Vermiculite for Illinois/ Missouri gardeners.

I live in Springfield, Illinois. I recently moved here, and I'm setting up my SFG beds anew. I had priced vermiculite on ebay, and other sources, Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal Mart, etc. They only carry the small bags, and that proved to be too expensive. I later contacted George Keller and sons co. in Quincy, Illinois, where I buy my sunflower seed for my bird feeders. I found that they will sell vermiculite to anyone, for $19.61 per 4 cu.ft. bag. While I was there I also purchased 2 3 cu. ft. bags of compressed peat moss for $21.08 per bale. I spent $107.00 for enough vermiculite and peat moss to fill 6 4' X 4' beds with enough left over for a 4' X 8' strawberry bed. That included sales tax. I had to go to Quincy to pick it up, (100 miles one way), but I needed to go anyway, to get a year's supply of sunflower seed. Bottom line is this, get your vermiculite in bulk 4 cu ft. bags, and it isn't that expensive. If you get the manufacturer's phone number from a bag of product, they can tell you where the nearest distributor is located, and it will be worth the savings to go pick it up.

$20 for a 4-cf bag?  NICE.  Here in Atlanta, it's $29!

Not sure what grade of vermiculite you got but that is a good deal. I finally found some this year at home depot, medium grade in a 2 cu.ft. bag for $20.97. But I've got you beat on the peat lol 3 cu.ft. compressed bag for $9.99. Congrats on the find and good luck with your garden.

They have fine coarse, and extra coarse. I bought the coarse. The peat moss, was actually 5.5 cu ft. None of the Lowe's or Menards, home depot or even the greenhouse companies, and landscapers had the big bags of vermiculite. I bought some online, and wound up paying way too much, by the time taxes, and shipping were added on.

TxGramma wrote:Not sure what grade of vermiculite you got but that is a good deal. I finally found some this year at home depot, medium grade in a 2 cu.ft. bag for $20.97. But I've got you beat on the peat lol 3 cu.ft. compressed bag for $9.99. Congrats on the find and good luck with your garden.

   I see you posted this in 2014. Here it is 2016 and I bought vermiculite today at Home Depot for $20.97 also.  Did they forget to hit the "Cha CHING" button and raise the price.
       I love Home Depot because I like to cheat and park in the "Pro customer" parking spot.
 Believe me, I earned it. I'm there EVERYDAY... spending, spending, spending.