Where Can I Buy Perlite In The San Jose Area??

[rnewste]

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

[habitat_gardener]

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.

[dice]

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.)

[Sherry_AK]

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!

[rnewste]

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

[dice]

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.)

[dice]

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.

[rnewste]

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

[dice]

Are there any other ratios that you would suggest?

Half and half Miracle-Gro and Perlite. (More of a hydroponic
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.