FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

jht-union wrote:I've been searching in nurseries,stores...etc, but haven't found silica

I had trouble finding it as well. I couldn't find it at any nurseries or chain stores like Home Depot or Lowes. I finally ended up finding it at a few construction yards here in the Rogue Valley. One is called Cascade Block and the other is call All Rental. They carry stuff like wood, pavers, big rocks, etc. If you have a place near you that carries sandblasting sand, that's what you want.

Thank you Matt, i will search for them, i think i know a place where they work with pumice and other rocks!!!!, that's a good idea

thank you Matt!

@jht-union Did you find silica sand yet for your soil mix?

@Matt Thank you for mentioning about construction places. I was searching all over NJ/NY for pool filter sand and horticultural sand. I forgot to look for sandblasting sand. Uuggh! I'll definitely check for that. Thanks!

RE: Pool filter sand

Unsuccessful in finding a larger, coarser type of pool filter sand than what I have. I'm going to suspend looking, currently, for different pool filter sand at pool stores.

RE: Horticultural Sand

Inquired about the horticultural sand and this is their response....
"We use the sand in almost every bonsai we pot and have never had any issues. The sand test at approx. 7.0 pH. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium register extremely low or non-existant.
We are currently looking into testing for Limestone or salts contents. This product is mined in Florida so there is always a possibility traces could be found. Again, we use this product regularly without incident for tropicals to sucullents."

I might just try this if I can't find any coarse sandblasting sand.

RE: Sandblasting sand

Thanks Matt! I'm going to try calling several construction yards/companies in my area about this.
Is this the type that should be used?
http://www.agrisupply.com/coarse-sandbl ... n/1700018/

get the hort sand or propag/ sand, just wash it very well until the water in the bucket runs clear no matter how much you stir the sand up by hand.

carnivorous wrote:RE: Sandblasting sand

Thanks Matt! I'm going to try calling several construction yards/companies in my area about this.
Is this the type that should be used?
http://www.agrisupply.com/coarse-sandbl ... n/1700018/

Yep, that stuff will work well. It's hard to see it in the photo, but if you look closely, you can see the word "silica" written on the bag:

That's what you want to look for.

Hello carnivorous!

I haven't found silica sand yet, i'm going to nearby nurseries, stores but no results so far, there's one store that has silica sand but is 30 mins away from my home.=(

Thank you!

@jht-union Hi! I'm in the same predicament, I'm still unable to find some
coarse sandblasting sand.
I'm still calling some more construction yards/companies.
Good luck on your search for silica sand.

In this link...there are retail stores in North Carolina.
http://www.agrisupply.com/product.asp?p ... 1273553221
None of these are close to your area?
The closest to me is the Virginia store.
The retail price for a 100lb bag is listed as ($6.99). I was actually contemplating
on driving there. MapQuest / Google Maps estimate a 6-7 hour drive travel
time for me (one way). LOL

I ordered online some coarse horticultural sand.
The pic below is the size differential between the pool filter sand
and the coarse horticultural sand.

I'm following the advice of Veronis and looking for larger/coarser sand.
I'd like to see the size difference between coarse horticultural sand
and coarse sandblasting sand. For the time being, I'm using/testing
this coarse horticultural sand, with Premier sphagnum peat moss,
on a couple of my VFTs.

But in hindsight, in my situation, and the availability in my area,
I think I would've saved time and money just buying FTS Growing Medium.
The money saved for me could've been spent on more VFT cultivars.
On the other hand, I did get to learn/practice preparing soil mix, more practice repotting, etc.

i'd use a combination of the two, the silica im using is fairly fine like the sand in the left pic of yours.
i had to make a large mix for my trough + a little extra as spare.
i think it was like 10 scoops peat, and i added 8 scoops of the finer silica then threw in 2 scoops of the coarser propagation sand just for a good mix of grains.

either way its all sand (as long as you washed it before use!) and still a 50/50 mix of peat and sands, so i'd just make do with what you already have.

depending on how much you need/want, id go with say 6:3:3 ( 6 peat, 3 fine silica, 3 coarse)


heres the stuff i used, FWIW.

silica



propagation sand

the photo's are tight close-ups, so grain size may be a little confusing.

here you go, i just went outside and took this photo, maybe it helps.

im using mostly silica (left) and only a little bit of the prop' sand in the centre.
i didnt use any of the right hand side p/sand. (didnt like it much)

Thanks a lot to carnivorous and oblivion!!!!!!!!!!!!

This helps a lot!, thanks for commenting on my post!!, i'm still looking.Carnivorous the site is really helpful, i might order silica from them. or i just might go to garner one day


Thanks!

@jht-union That's great! Best of luck on your soil mix quest.

@Oblivion Hmmm, interesting. I never thought about mixing all the ingredients
that I currently have (pool filter sand, coarse horticultural sand, & sphagnum peat moss). Excellent idea!

I'm definitely going to follow your recommendation. I'll be using that combination soil mix on a couple of VFTs I'm repotting and on any new VFTs I'll be buying this summer (I'm especially waiting eagerly on what VFT cultivars FTS will be offering). Thank you.

Thank you also for the photos. That's really helpful for sand size comparisons.

no probs at all guys, just trying to give some help back to the place thats helped me the most.

im glad the comparison photo was of some help.

you could probably use something like an old small cup as your measurer, and mix a bit of each sand together on a small scale until you find a ratio of fine/coarse that your happy with.

What about using super natural sand from an aquatic store as a top dressing over the soil?