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Hoffman Western Desert Sand good or bad?

I received 3 new plants (bare root shipped) i took out my bag of peat and went to get my bag of sand when i noticed its empty... I called every nursery in my area and not one has silica sand, however the lady at garden center swears up and down that Hoffman western desert sand mixed 50/50 with peat is perfect for my new vft's so i bought a bag washed it a few times and mixed it with peat but then as i was going to pot the new plants i thought i should post an ask to double check before i pot them. if any one knows if this sand works or doesn't work plz let me know and thank you in advance.
-steve/jamezs5
 
You can grow VFT's in straight peat if you want.
 
I agree with Bugweed. Straight sphagnum peat works great. The best place to find silica sand is at the building supply store, not a plant nursery. It is used for sand blasting. Get the largest grit size available.
 
Sand blasting sand is usually the best for CP. It comes in 3 or 4 grit sizes, and you can look at the sand and decide for your self what size granule you want to use. Either #10 or #20 Sandblasting sand is the size you would be looking for. As pointed out to you, sand is not necessary at all, but some people like it. In the wild, you will find VFT's in both media, with or without sand, and growing well. I grow my sarrs in straight peat too, and get good results with less weight to the potting container. Sand is heavy.
 
A quick test to see if sand will be OK is to put some in a little vinegar. If it bubbles continuously it has lime in it and isn't good for CPs. If there are no bubbles formed (not counting air bubbles that got trapped on sand grains) then the sand is OK.

smile.gif

BCK
 
I purchased my silica sand from a hardware store. I have heard that one may also find silica -or a comparative "grade" of sand at a pool supply store (the sand is used in pool filters).

I have also heard that "horticultural grade" sand is acceptable. I don't really know what horticultural grade sand is, but I would imagine that it's simply a relatively smooth, clean sand.

You could also try researching Hoffman Western Desert sand on the 'net... what "kind" of sand is it?
-Trev

PS: It is a good idea to have all of this running around taken care of *before* you recieved the plants in the mail. For how many days have your plants been sitting in their little baggies? It's helpful to have the pots filled with soil and sitting in water before the plants arrive at your place -that's what I did and all of my plants survived.
Granted that if plants are emerging from dormancy (or just finished emerging) they will be less likely to tweak out if they are sitting in a bag with their roots exposed for a few days.
 
They are bare root dormant vft's I'm not sure how long they been in the bags I'm on my way to home depot right now to look for that sand blasting size 10-20 sand and if they don't have it i will ask about pool filter sands or horti sand thanks for the great posts made my day :>
BTW I'm getting sand cause i have had great success with 50% sand 50% shredded peat with a 1 - 1/2" live long fiber sphag top dressing.
-Steve/James
 
Well after driving to Norwalk to goto home depot i found all they have is masonry sand.... then i drove to a few more nursery's and no dice. i picked up a bag of Schultz peat an Schultz perlite and did a 70% peat to 30% perlite mix. i will try that and if i don't like it or it just doesn't work i will re post as soon as i can find the sand.
 
You can raise your plants anyway you want, DM, but straight peat is good too. Never be trapped into thinking there is only one way to grow any CP. I use straight peat on all my plants, and get excellent growth and size on my babies. Never feel cornered because you don't have sand, and I personally will use about anything, except perlite. If I don't find it in nature, I won't use it. Perlite is too messy for me, and I hate it when it floats and spreads itself elsewhere. I limit myself to natural media as it makes me feel better that I am growing them as close to natures way as possible, and with my flowing water bog, I mimic the Green Swamp as close as is possible. My plants show their appreciation by being bigger and healthier every year. My Red Dragons are considered huge by some, but their health is more important than their size. Some years, a huge plant, maybe stressed somehow, can become a midget in no time. Then the reasons have to be found lest your baby dwindle into death.
 
  • #10
Peat and perilite should be fine. The perilite should air out the soil enought to give the roots some oxygen. Just keep in mind that, as you probably know, it may be best to keep the soil a little more dry than usual for a few weeks as the plants wake up. If the soil is too wet you may rot the roots (duh). I grew my first FTV's in pure peat and they did alright, so don't be too awful worried -as everyone else has said.
Sand is popular because it is acidic. Now I know that peat is rather acidic by its self, but I wonder if leaving out the sand may render the soil a little too neutral in terms of Ph? Anyone know if this is true?
I suppose you could just buy a Ph meter and see for yourself if you were curious.

But man... you should be able to fine *some* sand. I'd think that Home Depot would sell silica sand, or sandblasting sand, or whatever they may have it labeled as... it's weird that your local store has none. I'm sure that if you looked in the yellow pages for a pool supply company and gave them a call, that they would have some filter sand.
 
