FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

where do you think they get their stuff from!!! silica id EASY to find. pool filter sand. or just use play its fine, half my plants are in it(50 peat/50sand)

marianne wrote:silica id EASY to find.

That's not true. Many people have trouble finding it.

marianne wrote:or just use play its fine

That's not entirely true either. If the play sand is silica sand, then it's OK to use but not all play sand is silica sand. If you don't know what type of rock the sand is composed of, you could be sentencing your plant to death by using bad sand.

it is ALWAYS clean. quirkete, and the bag in green letters is good. i guess some people just dont know how to use google.

Aqua quartz (i use it)
and hth pool filtersand
also aquachem

I think my peat holds a stack of tap water. I forgot to wash it, and im getting some white scale towards the lower ends of my 3 new vft

Matt wrote:

marianne wrote:silica id EASY to find.

That's not true. Many people have trouble finding it.

marianne wrote:or just use play its fine

That's not entirely true either. If the play sand is silica sand, then it's OK to use but not all play sand is silica sand. If you don't know what type of rock the sand is composed of, you could be sentencing your plant to death by using bad sand.

Matt is correct. Some places, silica sand is extremely difficult to find.

I live in the New Jersey / New York area.
I've searched pool stores, pet stores, hardware stores, construction stores,
landscaping companies, nurseries, etc.

Some places have pool filter sand or play sand, but the particle/grain size is too
small (.50mm range and smaller).

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.

I've been searching for months to get silica sand with a large grain/particle size.
All the time and money (gas, etc.) wasted searching for silica sand.

I could've just saved my time and money just purchasing FTS Growing Medium.
The rest of the money saved could've just went purchasing more VFTs from FTS.

Quikrete has the Commercial Grade Sand - Coarse but it's not available in the NJ/NY area.
And the largest grain/particle sand size for it is only (.70mm).
Quikrete also has Pool Filter Sand, the largest size is (.85mm).
A customer rep told me that's not available in the NJ/NY area either.

I finally had to settle for some Mystic White II pool filter sand with a
particle/grain size of (.80mm).

http://www.u-s-silica.com/mystic.htm

To get that, I had to contact the U.S. Silica Company. Mr. Sinkowski (friendly, helpful, & knowledgeable)
told me not one pool store in New Jersey had the (.80mm) size. The closest to my area that has that in stock are
2 pool stores in the Bronx, NY and Long Island, NY. The Bronx is the closest to
me, I had to make the 1 hour drive to go there (2 hours round trip).

marianne, if you know 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 in testing that for new VFTs and repotting for next year.

all sand will drain, no matter how coarse or thin it is...

marianne wrote:all sand will drain, no matter how coarse or thin it is...

I've read numerous posts by VFT experts like Steve, Veronis, etc.
And were advised by them to use coarse silica sand, because it
provides better consistency and aeration.

carnivorous wrote:

marianne wrote:all sand will drain, no matter how coarse or thin it is...

I've read numerous posts by VFT experts like Steve, Veronis, etc.
And were advised by them to use coarse silica sand, because it
provides better consistency and aeration.

That's correct carnivorous.

marianne wrote:it is ALWAYS clean. quirkete, and the bag in green letters is good.

If you're going to specify a particular brand name that you know to be OK to use, that's one thing. But making a blanket statement the all play sand is OK to use is not correct.

marianne wrote:i guess some people just dont know how to use google.

I'm not sure who that was directed towards, but there's no need to be insulting.

marianne wrote:all sand will drain, no matter how coarse or thin it is...

Actually sand with a smaller grain has a tendency to stick to other medium it is mixed with, especially when wet. hence people wanting a course and angular sand that is less likely to make contact across its smooth surface.

i was in the middle of trying to use a metaphor to describe this but gave up, seems futile.

OP, if you are still needing a potting medium then feel free to PM with your address and i can hook you up with some.
just let me know about how much you need. i use a 3 parts organic sphagnum peat and 2 parts perlite mixture.

~RLK

I too have some... I use a sand that I know is good to use. I can send you a couple gallon bags.

the point u buy from FTS is u get a guranteed quality.u know how good and how bad is the products.some times in the world,its hard to confident on something like me.u can have high confidents on products that Matt and steve sell bcoz they said so.


well..im sorry if my words made someone mad.very very sorry.just releasing what i want to say.

best wishes

But they have to get their stuff from someplace. I ensure great quality.

Marianne, being insulting to people is not going to make people want to buy their peat from you. Youve been on this forum for 10 days, Matts been on it from the beginning and has many reviews from his service and top quality in everything he sells (Including his t-shirts ). You have to understand why people would rather use the FTS, and quit insulting our members, it isnt going to get you anywhere. Nobody is saying your peat isnt good quality, we're just using the facts.

I didn't insult

I didn't insult

go take care of those nearly dead plants you have