Sifting thorn-filled sand - help!

SandraScarlett

This is a bit long and involved, but I hope someone can help. My DH was a cacti & succulent enthusiast for about 40 years, but unfortunately, he has severe Alzheimer's and has forgotten all about them. Also, it's not a safe environment for him in our 27 feet long greenhouse, as he stumbles a lot.


I contacted a local society, who came while DH was at his day centre, and took away nearly 200 pots, leaving me with the dead cacti, and the broken ones, which I disposed of at the local tip.


I'm now left with 54 feet of spike and burr filled sand. I have removed about a quarter of this, and filled 8 buckets, and I thought that rather than try to dispose of 30-odd buckets of sand, and then have to buy new fresh stuff, not very MSE (!), as I'd like to grow plants next year, that I would complete one side, hand-vacuum the surface, which is metal, and undulates, and replace the old sand, after sieving it.


I know this is going to be a long and arduous job, and although we have 2 riddles, the mesh isn't very fine. Could someone recommend a really fine riddle, and what size do I ask for. The cactus spikes are really lethal, and some of them are small, but deadly.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


xx

DaftyDuck

Just a thought.... sand sinks.... will cactus spines float? If so, stick sand in biggest bucket, fill to 3/4 depth, use hose to fill, mix with pole, whilst water running, spines float out....

SandraScarlett

What a brilliant idea!! :T I could certainly try with a scoopful of sand in a bucket of water. I'll let you know. But thank you for this golden nugget of wisdom.


xx

Cally_Smart

What a good idea. I've been cleaning out my sons sand pit(it's a blue clam shell shape) today.I normally whoosh the sand around with watering cans of water and any stray leaves etc float off.It gives the sand a whole new lease of life!

SandraScarlett

Yippee!!! :beer: It worked. It took about an hour to "do" one bucket of sand, and I washed it twice, just doing a quarter of a bucket at a time.


And the result is perfectly clean and thorn-free sand! I put the washed sand on a couple of old trays and left it to dry in the greenhouse, and it's worked a treat.


All I'm left with is a teeny bit of rubbish, that can go in the green garden bin. Thank you soooooo much for this great advice. :A


xx

DaftyDuck

My very long and expensive science education wasn't entirely wasted then.

Glad it worked, sorry about the circumstances; I went through similar a couple of years back. Best wishes and thoughts.

Wheelbarrow? Larger vessel will do it faster.

SandraScarlett

Yes I agree that a larger vessel would hold more. But I have arthritis in both hands, and all down my right side, so I find it hard to lift too much, or to use my arm vigorously.


I don't mind how long this takes me, and I'm quite prepared to do half an hour a day, for a year if necessary, as long as I do the job properly.


Well your expensive science education was well worth it, as far as I'm concerned! It's also extremely MSE-ish! My daughter and son-in-law have offered to come for a couple of hours tomorrow and do some sanding, so they should get a fair bit done in that time.


Neither of them have a smidgen of arthritis either!


xx