8 Quart Bag of Coarse Vermiculite
This sale is for an 8 quart bag of coarse vermiculite. This is a much higher quality and size of vermiculite then you can find at any retail store. Perfect as a soil additive or as an ingredient in mushroom substrate casing as well as PF tek type mushroom growing.
Mushrooms need three elements to thrive: water, a growing medium and aeration. Professional grade vermiculite is an essential element that helps promote the healthy propagation of many different types of mushroom cultivation. It is a popular add-on to many grow kits that helps to create bigger, healthier mushrooms.
What Is Vermiculite?
Vermiculite is a natural mineral whose formal name is "hydrated laminar magnesium-aluminum-ironsilicate." Horticultural vermiculite is processed differently than vermiculite used for other purposes. Horticultural vermiculite is made with high temperatures that make it expand into the typical pellets used for gardening purposes. In this form, dry vermiculite will not deteriorate or get moldy. It is also odorless, sterile and non-toxic. When added to a garden, growing mediums or grow bags, it increases nutrient and water retention.
How to Use Vermiculite With Mushrooms
These are the most common ways that dry vermiculite is used in horticultural applications:
- Add it to soil for conditioning, lightening or aeration
- Use it as a growing medium to enable plants to better absorb ammonium, potassium, calcium and magnesium
- When mixed with 50% soil, peat or compost, it eliminates packed soil, increases aeration and reduces watering frequency
Vermiculite is especially good for non-soil applications when growing mushrooms. One of the most popular applications for adding vermiculite is when starting mushroom spores. The extra aeration is important for hydration and the initiation of growth.
Other ways that vermiculite is important in the mushroom-growing process is as a substrate combined with brown rice flour. In this PF-Tek method, the substrate incorporates dry vermiculite as part of the growing medium.
Vermiculite is also an excellent casing layer as it helps mushrooms spores to produce fruit. Casing layers are beneficial for several reasons. When combined in a substrate with brown rice flour, vermiculite can provide a contamination barrier that will also protect the spores from degradation while growing.
Treat your mushroom grow to some vermiculite today!
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