sand or perlite/vermiculite mix

so im curious if sand or a perlite vermiculite mix inside of a smart pots would be a sufficient grow medium for a plant i would like to grow 4ft tall

i use straight perlite in 6inch pots. I try to keep my plants under 3 ft but 4 happens sometimes. Theres no weight to it though so the plants need to be supported if they get top heavy.

I know it's been around a long time and makes good insulation and is fairly inert but vermiculite has gained a bad rep for asbestos content. A lot of people up here have asbestosis and lung cancer from just living where it is mined.

mtgeezer said:

I know it's been around a long time and makes good insulation and is fairly inert but vermiculite has gained a bad rep for asbestos content. A lot of people up here have asbestosis and lung cancer from just living where it is mined.

Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiculite

Although not all vermiculite contains asbestos, some products were made with vermiculite that contained asbestos until the early 1990s. Vermiculite mines throughout the world are now regularly tested for it and are supposed to sell products that contain no asbestos. The former vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, did have tremolite asbestos as well as winchite and richterite (both fibrous amphiboles) — in fact, it was formed underground through essentially the same geologic processes as the contaminants. A vermiculite mine in Virginia has also been found to be contaminated by asbestos.[SUP][broken citation][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP]
Pure vermiculite does not contain asbestos and is non-toxic. Impure vermiculite may contain, apart from asbestos, also minor diopside or remnants of the precursor minerals biotite or phlogopite.
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