# Cheapest fly materials



## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

Anyone have some good places to buy the cheapest FF materials? I need cups and lids, mix, and excelsior or some sort of filler.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

I usually get my cups from josh's frogs,you can get your mix there or make your own(which would be cheapest),And How much excelsior do you want?I can help you out there.Pm me if you're interested.


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## Trey (Sep 10, 2008)

Pacblu202 said:


> Anyone have some good places to buy the cheapest FF materials? I need cups and lids, mix, and excelsior or some sort of filler.


I go to local delis and ask them for cups and lids to buy, and they usually just give me a large stack of em. I use a hole saw ( i think its 2 or 2 1/2 inches )to drill through the lids and then glue a few layers of coffee filter material over each hole. I can get 100 done pretty quickly.

I make my own media, it's basically a modified Carolina mix, no methyl parabin. 

Excelsior you can get cheap if you order a large batch. You can also use and reuse fiberglass window screen. You could use coffe filters, paper towels, paper plates, etc. I use leftover scrap pieces of matala and get awesome production with it, and it's reusable.


Just some ideas


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

I've been using mason jars and coffee filters but the problem is the filters absorb so much moisture that they dry out the mix. The mason jars are nice too but I'd rather spend $20 and get 50 cups that I can throw away. Cleaning the jars can take a while, especially if you make a lot of cultures.


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## Rusty_Shackleford (Sep 2, 2010)

Just make your media a little bit wetter to compensate for the absorption by the filters


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

Home depot has a seed starting roll for 18 dollars and will make hundreds of coultures look for this and cut it..roll inyo bsll works the best I have ever found 

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> Home depot has a seed starting roll for 18 dollars and will make hundreds of coultures look for this and cut it..roll inyo bsll works the best I have ever found
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


No additives to it?


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## oldlady25715 (Nov 17, 2007)

The Repashy media produces more flies than my homemade brand.


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## FrogBoyMike (Aug 25, 2012)

oldlady25715 said:


> The Repashy media produces more flies than my homemade brand.


Best I've tried out of almost all "name brands"


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

Says 100% Natural and have had excelent results so far

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## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> Home depot has a seed starting roll for 18 dollars and will make hundreds of coultures look for this and cut it..roll inyo bsll works the best I have ever found
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


Is that actual Excelsior or is it something different?

How much comes in the bag?

How much does it sell for?


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## radiata (Jul 24, 2010)

dallas green and gold said:


> Says 100% Natural and have had excelent results so far
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


Nice endorsement, but which post are you referring?

Thanks...


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

radiata said:


> Nice endorsement, but which post are you referring?
> 
> Thanks...


He's referring to the 6th post about the seed starting rolls.


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

It is 18 dollars at home depot about 10 lbs or so ..correct I was reffering to the seed rolls

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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> It is 18 dollars at home depot about 10 lbs or so ..correct I was reffering to the seed rolls
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


I think that just won my bid. I have 5lbs for $25 shipped but 10 for 20 is way better.


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> It is 18 dollars at home depot about 10 lbs or so ..correct I was reffering to the seed rolls
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


Are there seeds in it or anything? Or is it just a lay down mat to help promote the growth?


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

Exactly it is a lsy down matt to hold the seeds and help them grow on a slant and keep seeds growing

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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

buy Repashy fly media. The media is more expensive, but you can make fewer cultures and still produce more flies. In the end it works out to be cheaper.


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

frogparty said:


> buy Repashy fly media. The media is more expensive, but you can make fewer cultures and still produce more flies. In the end it works out to be cheaper.


You can also make the media last longer if you use less water and 2 spoons of media, instead of 3 as per instructions. My cultures last 5 weeks.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Only 5 weeks? I let my cultures go a lot longer than that!!! Hahaha!
Minimum 2 months


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## radiata (Jul 24, 2010)

JPccusa said:


> You can also make the media last longer if you use less water and 2 spoons of media, instead of 3 as per instructions. My cultures last 5 weeks.


