FlyTrapCare Forums

I work at a Residences Club down in Key West. They have a volleyball ball court with fine Silica Sand and I was able to get some since it was just placed in there recently after maintenance week. I took some today and it happened to be wet since it rained all day, is this alright to use?

I also went to home depot and looked for peat moss but all they had was Long Fibered Spahgum Moss. Would I still be able to shred the moss some and mix it with the sand?

Any suggestions?

Any info would be appreciated.

Hi MWarp, the LFSM should be good to use as long it hasn't had anything added to it (supplements, minerals, miracle grow etc!) However I would stay away from any kind of sand that is not Silica sand, which if in doubt should be almost translucent (see through.) Any other sand is likely to break down in your growing container leeching minerals into your media poisoning your VFT.

Slark

Thanks for the info, I went out to a local nursery and they had peat moss, then I went to the hardware store and found something that I can hopefully use, it's silica sand. I'll post some pictures and let me know if these are good to use.

Silica sand looks correct but no sure about the word Organic in the peat moss

What does it say on the back ? where does it say its farmed from ?

SnapSnapIOM wrote:Silica sand looks correct but no sure about the word Organic in the peat moss

What does it say on the back ? where does it say its farmed from ?

I received the moss from a well known nursery down here, I specifically asked if it had any minerals/miracle grow etc.. He said its just plain organic peat moss, it's grown by Lambert Peat Moss Inc in Quebec, Canada.

Here's the peat moss site http://fertilomesoils.com/ca_sphagnum_peat.html

That's the kind of sand I use. You MUST wash it and test it with a TDS meter before you use it though. Right out of the bag it's actually "Quikrete Death" not sand. If you wash it and get it down to an acceptable TDS and then mill some of that moss you should have a fine potting media.

SnapSnapIOM wrote:Silica sand looks correct but no sure about the word Organic in the peat moss

What does it say on the back ? where does it say its farmed from ?

I would think organic would be ideal.

that sand is not ok! u need 99.9% silica sand that says on the label (may contain free Silica)

Dubstep13 wrote:u need 99.9% silica sand that says on the label (may contain free Silica)

If you look on the lower right hand corner of the bag (as if it were sitting with everything upright) you can see the "free silica" warning.

You can also check the MSDS on the Quikrete website and see that their Commercial Grade sands are 99.9+% crystalline silica by weight.

ok good! didnt know. do you have to rinse that stuff though!

Dubstep13 wrote:do you have to rinse that stuff though!

I think "rinse" is a vast understatement in this case. If you check posts in the "Potting Media" section I have a more detailed post about Quikrete sands. My bag comes up somewhere around 900+ppm when you first pour water over it.

holy ............ thats so high!

95slvrZ28 wrote:

Dubstep13 wrote:do you have to rinse that stuff though!

I think "rinse" is a vast understatement in this case. If you check posts in the "Potting Media" section I have a more detailed post about Quikrete sands. My bag comes up somewhere around 900+ppm when you first pour water over it.

Wow, i'll have to buy a TDS meters then. I can't seem to find sand that is usable out of the bag. So. I'll have to purchase the meter.

At least TDS meters are pretty cheap. I would recommend getting one that has ATC (Automatic Temperature Compensation) for a few extra dollars though. It will give you more accurate results (unless you can somehow always test your medium at 25C)

Always good to keep a TDS meter lying around. it really reduces the risk of getting your pick sick or possibly killing it from bad water or too many ppm in media.