FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

cpgrower126 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 4:44 am You can also buy the Gubler's LFSM at Lowe's, only 6.98, and its Chilean sphagnum moss.

I was planning to go to Lowe’s and have a look at what they have in the store actually, but everyone who can usually give me a ride experienced multiple difficulties at the same time so probably Amazon works best?

Although I also just found what looked to be good heating pads on Temu. Just going by my looks and zero knowledge lol. Maybe they have some stuff too.

Thanks for sharing this, Hedonista! The last time I looked at Amazon they had some weird pricing things going on with the moss...seemed like if you ordered one it was regular price but if you ordered more than one the price skyrocketed, like doubled in cost or something so I just quit looking at Amazon. Of course, I might have been off of my meds, too. But, the pricing now compares with Lowe's. That's helpful!!! Thanks again!!!

Hedonista wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 6:55 pm You can also get Bettergro LFSM on Amazon with free shipping if you have prime. Lowe’s only has free shipping on $35+ orders.

I got a 50 lb bag of TechMix 2040 silica pool filter sand from Menards for ten bucks. Once you open it, the contents will fill a 5-gallon bucket.

Jade wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:22 am I am definitely not with it today I can’t figure out how to share the link here so I just screenshot it. So is this good? Seems to be the biggest one in my price range. A bit hard to tell when some of these are measured in cubic inches.

IMG_5520.png

This is some of the funky pricing that I've seen on Amazon. You can definitely get it cheaper!

That's the price that I'm getting, too.

DewsandTraps wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 4:35 am Do you happen to have a Lowes, Home Depot, or a store with a garden center nearby, because I bought the same thing at Lowes for around $6 a package?
Do you think that price and availability vary with location because here's the almost exact same moss (higher quality) but for $6 on amazon?
https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Bulb-50450-B ... 200&sr=8-5

Jade wrote: ↑Tue Apr 30, 2024 1:09 am
Also I don’t get that Kiss statement unless you’re referring to the band @InTheSwamp, and I actually don’t get it either way. What is the king?

Oh and I wasn’t planning to have the buckets against a structure. I figured I’d get some kinda crazy minerals in that way.

I’m super tired today and not doing my best at remembering so was there anything I should have responded to and didn’t? Also sorry for being extra prone to writing novels today. Ahem everyday I guess.

Intheswamp wrote:"Those are a few things to think about...KISS is still king, so don't get too wound up in the all the doodads and trappings.

"KISS" is an old saying that I use to remind myself not to make a simple project complicated. It is an acronym for "Keep It Simple, Stupid". The more simple you can make something the less confusing it is. For me, KISS is king when it comes to projects.

I was able to get the orchid moss for just under $6 a pack on Amazon a couple months ago. The price for the other kind was maybe $.40 less per package.

As far as the size and quality difference in the moss, I reached out to the company and here is their response:

“Both of our mosses are sustainably harvested. The Premium Orchid Moss is a higher quality, cleaner, sphagnum when compared to the regular Sphagnum Moss. Per package, there is more material in the regular Sphagnum than the Premium package. Premium Moss is .3lbs and Sphagnum is .5lbs.”

evenwind wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 4:13 pm A few additional things I use:…spray bottles for water and alcohol, small individual humidity domes, flat-edged ice cream sample spoons…

Edit: I forgot to mention toothpicks. Lotsa toothpicks. You know, to do pokey things. And also to lift half-buried leaves out of the media during replanting sessions.

• What do you use the alcohol for? And what percentage/strength do you buy?

• Do you mean those humidity domes that come with some little starter pots or something else?

• What are the things you use the ice cream sample spoons for?

• Can you give more examples of pokey things?

@InTheSwamp I have heard that idiom, and I definitely need to keep it in mind.

Thanks to all the people posting links for stuff at Lowe’s, and I hope it works for others cuz it just takes me to the home page. Stupid app. And I looked the stuff up they’re not out of it, so I have no idea what is happening. I was going to go with Amazon because of the needing to buy so much for delivery, but I realized I’m probably gonna be spending at least $35, and they have basically everything I want.

To everyone who recommended the Better Gro from Lowe’s- I didn’t look at the Amazon reviews to know if this is normal, but it was down to 4 stars on the Lowe’s app because a lot of people were complaining about the quality- foreign stuff like hair and natural stuff like debris. Mostly natural talking about bark and stuff and I don’t know if I have the ability to tell if I got a bad batch or not, so out of curiosity would New Zealand LFSM from Amazon be comparable quality or should I just roll the dice on the Better Gro from Lowe’s?

Also I just looked up the 5 gallon food grade buckets and I had no idea there was such a dramatic price drop just by entering “food grade” with the search. It went from like $30 a bucket to $7-8. I don’t know what they’re making the other buckets out of but at least now I can afford to get a couple or a few this month. Thanks for the mention.

Imma post pics of the heating pad from Temu later because I swear their plant stuff, even the little beginners nursery deal is so much more affordable than Amazon even though I’m fairly sure it’s the exact same thing. I will also try at some point to check how to share links.

if nobodys said it yet ive found a pressure sprayer to be pretty handy for washing soil off after repotting and watering smaller more delicate plants. i got mine for £2.99 at home bargains but im sure theres other places that do them cheap

Yeah no one brought that up so thank you. When I hear pressure spayer I think of the big thing you wash your house off with every so many years lol. I didn’t know they had little ones for delicate washing of plants.

I also just thought of it but since I assume my Cyclosecta did die from browning heart disease and it just took a lot longer than usual, I wonder if I can just scrub that pot and the ones that I had leaf pullings in with regular soap or if I should use that 3 in 1 previously mentioned to disinfect them?

Or maybe the rubbing alcohol, but do you just wash the pots a bunch afterwards to make sure the plants don’t get contact with the alcohol or does it evaporate after a time enough to just put plants in after so long? I never would have thought to use all this stuff tbh. It was like the peroxide thing I read a bunch of articles about was a complete surprise and why I asked if anyone used it. I tried spraying a water with a little peroxide with it on the Cyclosecta, but I had taken a decent amount of pullings since it was widely held that the plant couldn’t be saved, and even if I hadn’t it would seem that browning heart is always fatal. Even for veteran growers who probably actually would never get it anyhow.

The only thing I can say is I have been learning quite a lot through my failures and I wish I had learned more beforehand, but there are a lot of newbie mistakes I know not to make again. And some extra things I hadn’t done that I still came across looking at stuff that had to do with my mistakes.

Oh yeah I forgot to post a couple things I was looking at on Temu.

This would obviously be a future purchase just for the convenience and seems like a good deal. I haven’t had time to look at the product description to see what the lights are yet. But if they’re decent this could be a really nice future help for more than one seed type.

https://share.temu.com/wwsSeLLU5JA

I’ll edit in the heating pad type I was looking at. I was going to see if there were any comparable ones on Amazon because it’s much easier to look there for answers. They have a BUNCH of heating pads or a lot of different sellers selling the same one. I just glanced at them.

ETA - so I snagged this one because it’s a twofer, but I still need to look into it. Just wondering if anyone had any reason these things looked like a bad buy from the start? Or even maybe I should look for a certain other thing due to the specs?

https://share.temu.com/trB01kbcC7A

DewsandTraps wrote: ↑Wed May 01, 2024 12:42 am There is a little bit less of it but it is higher quality.

I’m cool with a little less if there’s more assurance that the quality is good actually. I noticed a lot of the sites I was looking at for plants used New Zealand and I’d be more than frustrated if I got bad stuff and didn’t realize it and because of my inexperience with eyeballing stuff my plants died or something. Thank you for the reassurance there.