Tom, as you know , have been chasing this problem. The best thing I've come up with is from a local nursery. He will be ordering in a week and it takes a week for his order to arrive. He said the price has been escalating and expects 3 ft3 to be around $20 bucks. Found it on internet at 9.95 but 27 shipping, ouch! Tried your idea of Sherwin Williams, but no one is doing popcorn ceilings so they have discontinued it.

If anyone has an answer, let us hear it.

bernie

Thanks Bernie, can you still get that 55CF for $87? If so and it's COARSE we'd better jump on it...I'm in and will split the cost with you.

Tom

Hi Tom,

Will check back with them on Monday. At my stage of gardening, I think a 4th of 55 cu ft would hold me for quite a while :>). I realize it does not deteriorate so could store it in hangar loft. We will have to work out some way of containing it. It is worse than shipping peanuts. Does anyone else wish to take a 1/4 of it?

bernie

I looked this fall in Brandon/Valrico, and had no luck anywhere. The folks in the garden center at both Lowes and HD gave me the "baroo?" look when I asked for it. I checked Kerby's today, and they've stopped carrying it. I suppose you folk are further south than I am, so don't think I could participate in the big buy mentioned.

I'll show my naievity and suggest that I have two really big whopping boxes of styrofoam peanuts. If ground up, would those peanuts substitute perlite?

Last year I could not find any perlite only the small bags
at HD in the villages. Very expensive so I dod not get any.
Felix

Steve, I live in St. Pete but work in N. Tampa. If we do this my plan is to store it in 55 gallon barrels. I make trips to Okeechobee occasionally and would make arrangements to hook up with Bernie sometime over the next 4-6 weeks.

Bernie, I'm still in, even for half...as stated above I'd just store it for future use in 55 gallon food-grade plastic barrels.

Tom

Tom, I'm looking at expanding my Square Foot Garden, and will go in for 1/4 (half of your half) as I need 5 cu ft per 4'x 8'x 6" deep garden. (16cf total volume)

That would be around $25 for ~12cf?

HOLY COW that's 90 gallons. :O
At least I'd be using up at least half right off the bat.

Uh, how much would you charge for two of those barrels?

just an addendum: I reckon I can line a couple of new trash cans with heavy-duty liners to store what I don't use off the bat.

Steve, Bernie and I are still researching the options.... Hopefully, I'll post an update tomorrow.

Tom

Someone in another thread said that ace hardware would order them if you asked them too.Guess that option is out too?
kirk

i see where Worms Way in tampa sells it in 4 cubic ft bags for 20 bucks.This must be the wrong size or you would have found this already i suppose,but thought id post just in case,

kirk

Ace no longer has the big bags listed on their site.

Kirk - Thanks! I called Worms Way and they do have the 4CF bags for $19.50 each....

Steve - I'm still following up leads for a cheaper source but we may have to bite the bullet and pay the price....

Bernie - sorry it didn't work out, we'll get together somewhere along the line.

Tom

Thanks Tom!

I may just cut back on the amount I'm using, and try more humus. Does anyone sell the shredded cocoanut husk substitute for peat in bulk anywhere around Tampa?

Okay, thanks to a good friend in Lakeland who LOVES cycads we have a cheaper source, Prosource One sells the 4CF bags for $9.75. That's the good news, the bad news is you have to make a trip to Plant City.... Since I work in N. Tampa I'll be making the trip Friday afternoon after work, if anyone in Tampa or St. Pete wants me to get them a bag or two drop me a line.

Tom

awesome!

Since I'm in Brandon, perhaps I could pick them up and folks could pick them up at my house (I'm in Providence Lakes near the mall.)

One thing: I'm broke until the 27th. :P

If we want to wait until then, we can have a "perlite party" at my house on a Saturday. I work from home, so it doesn't matter when someone comes by.

Thats good to know,im not to far from plant city.Iwont be needing any for awhile yet but maybe i better get it while they have it.Did you get a address or phone number?

Tom i started a thread over in the container forum about als mix and tomatoes to kind of see who and how tomatoes are doing in this mix for others.I see how it has worked for you.

kirk

Kirk - Al's mix has been kick-*** for me, I'll never change to anything else....Here's the phone number for Prosource One in PC.

Steve - A get-together sounds good. I still don't mind making the trip after work though and stopping by your place...you have a truck?

Tom

Hi Tom, no truck, but I do have a massive Grand Marquis that has a truck large enough to live in. ;) Let's see who wants to buy some, then set a date. I'll clear space in the garage to store the bales for folks to pick up.

What is this "Al's mix?"

I have a Ford Ranger, could probably handle as many as 12-15 bags.

This is Al's mix....

Vermiculite is another product crisis. Home Depot nationwide has also discontinued carrying the 4 cu ft bags it was selling for $18 (in fact, they don't sell vermiculite at all now).

I prefer vermiculite to perlite (unless I was going hydroponic) and have looked high and low and all over the net and it is hard to come by unless you want to pay big shipping.

However, Worms Way in Tampa (east side just off I-4) has the 4 cu ft bags but for $25.50 (course grade). I don't mind the price so much but it takes me 30 min to dive over there and more if traffic. That's not so bad compared to the rest of you because that is the only Worms Way store in SE USA. I am glad to support them and they are open 7 days a week.