any truth to using sand box sand on top for bugs?

[joe guy]

A buddy of mine that inspired me along with a lot of you gentelmen to start growing my self .. informed me that putting a inch or two of playground sand (beach sand) on top of your soil will help in preventing soil born bugs.. just want to pick at a few of your brains to see if any of you have heard of this too? happy plants make happy people.....
Thanks in advance. JOE GUY...

 

[Papulz]

ive heard of it as a remedy for fungus gnats.. other than that i dunno.

 

[Weird]

i use Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth

 

[Treetroit City]

This can help with fungus gnats however if you have drainage holes in your pots the gnats will get into your pots that way.

 

[supermanlives]

yup it worked for me when i did it. i also switched tobottom feeding

 

[joe guy]

Ok that may have been what he said it was good to prevent not quite sure just seen it in his pots and had to ask thanks for the super quick resopnse layed sum down on few moms and wanted to see if I should do the rest anlong with the girls under flower.... I hate bugs almost all of them....

 

[joe guy]

I have pretty big rocks blocking the drainage holes to keep as much in as I can would it hurt the roots if I pluged them up with let's say clay between waterings after all has drained out or would that cause other problems down the road?

 

[joe guy]

So the bottom feeding is that just putting the water and or nutes in the saucer and letting the soil suck up the love?

 

[BlueBalls]

Sand box sand, play sand, may be too soft; maybe not. Coarse sand, aggregate sand, will certainly slice the fungus gnat larva. I use it on house plants with success.

 

[ayatayo]

hi...beware where you pick up the sand...could be infested itself...just my 2 cents...

 

[joe guy]

Its the 50 lb bag from walmart for fillin the kids sand box up id hope it is fairly clean lol

 

[irobot sd]

I've used this exact method many times with my coco in 5 gals. It does help just because fruit flys have a hard time penetrating the coarse layer. After a while of top watering the sand will sink and mix with medium but I still find it helpful. 3rd coast is right though any holes at the bottom become the new exit.

 

[TribalSeeds]

I have pretty big rocks blocking the drainage holes to keep as much in as I can would it hurt the roots if I pluged them up with let's say clay between waterings after all has drained out or would that cause other problems down the road?

You dont want to plug or block your drain holes. I usee some rocks at the bottom to allow for better drainage, so Im not sure if we're talking about the same thing?

 

[joe guy]

Yes tribal that was the main goal with the rocks and to keep the expensive ass soil in the pots as well. It never dawned on me that they would crawl up thru the drain plug... was aslo wondering if rocks and sand at the bottom fox farm ocean soil in the middle and the top layer just sand...

 

[joe guy]

Agreed irob with the sand being shifted around I recently just added lil more of the sand to top to fill in any that was displaced from watering. Would bottom feeding help with this issue since the only reason its being moved around by the water?

 

[SeaMaiden]

Play sand is better to use than any sand that's too calcareous. Quick test, simply pour some vinegar on it. If it fizzles it's calcareous. If not, it may be silica-based, which would be the preferable to use in this scenario.

 

[joe guy]

Well sea I noticed a prop 65 warning on the bag lastnight when I was topping off the bare spots from watering so I would assume that it is scilica based since the damn california is so anal about posting crap like that but I will deff. Have to godiggin thru the wifes cupboards and see what I can rustle up thans for the info....

 

[SeaMaiden]

Mmm.. Prop 65 is easy to denigrate, unless you've been exposed to something that may cause harm. Unfortunately, reproductive harm is also bad, but there's no warning for that, apparently here in California cancer is the only bad thing that can happen to you.

In any event! I've never seen that warning on silica sand, but hey. Silica-based sands are different from calcareous and other sands in that the crystals of silica are very sharp-sided. It is for this reason that people should never house sharks, but especially baby sharks, in any tank containing silica-based sands, because it can abrade them to the point of severe infection and death.

Neither have I seen such a warning on 'beach' sand (usually calcareous), either, but again, hey. Could be as simple as particulate matter. What you've posted appears to be silica-based by the color.