Posted on 04/06/2024 12:46:46 PM PDT by orsonwb
Vermiculite. Learn what it is, the benefits of using it in gardening, and if it's safe to use. - Watch the Video -
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
Something to consider, if we didn’t have to concern ourselves with the use of San Angelo bars and jackhammers in order to work in our yard’s soil.
I love me some (Mg,Fe2+,Fe3+)3[(Al,Si)4O10](OH)2·4H2O. Phyllosilicate.
Bkmk
Now that I did not know. Nice chemical formula!
Indeed. I can only dig down about one inch here in Austin before I hit limestone. Raised beds for me.
Careful with vermiculite. Some sources have high levels of asbestos. Look up Libby, Montana.
Ping
No Carbons? The Greeniacs say “That stuff is GOOD!”
We had adobe clay on the San Francisco Peninsula. Same stuff adobe brick houses were made from a couple hundred years ago and are still standing. Water runs off, it’s slimy, it is great on foundations and slabs because it swells and shrinks when it gets wet and dries out, nothing will grow in it. You can amend it all you want with organic material, but it never improves.
We moved less than ten miles away to an alluvial plain area where the rich soil is 15 to 20 feet thick and very low clay content. What a difference!
There’s a lady about 20 miles away can gets loads of free horse manure. Does a good job at amending the expansive, lousy clay soil in my area in N. Texas. Spread some on my heat damaged lawn last November. Grass looking better now plus totally organic no expensive chemical fertilizer needed.
Is it also good for indoor potted plants?
Yes. The Libby mine produced 50% of the vermiculite attic insulation used in the U. S.
I grew up in a coal mining town in Montana so there were a few families l
That moved from Libby to where I grew up. A lot of kids got cancer fro the dust on their fathers’s work clothes. The company knew it was there but it was too profitable to just keep it mining vermiculite. The house I grew up in was built in the 20s and it had vermiculate in the attic. I don’t know if it had asbestos in it but asbestos is inert unless you mess around with it so I never went in the attic.
Yes, only licensed professionals should be doing any removal of vermiculite attic insulation.
Maybe the story should be re-titled “How to create a toxic waste site”. A lot of vermiculite contains asbestos.
Thanks for this info.
Those handfuls of places were shut down decades ago, but testing is still done.
Yes, and at about 15% for seed starting.
bttt
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.