Works for me too. I use 1/8 cup of Repashy media and 1/3 cup of water.


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

Will this work for the fly media? They don't have the beige/dead grass colored stuff.

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Pennington...less-Grass-Seed-Starter-Mat-601907/100662155/


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

Is that just green wrapper or is the material died me personally I would prefer undied to prevent any contamination

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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> Is that just green wrapper or is the material died me personally I would prefer undied to prevent any contamination
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


It is died green. I agree. I can't seem to find the one you have. When did you buy it?


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

I will get you the serial number I bought it from home depot I get home sunday

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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> I will get you the serial number I bought it from home depot I get home sunday
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


When did you buy it? Recently?


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## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

oddlot said:


> I usually get my cups from josh's frogs,you can get your mix there or make your own(which would be cheapest),And How much excelsior do you want?I can help you out there.Pm me if you're interested.


How much cheaper is it to actually make your own media vs. Josh's Frogs?

Is it a whole lot cheaper, 25%, 50%, 75%, or is it just a little bit cheaper?


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## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

Pacblu202 said:


> Anyone have some good places to buy the cheapest FF materials? I need cups and lids, mix, and excelsior or some sort of filler.


Cups and Excelsior are cheaper at Josh's Frogs than at Gordon's Food Service or Michaels Arts and Crafts so I would get that stuff from Josh unless you need it immediately then you can go to the store.

What I am wondering about is Media.

I saw that Josh once had 5 Gallon Buckets of his Media on sale for 75.00 which seems super cheap but I have not seen them in a while.

Do you guys know if he stopped making the 5 Gallon Buckets of Media completely or is he just currently out.

I really wanted to get a bucket since not only would it be cheaper but also much easier to scoop the media out of a bucket then to get it out of the small silver bags he normally sells.


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## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

dallas green and gold said:


> Home depot has a seed starting roll for 18 dollars and will make hundreds of coultures look for this and cut it..roll inyo bsll works the best I have ever found
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2


So is that actual excelsior or is something a little different that looks like excelsior?


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

that Frog Guy said:


> So is that actual excelsior or is something a little different that looks like excelsior?


It's different. I think it's more woven together but basically the same concept. It looks really easy to work with. I can't find that same one anymore but Loews seems to carry it. 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_213426-23132-10032_

It's the same size where as Home Depot had theirs over two times less.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

frogparty said:


> Only 5 weeks? I let my cultures go a lot longer than that!!! Hahaha!
> Minimum 2 months


Say whaaaaaaaaaaaatt? Minimum?! That is impressive. Now I really want to give that media a try. 

On the other hand, I was just cleaning out my really incredible pile of old culture cups and found a hydei culture marked 3/27 and it was filled with flies, and that's using super simple homemade media.


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## dallas green and gold (Jan 30, 2013)

A hmmm out 2 mths or so ago

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## Bcs TX (Sep 13, 2008)

I make my own media as well. For the ingredients to make 3 large ziplock bags (1 bag is enough media to culture 18) all 3 bags total cost is around 5 bucks. Plus you don't have to pay shipping and always have it on hand.


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## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

Bcs TX said:


> I make my own media as well. For the ingredients to make 3 large ziplock bags (1 bag is enough media to culture 18) all 3 bags total cost is around 5 bucks. Plus you don't have to pay shipping and always have it on hand.


How do you make it?


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## Bcs TX (Sep 13, 2008)

Here's my recipe:
8 C potato flakes, 1 C powdered sugar, 1/2-3/4 C brewers yeast, 3-4 tsp methyl paraben, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp paprika.
Mix 1/2 C equal parts water/media (in dry months I mix 1/2 C media with 3/4 C water).
I buy the methyl paraben and brewers yeast from Josh.


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## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

Bcs TX said:


> Here's my recipe:
> 8 C potato flakes, 1 C powdered sugar, 1/2-3/4 C brewers yeast, 3-4 tsp methyl paraben, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp paprika.
> Mix 1/2 C equal parts water/media (in dry months I mix 1/2 C media with 3/4 C water).
> I buy the methyl paraben and brewers yeast from Josh.


