FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi guys is this safe for carnivorous plants? I went to home depot yesterday and this is all that I found. It was listed online that they had the regular sunshine brand peat moss which I have used before but when I arrived they only had this one alongside premier which I chose because this mix had an off smell to it like cow manure.

I don't think so. It doesn't say what the mix is.

Looking at the ingredients, I'd say no. Mycorrhizae may not be bad, but it hasn't really been experimented with on carnivorous plants a lot.
Gypsum decreases pH, good, but adds calcium, bad.
Lime increases pH, bad.
Wetting agents, typically detergents, many times a synthetic surfactant made of polyacrylamides that eventually break down to acrylamides (carcinogenic, but pretty harmless in this usage) and ammonia. The ammonia will bond with airborne nitrogen, making it available to the plant as fertilizer, bad.

Thanks guys I guess I'll have to stick with premier for now I hope it grows sundews well enough.

Trip81 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 5:25 pm Hi guys is this safe for carnivorous plants? I went to home depot yesterday and this is all that I found. It was listed online that they had the regular sunshine brand peat moss which I have used before but when I arrived they only had this one alongside premier which I chose because this mix had an off smell to it like cow manure.

I have complained to HD about this, what I call, "bait and switch" offering of Sunshine peat online only to find something else on the shelf. The thing for me is that I'm roughly 65 miles from HD...think I was happy when I got there? I'd go to Lowes and pick up some Majestic Earth and let HD do whatever they want to with the Premier (though, from what I understand Premier is pretty good).

Interestingly, I just went to HD and checked the peat moss offerings. Nothing in a bale comes up for me though there is an image of a bale of Premier peat moss showing for the "Soils" icon. Go figure, eh? I did accidentally order a bag of Vigoro perlite while I was there, though.

I use Premier and have had no issues with it.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 12:26 am I have complained to HD about this, what I call, "bait and switch" offering of Sunshine peat online only to find something else on the shelf. The thing for me is that I'm roughly 65 miles from HD...think I was happy when I got there? I'd go to Lowes and pick up some Majestic Earth and let HD do whatever they want to with the Premier (though, from what I understand Premier is pretty good).

I have the same complaint. If you're going to advertise a particular brand of peat moss, then you damn well better stock it. Home Depot is notorious for pulling this crap. I can get Premier peat moss all over the place; why would I go out of my way to HD for it?!

In my last hunt for peat moss, I searched high and low for SunGro. Ace Hardware stopped carrying it, couldn't even order the stuff and have it shipped to a store. I finally bought a bag of Premier because it was better than nothing. 3 days later, I was at a Tractor Supply store and noticed that they had one lonely bag of peat moss left on the pallet. TS's website said they carry Premier, so I didn't stop there earlier. When I walked over and checked the bag, lo and behold, it was SunGro. I snatched it up. Now I have enough peat moss to last me for a year.

These companies aren't exactly endearing themselves to potential customers....

When "mom and pop" left the scene things kinda started going downhill from there.

I think the last time I checked at a "local" (everything is at least 20 miles from me) TSC they had Premier which is much, much, much better than the Greensmix they carried a couple of years ago. Matter of fact, I knew no better and had bought two bales of that junk(that distance thing makes you stock up). ..roughly a third of one bale sits unused and the other bale hasn't been touched. I'm going to give it to my gardening buddy and let him throw it in his garden...I hope it doesn't kill his peas. The next time I go by a TSC I'll definitely stop by and check what they have now, maybe they'll have some SunGro!! Thanks for that info, Mike!!!

ETA: I just checked the TSCs closest to me and both are showing SunGro BlackGold *PHOTOS* but the details/specifications say "Premier" and the title says "Premier". I plugged the "Manufacturer Part Number" into Google and found one questionable link to "Black Gold". Now, if I call over to one of these stores and ask them which brand it actually is they're going to look at a computer just like me...rather than getting up, walking to the product and verifying what it is...like I said, Mom and Pop are gone.

So SunGro is better than Premier? I will have to see if I can locate any. We have a TSC ab few miles away. Maybe I will venture in to see what they have.

I don't know how it is over your way, but the TSCs around here have the large bags and bales sitting out beside the pen where the gate panels, implements, etc., are kept. You can do a quick "drive-by" to see what they've got.

andynorth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:51 pm So SunGro is better than Premier? I will have to see if I can locate any. We have a TSC ab few miles away. Maybe I will venture in to see what they have.

SunGro is definitely a notch up from Premier. The peat moss is better quality, and there's a lot less debris in it.

Has anyone seen Lambert White Premium High Yield, Pro-Moss TBK, or Sun Gro Peat Moss Grower Grade White or Orange at a local store? I'd love to try blond/white peat (coarser peat, from the upper layers of the bog), but no one in my area carries it. I'd have to order an entire pallet, and that's not gonna happen any time soon.

I went by one of the "local" TSCs today and checked on their peat moss... Online they show the confusing photo of Sungro Black Gold with "Premier" as the title...they had Premier. Oh well. I did score a 15-gallon feed trough to start a mini-bog in this summer.

MikeB wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2024 3:27 am

andynorth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:51 pm So SunGro is better than Premier? I will have to see if I can locate any. We have a TSC ab few miles away. Maybe I will venture in to see what they have.

SunGro is definitely a notch up from Premier. The peat moss is better quality, and there's a lot less debris in it.

Well, so far so good in that I am about half way through and have not found any junk in mine, yet.

Premier is good, I don't think you'll have an issue with it. The SunGro products are touted as being a higher quality peat that doesn't break down as fast as some others, and it's usually clean. I was sure hoping that TSC had the Black Gold sitting there. I'll be close to the other "local" TSC tomorrow and will check there, too. The Greensmix peat that TSC had (the first I ever used) is really, really, really bad. I thought all this trash was a "normal" thing being as I'd never worked with pure peat moss and had nothing to compare it with. After struggling with it I posted here and found that this was WAY TOO MUCH TRASH. These photos are when I was struggling to use the Greensmix. The Majestic Earth has been a joy compared to that junk!

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Wed Feb 07, 2024 2:50 pm Premier is good, I don't think you'll have an issue with it. The SunGro products are touted as being a higher quality peat that doesn't break down as fast as some others, and it's usually clean. I was sure hoping that TSC had the Black Gold sitting there. I'll be close to the other "local" TSC tomorrow and will check there, too. The Greensmix peat that TSC had (the first I ever used) is really, really, really bad. I thought all this trash was a "normal" thing being as I'd never worked with pure peat moss and had nothing to compare it with. After struggling with it I posted here and found that this was WAY TOO MUCH TRASH. These photos are when I was struggling to use the Greensmix. The Majestic Earth has been a joy compared to that junk!
Greensmix_garbage_peat2.JPG
Greensmix_garbage_peat1.jpg

Is it really trash though? I figure it breaks up the soil in the same way as perlite and coarse sand, to allow better aeration and drainage. I have a bag of Premier peat from TSC, the particles are too uniform for my liking. Have to mix in extra perlite to get the same drainage as bag o' trash.