Karen... perlite and vermiculite in bulk

Thought you might be interested in this for your cutting propagation:

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and

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I was thinking it might be good to mix these two together in the place of sand as a cutting medium. Not sure if you can get it cheaper near you in bulk like this.

Karen, You can get perlite and vermiculite from "sydage" in industrial Ave. Mudgee. There 'phone number is 63727822. I have no idea of the cost but you could ring them and find out. Hope this helps. c

Simon and others, found this site,http://www.schundler.com/hort.htm. I found this while looking at the differences in the two. To me it appears an excellent site, long story, so if interested look for self, C

By the way there are "GOOD RECIPES" for making your own mixes, C.

Karen, Sorry, sydage when we rang them today no longer keep any perlite or vermiculite, in fact no garden products . I will keep looking to see if I can find some around here. Mitre 10 used to sell small bags but I don't know if they still do. C

Well I actually think my sand is made up of good stuff to get the cuttings growing. It stays moist in the bottles. Also I have lots of pots of it already in my shade house and one pot fills up about 4 bottles. I have about 90 bottles with colloused cuttings in the bottles of sand, so far.
But I suppose I could experiment once I have bought some perlite to see if it gives a better striking rate than the sand.
Thanks Carole for ringing ! And thanks Simon for the suggestion. I certainly want tho see what this perlite is, if it is better than the sand, I could use it for the cuttings sent to me through the post. Why do you think it would be better Simon ? My creek sand is mostly very soft.
What is the Vermiculite, is it worm castings or something else ?