Mel's Mix Trouble

I am in the Berks County area. I have been calling all over the place and I cannot find vermiculite anywhere local except the 8 quart bags. What do you do when you simply cannot locate what you need for Mel's Mix? I was so excited to start my SFGs.....now I am so disappointed that I can't find what I need. The boxes are built and waiting to be filled....


Does anyone have any suggestions??

Did you check the insulation departments?

I called the closest garden centers, nurseries and the big box stores (Home Depot & Lowe's).

Hydroponic stores
Large garden nurseries

or click on the Home page above in the green task bar. Scroll down 5 topics and you'll see Vermiculite. To the right of that click on Data Base to find stores in your state.

Thank you for the info! I have my husband calling one of the closer places now....

to the forum

I'm a bit north of you in the Pocono's. I got mine from my local Agway. They will probably not have the coarse in stock but can order it. MAKE SURE IT IS COARSE Your local store is
Mountain View Supply
5104 OLD ROUTE 22
HAMBURG, PA, 19526
610-488-1025

have you called your county farmers co-op? that's where i get mine.

Home Depot told me they didn't have it when I called, but it turns out they all do carry it in my area under the brand name Thermorock. You could try looking for that! It's big, tan bags with white lettering.

Korin, according to their website, the ACE Hardware store is Fleetwood, Weaver's hardware, carries coarse vermiculite, or they can order it for you. 8 Qts, for $6. Give them a call.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.....I think we may have found it! YAY!

Good news! Before I purchase I make sure an employee opens a corner of the bag. Bags that simply say horticulture grade is suppose to be large/coarse, but may still have medium or small grade inside. I have been fooled once already!

Llama Momma and anyone else who may read this,

Just want to let you know that I have had the P.V.P. vermiculite bags changed to a different color scheme to help prevent this confusion.

The old bags said horticultural with check boxes for medium and coarse. I had a new bag made for coarse vermiculite that is a paper bag with the font on the bag in yellow and clearly stated as coarse vermiculite. It will only be used for coarse and the green labeled horticultural bag will only have medium.

All of our coarse products sold this year are in the new bags.

The SFG community played part in this decision because of the confusion I recognized reading through several posts back when I found this forum.

Hope this helps a little for anyone considering buying our products.

Have a great day,
Mike

That is fantastic information. Thank you. In the past when I worked retail I detested when customers would open bags, only to find myself now doing the very same thing.... This new color coded packaging will be wonderful.

@PVPind wrote:
All of our coarse products sold this year are in the new bags.

So do you have any customers in New Jersey or Eastern PA?

Tom

@tomperrin wrote:

@PVPind wrote:
All of our coarse products sold this year are in the new bags.

So do you have any customers in New Jersey or Eastern PA?

Tom

There are two main distributors in the area I am aware of. They may or may not have our products supplied to their network of garden centers. I have no idea to be honest. They both purchase from several different manufacturers. We are one of them. It is best to contact them directly for a retail outlet.

W.H Milikowski is a distributor- http://www.whmilikowski.com/

Wetsel- http://www.wetsel.com/

Hope this helps.

Mike, Fantastic News!!! Thanks