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[pacoast]

I'm having trouble finding perlite for growing tomatoes at a reasonable price. Perlite is the white stuff that you see in potting soil (expanded mica). It aerates the soil & keeps it well drained. A few years ago, I co-opted a broom closet to grow winter tomatoes indoors. I find that the supermarket ones, even the hothouse on-the-vine are tasteless in the winter.

Better to use canned tomatoes or grow them yourself. Anyway, I got a late start this year & am having problems finding perlite at a reasonable price. I've tried calling nurseries, masonry suppliers, cement plants & swimming pool vendors. For the most part I just got a lot of blank stares, as in we've never heard of the stuff. I used to get it from a masonry supplier but they don't handle it anymore & the only two nurseries that seem to carry it want five times the price I usually pay. There are some good prices online, but they double & triple after you include shipping. Any ideas for local sources?

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[BurntEdges]

Not sure what you are paying or what quantity you need, but:

Here's an Amazon link with a rather mild flat shipping rate of $5.95 (CONUS) - not too bad - comes to about $18  for 18qts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001V6WXEI/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2/190-0778578-8967367?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=1R6CRKF7HYPQJYX2E0P2&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_i=B000X1EP4S

or , for 48 qts delivered to your door $36.35 :

http://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Company-Perlite-Soil-Pack/dp/B002RBD2JG/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1257540414&sr=1-23

[UnConundrum]

Couldn't you use vermiculite instead?  I bought some at a block and brick supply house for like $15 for 4 cubic foot.

[pacoast]

Thanks for the ideas. Vermiculite is a different animal though. It is clay based and holds a lot of water. That's great for many plants, but tomatoes do a lot better in well drained soil. Aeration is a lot more important for them, so using vermiculite is largely counter productive for me.

I need at least 240 quarts of perlite. That's about 8 cubic feet. In the past I have bought 4 cubic foot (120 quart) bags for about $12 - $15. There's someone selling it for $12 on ebay, but ground shipping turns that into $52/bag which is even more than $48/bag that the local nursery ransoms it for. And Peaceful Valley in California sells it for $15/bag, but the price almost triples when you add ground shipping.

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[widespreadpizza]

give worms way a try?  they are out of mass,  so it wouldnt be that far to ship?

[pacoast]

I'm not familiar with Worms. Had a look with Google & found wormsway.com in MA. $19.50 + $56.62 shipping = $76.12/bag.

Okay for locals, but the shipping kills it for mail order. I'm closest to Seattle or Vancouver if anyone knows any vendors in this part of the country.

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[Trogdor33]

I bought vermiculite this summer when I started my square foot garden. I ended up convincing a local florist to sell me some.

[scott r]

If i were you I would just get a really high end premix like Pro Mix.    It is the perfect balance of ingredients, and already has the right amount of perlite and vermiculite in there.    You might have to call around to a number of stores to find it, but I can vouch for it being great for indoor tomatoes and basil.     If you really want to make some serious tomatoes mix some worm castings into the promix for a great organic potting mix.  You will still need to supplement the worm castings with some other fertilizer, but it will do the bulk of the work for you.   Pro mix, worm castings, and a watchful eye on the ph of your runoff water and you can't go wrong.     

[pacoast]

I agree that the worm casings are great. I harvested almost 200 liters from my vermicomposter. I'm not interested in Promix though. It's a good quality potting soil for many plants, but vermiculite is undesirable for tomatoes. Not to mention that it's more expensive than what I'm already doing.

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[scott r]

I have never heard anything negative about vermiculite, especially the horicultural grade stuff used in high end potting soils like pro mix.   Are you talking about the asbestos concerns?  That is supposed to now be a thing of the past because of improved mining methods and the government crackdown.   Im not trying to argue for or against, but I am curious as to why it would be bad for tomatoes, especially used in the 2% range that would be used to make a potting soil mix lighter?

[pacoast]

You can grow tomatoes in vermiculite or clay-based soils for that matter. But they don't like it. Tomatoes thrive best in well-drained soils & vermiculite has the opposite effect of retaining a lot of water. When I first started growing tomatoes indoors I went & talked to the horticulture guys at the local university & they told me that soil aeration is really important for tomatoes. And increasing water retention is counterproductive.

Lots of people claim that vermiculite is good, so I was a bit uncertain & grew my first crop with some tomatoes planted in a 20% perlite/20% vermiculite mix & others in 40%perlite/0% vermiculite.  And it was clear that the tomatoes with no vermiculite did noticeably better. It was most dramatic for the San Marzanos which really like hot & dry & did substantially better (not just yields, but also better flavour) with no vermiculite. It was a smaller difference for the Marmandes that I grew. It's not a life & death issue, tomatoes obviously grow in vermiculite mixes too. But I'd rather stick with the formulation that works better.

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