FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

For people having a difficult time finding
silica sand in their area, I highly recommend just
purchasing the FTS Growing Medium.

This is soil mix that is personally selected, measured, and mixed by a VFT expert, Matt.
High quality, selected ingredients (sphagnum peat moss, perlite, silica sand).
The silica sand in this soil mix is definitely safe for your VFTs.

It'll save you time, money, and headaches.

I've been searching for months in the NJ/NY area.
Calling and scouring pool stores, pet stores, hardware stores,
construction stores,landscaping companies, nurseries, etc.
To no avail.

In retrospect, I should've just bought the FTS Growing Medium.
I did just that the first time I ever bought plants from FTS.
But the time I needed more, FTS was sold out of it.

I already bought Premier Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss from Lowe's. And I wanted to get something out of
all this time (researching, calling, etc.) and money (gas, etc.) wasted.

All these months, I haven't found silica sand in a larger
particle/grain size. All I've found were play sand and pool filter sand
but the particle/grain sizes were too small (.50mm range and smaller). Sigh.

Finally found a place in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ called AGSCO Corp.
(selling larger particle/grain sizes), but they're only willing to sell me
some silica sand with a $100 mininum purchase. Aaarrgghh!

AGSCO Corp. does have a really nice, informative website with photos of silica sand
and technical documents about silica sand & particle/grain sizes.

http://agsco.thomasnet.com/item/all-cat ... s/pn-1071?

I had lost hope and given up, then remembered some pool filter sand I saw
on a website during my months of researching/searching for silica sand.

Mystic White II Pool Filter Sand http://www.u-s-silica.com/mystic.htm

This caught my attention from the description...

This special grade of sand is angular in shape and white in color, meeting
the most exacting specifications of major manufacturers of sand filters.

# Safe to use; won't clog, calcify, stain, corrode and is odorless
# Ecologically safe; chemically inert and easily disposable around shrubs,
plants, etc.

I contacted and spoke to Mr. Jim Sinkowski about Mystic White II (.80mm).
He is friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable (knows grain/particle sizes,
types of sand that is alkaline and other minerals that might dissolve in
soil mix, etc.).

I don't know other parts of the USA, but Mr. Sinkowski said in the NJ/NY area
the (.80mm) is not available in any pool stores in NJ. Only 2 pool stores in
NY has that size, in the Bronx and Long Island. The Bronx is the closest
to me, took a 1 hour drive (2 hours round trip) to buy it, around $15 for a 50lb bag.
Not including toll charges and gas to get there and back.

Mystic White II looks nice, it's white and angular in shape, when mixed with sphagnum peat moss.
Its grain/particle size is larger than the other pool filter sand I have.
And as large & larger as the Coarse Horticultural Sand I ordered online (it was quite expensive).

I've tested Mystic White II on some VFTs I have, and all are still doing fine
after 2 months. Hopefully this grain/particle size and angular shape helps and
improves the aeration in my soil mix (50:50 sphagnum peat moss / Mystic White II).

BTW, if anyone knows of a place in the NJ/NY area selling silica sand with a particle/grain size
of (.80mm and larger) & US Mesh/Grit size of 25 and lower, please let me know. I'd greatly appreciate it.

I'm interested on testing that on new VFTs and repotting for next year.

I've had enough researching and searching around NJ/NY. I'm staying with Mystic White II. It seems to be fine
with the sphagnum peat moss and not harmful to the VFTs.

I'll upload a photo for grain/particle size comparisons, among the silica sand I have.....
Lighthouse Pool Filter Sand, Horticultural Sand, Mystic White II.