  • #11
For VFTs, Peat and perlight, or peat and large grain sand like pool filter sand are the most reliable mixes. Pure peat works better then the mix for some plants and will kill others so it's a trial and error sort of thing. I've only had one plant that prefers the pure peat and two others that tolerate it, but I definetly get the most reliable growth and health from the corsely airaited mixtures... Pure sphagnum hasn't gone over well with any of my vfts, but I have not yet tried a LFS peat mix, but I would guess it's too wet since that mix is usually used for more swampy growing plants like P. primulaflora.
 
  • #12
Deja vu! I posted about the same product a couple months ago. It didn't go over too well. The concensus on sand has been sandblasting and & pool filter sand - whichever you can access. I couldn't readily locate the sandblasting sand, but a co-worker had aname and place for the pool filter sand. Seems to work just fine.
 
  • #13
Could any one name a few store's that they bought there sand from? i am going the no sand rout now like bugweed does i would like to try a few different mixes tho just out of curiosity and to get some experience under my belt. i did try home depot and every nursery in the phone book i called didn't Carry silica sand only Hoffman "western desert sand" i found and was suggested by the clerk but i didn't use it because i didn't quite trust there opinion as they didn't grow or sell cp's. and tho i only have about 9 diff types of cps i worked #### hard and long to collect them and i don't want to kill them. i noticed a decline in healthy growing recently an i suspected the potting mix maybe i just need to reduce the watering. or try some new tactic. any info suggestions or help of any kind would be most appreciated. to recap on how i grow I'm currently using a new system i gave up on terrarium growing i grow in 6" inch green plastic bots with i" tall saucers on the bottom. i have two 48"(inch) 40 Watt florescent bulbs one is a cool white bulb the other is a full spectrum sun bulb. i use a tropicare humidity system suspended 1 inch above the 6 pots currently growing in 70% Schultz peat moss 30% Schultz per lite. (hand washed by me before use) the lights is on a 10 hour timer i grow mostly vft's a few drosera and my ping just recently died.... i believe of fungal infection but I'm not 100% sure on that. i use super thrive monthly to bi monthly. 3 drops per gallon. and i keep the soil wet but much less so lately trying new things since I'm noticing failure... thx for reading
-Steve/James
 
  • #14
Hey Steve -

I noticed from your PFT profile you are also up here in Connecticut. I'm in Wallingford.

Anyway, last year I bought and used a big bag of "Playsand" I got at at Home Depot. I lucked out and had no problems. The bag is almost empty now, so I'm going to replace it with one from a swimming pool supply store.

Right now my non-dormant and younger VFTs are under lights on shelves in a basement room. If fluorescent light is the only light source your plants get, my guess would be they need a longer time period with them on. My plants are doing well and the lights are on 17 hours a day. The plants are 6 inches or less below the lights. A few of the plants on the bottom (floor-level) shelve croaked after we had those very cold temperatures up here about a month ago. They started to turn yellow at the edges and then black, then mush. I believe it was the cold temps that shocked them since the temps at the floor level are much much colder in the room. All the plants on the higher shelves are fine and recieve a bit of warmth from the fluorescent light fixtures mounted below each shelf.

I hope this info helps.

WildBill

PS: Do you know about NECPS? We'd love to have you at a meeting!
 
  • #15
Hoffman "western desert sand" didnt cause bubbles in red wine vinegar. any other tests i can do to find out if it will work with cp's?
 
  • #16
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>You could rinse it with distilled or deionized water and then test the water with a TDS meter to see if any soluble salts are rinsed from it. Many sands are useable, just be sure the sand is free of undesirable soluble minerals before using it on valuable CP. </span>
 
  • #17
TDS Measured

I received 3 new plants (bare root shipped) i took out my bag of peat and went to get my bag of sand when i noticed its empty... I called every nursery in my area and not one has silica sand, however the lady at garden center swears up and down that Hoffman western desert sand mixed 50/50 with peat is perfect for my new vft's so i bought a bag washed it a few times and mixed it with peat but then as i was going to pot the new plants i thought i should post an ask to double check before i pot them. if any one knows if this sand works or doesn't work plz let me know and thank you in advance.
-steve/jamezs5

So to answer the original question, I also purchased some of the Hoffman Western Desert Sand and tested the TDS and tested for limestone

no limestone (zero bubbles with vinegar), and, without any rinsing, TDS is 10-11 ppm, after one very light rinse - essentially just pour water out of the bowl and add 0TDS water back and 'stirring' the sand/water mix, found about 1ppm TDS, one more rinse in the same way, and TDS was 0

Below is the reading after the 3'rd rinse.

Having said that, the sand is pretty fine grain, purely because of that I wouldn't recommend it for carnies...

gGAPnHy1TBq7+VU6956l%g.jpg
 
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