FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

(Wasn't sure where to put this thread so I hope I put it in the one!)

Has anyone done this by accident?

I was potting several baby venus flytraps yesterday and needed some perlite. I bought a bag of perlite off ebay a few months ago and half of it was delivered crushed, and now i have 25% of the perlite left of mostly crushed/ dust perlite.. but has a few decent size perlite chunks in the bag.. so I was sifting through the bag constantly, getting all the perlite balls and I noticed dust coming out of the bag and into the air, but didn't really think of it as a big deal..

..well last night I began to feel weird in my throat, and deep breaths made my throat feel funny. It felt like there was stuff in there that wasn't suppose to be.. and it only got worse as the night went on. I can guarantee it was from the perlite. I'm still feeling it today but not as bad as last night. Has anyone had a problem like this?

I looked it up on google and apparently Perlite is very harmful and could cause cancer and asthma.. and other things..

My boyfriend is going to a pool place today to get some filtered pool sand so I don't have to mess with perlite anymore, but I'm just hoping the VFT's I put in 50% moss 50% sand will grow just as well as with perlite. If any case I'll just be more careful next time I use perlite. Wear a mask or something.

Just consult an pneumologist.

happiness wrote:I'm just hoping the VFT's I put in 50% moss 50% sand will grow just as well as with perlite.

They will grow quite well in that mix. Sand is just more expensive and harder to find that perlite, so that's why most growers use it.

I used to inhale perlite dust all the time and did notice the side effects. Now I always wear a mask or wet the perlite or both.