Pete's Hardware in Castro Valley

happycc 7/31/2010, 12:49 am

Sells peat moss compressed Bale
3.8 cubic feet for $13.99

and can special order the vermiculite, they only have the fine one there right now-

I am waiting to hear back from a few other places. I am looking to buy all the stuff in one place. I wonder if the SFG website could ever sell vermiculite.

I called one place and they couldn't tell me what kind of vermiculite they have (Evergreen Nursery) and another place (a hydroponics shop in Hayward) told me that I will never find it because it causes cancer.

Nonetheless I might have to make a trip to Danville to Navlets. Does Navlets sell the peat moss too?

LaFee 7/31/2010, 2:25 am

That's absolutely frightening that a hydroponics shop would tell you that -- vermiculite is a fairly important component in hydroponics! It's also ancient history and no longer true.

Way back in the last century (!!!) they found traces of asbestos in the products being produced by one of the mines in the US. It was found, and the mine was closed in the 1980s.

All of the other mines now test for asbestos, and all of the vermiculite sold today is certified to be asbestos-free.

Yike.

Chopper 7/31/2010, 2:37 am

In California I have found OSH as a pretty reliable supplier of the coarse vermiculite.

happycc 7/31/2010, 1:26 pm

at the hydroponics shop regarding what he said and told him to do more research. He was pretty direct and point blank and quite sure of himself that vermiculite caused cancer. Any suggestions of what I could say next time I come across something like this. I am tempted to call that place back again and tell them they are WRONG. It would be great to change their minds and see if they can special order the vermiculite.

Carolyn

Chopper 7/31/2010, 1:52 pm

There is a lot of info about it on the web, but bottom line is that aspestos CAN cause cancer if breathed in and at one point years ago there was a mine that had a mix of aspestos and vermiculite. That is no longer true. And most companies specify 'aspestos free' for that reason.

You could google "Does vermiculite cause cancer" and then print out some articles so that when they will not listen to you, to save face, they can read it in private and then pretend they never said such a thing.

PNG_Grandma 7/31/2010, 3:05 pm

We found 2 cu ft bags of Vermiculite at both Home Depot ($19.95) and OSH ($17.95) here in Modesto and bought several bags to have some on hand as we need it. One of our local nurseries said they wouldn't get it in again until their late fall orders and it would be $33 for the same 2 cu ft bags. Guess I won't buy from them!

Shoda 7/31/2010, 4:17 pm

I purchased my compressed Peat at Lowes. I don't remember the price but you might give them a call. I priced around and they were by far the cheapest.

Navlett's in Danville didn't have a good price on it.

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Pete's Hardware in Castro Valley

Pete's Hardware in Castro Valley

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Yes I was tempted to get into a debate with this person

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Vermiculite in Modesto

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