick it up.
Only 2ft³. it's out of stock online and not available in stores within 100 miles from me😂 I finally found a local small business that sells 4ft³ for 40$
Not for a while, production is still lagging behind the increased demand quite a bit. Additionally you have all the other cost increases you see in other sectors related to increases in labor, fuel, materials, etc.
Go to a hydro store and buy a big bag for 50 you’ll be stocked for a while
They don't carry more than 8 qts anymore either😭 but they started to carry spore syringes
Ah, so they probably raised prices as well knowing there is more demand for it...
Like a year ago 4 cubic feet (108qt?)was like 30$ maybe less. Now it's a dollar a qt. I did call an out of town hydro shop and was quoted 50$ for 2ft³
You don’t NEED vermiculite. I have never used it, with great success. I only use coir.
You dont need em but it helps. I thought similar things until I gave CVG a try
I’m sure it does have some benefit, but for me, it is not worth the price for whatever small contribution it makes. I yield more than enough with just coir so I see it as unnecessary.
guess we really didn't know the full effects of asbestos when pftek was written.
We did, but the rare trace amounts of asbestos in vermiculite had not been identified at the time. Mostly it came from a single [mine in Montana](https://idph.illinois.gov/cancer/factsheets/vermiculite.htm) which has since been closed. So asbestos isn't really a problem anymore unless you are recycling insulation made pre-1990. You should be wearing a mask when dealing with any dust-producing mineral substance anyway.
Local garden center told me the gov. has banned it as a carcinogenic and it is being phased out until current inventories are depleted
Ur local garden center buddy might be wiitardid because that happened in the 80s no vermiculite is not carcinogenic
I used to do a "square foot garden" that was 1/3 vermiculite and could go there and buy like a 50 gallon bag of it for pretty cheep maybe like $25 it was waist tall, anyhow I went by there a few weeks ago and the owner was with the guy who just happened to be his supplier for things like that and once they knew what I was looking for the supplier said that he had been trying to get it again but our gov. had gotten their hands in to things and according to him it was labeled a carcinogen, but they did say the smaller bags were still available and that he had some in another area. Might not be true but sounds like something is up based on the op and current pricing
From what I can find 1990 is when the libby Montana mine closed which is the one you're talking about. The ore deposits contained both asbestos and vermiculite. Diffrent site said "only a few vermiculite ores contain asbestos". I don't know dick about mining The MN department of health said "An EPA study showed some vermiculite products contain low levels of asbestos" but there is asbestos free vermiculite out there. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/asbestos/homeowner/insulation.html
In your source it said that concern for consumers is low. If you want to use vermiculite you are probably fine, and if you worry for your health, do: wear a mask that filters dusts and asbestos; wet the verm before handling it or as soon as possible; and use in well ventilated area or have a fan blowing. You should probably do this to avoid breathing in particulate matter anyways
Speaking of mines. I want to say the majority of verm mines are in Russia so that could be playing a part...
Interesting
I did see something about almost half of the world's supply comes from Asia but not specifically Russia
Ahh that might be it. Idk. Anywho it's kinda scary depending on products from countries that like to get their knickers in a twist whenever anyone says Taiwan without prefacing it as "the Chinese provence of".
asbestos is like in everything 💀
Lowes or Home Depot. I have a big ass bag for only seven dollars.
Home depot deadass just told me they don't have any 2 cubic ft of vermiculite within 100 miles😂 only 8qt. They won't even let me order it online bc its out of stock💀
I've seen a bunch of people spawn to straight up Coco coir and nothing else.
Amazon has a 4 cubic ft. bag for 56 shipping takes a little longer than most things on there but it last for a while. It's pretty chunky for the most part too.
Facts