Vermiculite grain size and compost types

Hi from Slovenia ( coastal region between Croatia and Italy),
Im starting SFG for fun this spring and have two questions:
1) What is the grain size range in millimeters of the coarse vermiculite in US or EU ? I managed to get the 4-8mm range, hope this size is fine..but if no, in my next SFG i can order bigger grain sizes..

2)Regarding compost i succeeded to get:
1bag Composted manure ( mixed from cow, horse and goat in dry form without smell )
1bag Vegetable compost ( mainly residues from grapes with microorganisms)
1bag of GroChar All Purpose Compost

2.a) Now Im trying to get some vermicompost, but from a rough investigation i got the information that it is packed in a slightly wet condition ? Is that good and normal for vermicompost ? Or it should be dried ? it doesnt have smell anyway...
2.b) Since this is pretty much it, i don't have any more sources to get the compost from, maybe going to ask some local farmers for compost. If not lucky, i was considering to mix 20% of potting soil fertilized with guano ( Compo Bio from Compo Sana) to the composts...


What are your opinions about my compost part? I must dig for information on bags because in my country commercially they are all marked as fertilizers.. so i have a roug guide of NPK 1-1-1 plus the smell and texture of the matter.

thx for answers

The vermiculite I would say 2-3 mm ish, I have fine vermiculite because that's all we have in my area so mine is smaller. For your compost I wouldn't add the topsoil, maybe you could find a cotton burr compost, that stuff is pretty good compost. And I think the vermicompost would be fine if it's damp. I am sure someone else will be along with more advice but I would say you are doing a great job!

GeorgeB wrote:Hi from Slovenia ( coastal region between Croatia and Italy),
Im starting SFG for fun this spring and have two questions:
1) What is the grain size range in millimeters of the coarse vermiculite in US or EU ? I managed to get the 4-8mm range, hope this size is fine..but if no, in my next SFG i can order bigger grain sizes..

2)Regarding compost i succeeded to get:
1bag Composted manure ( mixed from cow, horse and goat in dry form without smell )
1bag Vegetable compost ( mainly residues from grapes with microorganisms)
1bag of GroChar All Purpose Compost

2.a) Now Im trying to get some vermicompost, but from a rough investigation i got the information that it is packed in a slightly wet condition ? Is that good and normal for vermicompost ? Or it should be dried ? it doesnt have smell anyway...
2.b) Since this is pretty much it, i don't have any more sources to get the compost from, maybe going to ask some local farmers for compost. If not lucky, i was considering to mix 20% of potting soil fertilized with guano ( Compo Bio from Compo Sana) to the composts...


What are your opinions about my compost part? I must dig for information on bags because in my country commercially they are all marked as fertilizers.. so i have a roug guide of NPK 1-1-1 plus the smell and texture of the matter.

thx for answers

Hello George sorry I was not around to welcome you to the site . I hope you find it useful and worthwhile .
On reading your first post I'm not sure if you have the book mentioned in my strap lines .. it is worth the money for it lays out for you a simple system of getting you compost materials and explains that if you do it as near to the book as you can you will have no need to worry about the NPK ratios for that will automatically be taken care of.

We don't use mother earth soil in out beds but use a growth medium of peat , vermiculite and a blend of five different types ( no two of the same material ) of finished compost at teh ratio of 1/3 of peat , 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 the blended mixed composts ..this is all by volume not weight or bags of differing sizes .


I live in an agricutltural area of the Uk and have ready access to all animal dung and their beddings ( animal muck ) . So I have based my own compost making for my MM with as many different species of animal muck ( pig ,sheep, goat, horse ,rabbit, turkey, goose, chicken etc etc ) as I can get and then have added all the vegetable and fruit waste stuff I can lay my hands on and then added wet straw ,shredded paper , and torn up into 100 mm bits of damp carboard , dog hair , human hair and general kitchen waste .

I've not bothered with the NPK testing or calculations but know it will be slightly high in all elements . Look in the gallery big stuff to see the results .

The vermiculite size mm 7 to 10 ( ish ) mm is supposed to be the most effective in making for water retention and keeping the MM nice and light to work with thoug the other sizes will work if that is all you can get.

The vermicompost. you won't need much as it is like rocket fuel to growing plants don't make your blended compost with 20 % neat vermicompost unless you have very deep pockets and long arms .