I had an avocado tree in a large pot. It was about 10 years old, but small since it wasn't exactly in ideal growing conditions. It also had died down several times and quot;come back to life,quot; which also kept it small. In December, it died because I went on vacation and didn't leave the heat on. A couple months ago, I decided to use the soil from the pot for something else. It isn't very good soil anymore, but what I was planting, didn't need good soil. The weird thing is, it had tons of little shiny bits of stuff in it. It almost looked like little gold flakes. What are they really and why would I find them in potting soil? they weren't there when I potted the tree.
check with home depot.. they usually carry it in small bags..
THERE IS ANOTHER PRODUCT , WHICH IS VERY SIMULAR CALLED PEARLITE, BUT IS NOT THE EXACT SAME THING , BUT WORKS THE SAME WAY. TRY TO FIND THE PRODUCTS AT A LOCAL GARDEN CENTER OR CALL YOUR FARMERS CO-OPERATIVE .
it is the white crystals in the potting soil. you can buy a bag at walmart etc. to mix in with the potting soil to hold in the moisture a little longer. annetta51
Any home center or nursery should carry it, and this time of year maybe even supermarkets. Typically any potting soil contains vermiculite.
This site was designed as a basic introductory page on some of the technical characteristics of vermiculite. We also have include a listing of many helpful web sites, and hope you will launch from here to find out how vermiculite is used, how it is mined and processed, and how it is incorporated into many products. Essentially vermiculite is a member of the phyllosilicate group of minerals, resembling mica in appearance. It is found in various parts of the world, but currently the major mines are located in South Africa, China, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and the United States. The largest operating mines today are located in the Palabora region of North-Eastern Transvaal in South Africa, in the northwestern corners of China, and along the eastern Appalachian range in the United States (Virginia and South Carolina). The vermiculite ores from these mines are different forms of hydrated phlogopite or biotite mica which has the remarkable ability of being able to expand to many times its original volume when heated---a property known as exfoliation. From a geological perspective, almost all of the commercial vermiculite mines operating today work in deposits which were formed in pre-Cambrian and Archean deposits (1.5-3.0 billion years old). These are quite different from the former Libby, Montana deposit which was Triassic in age (225 million years ol
