Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2000 11:20:55 -0400 From: "John Phillip Jr." <johnatthebeach@home.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2339$foo@default> Subject: Sand and outdoor critters
Hello everyone,
reading the questions and replies about sand is always interesting,
seeing the troubles this can cause in some parts of the country and
world. For my 2 cents worth, I use Bagged sand I purchase at a local
lumberyard. Years ago, I bought a 90 lb bag ($5 US), and tested it on a
few plants for a season. No ill effects, so I continue to use that. The
brown paper bags are stamped AP in red letters, for "All Purpose", and
the people at the yard say they sell it as sandblasting sand. I used to
wash it, but the past several years I use it simply right out of the
bag, wetting it only to keep the dust down. No troubles on any plants I
use it on, basically everything in my collection (including some
supposedly picky plants}.
My suggestion, find some sand for sale at a store that looks like it
will be around a while and try it on some extra plants as a test.
On the subject of outdoor pests in bogs and outdoor grown pots, I've
found over the years that nothing beats using that black plastic netting
available at lumberyards or hardware stores, sold as "bird netting" or
"deer Netting". Trust me on this one, I've tried just about everything.
3 dogs keep unwanted kids and people out of the yard, but the squirrels
and birds are relentless in wanting to dig up plants!
{at one time I didn't think I could grow Cephs, because the birds seemed
to have a special affinity to them!}
I have a "cage" over my raised bog, wood at the ends with that netting
draped over, and as I sit here maybe 30 feet away looking thru an open
window, I cannot see the netting at all. Well worth it for the
protection it offers!
Plants in pots I grow in a similar cage, raised off the ground so I can
better view the plants. The netting keeps losses from animals at
virtually zero.
I still have occasional troubles with a few Neps hanging from trees or
the house outside, when birds or squirrels will rip apart the traps to
get at the bugs, but these I can live with by being careful which ones I
leave out like that.
Incidentally, the birds also attack my orchids and epiphytic cacti
growing outside the cages.
More than my 2 cents worth, but whatever...
thanks
John Phillip
Rhode Island, NE coast USA
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