Ty.

Is this the recipe that Josh's Frogs uses?

Where do you get Potato Flakes?

What is the Cinnamon and Paparika for?

I thought people always used Vinegar when they made their own Media.


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## Bcs TX (Sep 13, 2008)

This is not Josh's recipe it was given to me by a frog friend 5 years ago, cinnamon helps with the smell and paprika is a color enhancer. 
There are many different recipes out there. This is the one I have used for around 5 years and has worked great for me. I buy the cheapest off brand potato flakes I can find, the ffy's don't mind.


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## joshw (Jun 11, 2013)

Bcs TX said:


> Here's my recipe:
> 8 C potato flakes, 1 C powdered sugar, 1/2-3/4 C brewers yeast, 3-4 tsp methyl paraben, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp paprika.
> Mix 1/2 C equal parts water/media (in dry months I mix 1/2 C media with 3/4 C water).
> I buy the methyl paraben and brewers yeast from Josh.


Thanks for sharing your recipe. I need to change mine up a bit. I find if I don't get the vinegar just right, I get a little mold out break and then that culture is shot. Any mold issues substituting the methyl paraben? also- does the species of fly determine your recipe? or does it work for both?
Thank You very much.
Josh


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Here is my recipe which is a variant of carolina mix.The Cinnamon is a mold inhibitor as well as the methyl paraben.I have never gotten mold from this recipe.My wife hated the smell of the vinegar which stunk bad during the making process as well as the maturing culture and only got worse as it aged.So I changed it to this recipe and it doesn't smell offensive at all.You can use the mix for all types of flies.You can make hydei a tad wetter,but I don't find it necessary.I also buy the cheapest instant potatoes I can find.



This is approx. because I don't follow a set recipe to say.

4 cups potato flakes
2 cups brewers yeast
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 cup corn flower
3/4-1 cup cinnamon
4 table spoons methyl paraben

I take a large bowl and a wisk, then mash the dry ingredients until everything seems uniform.I use boiling water until I get the desired consistency.Sprinkle active yeast and seed.


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## Bcs TX (Sep 13, 2008)

Thanks Dane,
I also use boiling RO water as well IME the amount of water needs to be adjusted due to the seasons/ temps more water when hot and dry less when more humidity.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Bcs TX said:


> Thanks Dane,
> I also use boiling RO water as well IME the amount of water needs to be adjusted due to the seasons/ temps more water when hot and dry less when more humidity.



Your welcome,but I'm not Dane,we just have red frogs in our avatar


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## Bcs TX (Sep 13, 2008)

Sorry Lou.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

No problem Kris


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Sorry Beth,I couldn't resist


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## joshw (Jun 11, 2013)

Bcs TX said:


> Here's my recipe:
> 8 C potato flakes, 1 C powdered sugar, 1/2-3/4 C brewers yeast, 3-4 tsp methyl paraben, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp paprika.
> Mix 1/2 C equal parts water/media (in dry months I mix 1/2 C media with 3/4 C water).
> I buy the methyl paraben and brewers yeast from Josh.


Hello- thanks for sharing this recipe. I had an issue with it and was going for some insight. I followed the recipe to a T and made 3 cultures. One week later, I have plenty of maggots, but every single fly is dead. I'm culturing melo's and this is the first time this has happened. Is it common?
Thanks, josh.


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

joshw said:


> Hello- thanks for sharing this recipe. I had an issue with it and was going for some insight. I followed the recipe to a T and made 3 cultures. One week later, I have plenty of maggots, but every single fly is dead. I'm culturing melo's and this is the first time this has happened. Is it common?
> Thanks, josh.


I've had that happen. Depends how many flies you put in but they only live so long. As long as you have maggots your good. Let your flies stay in the cultures as long as you can before feeding to insure that they repopulate the culture.


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## ems1016 (Apr 23, 2010)

Just located this site for inexpensive 40-pound potatoes flakes just $67 and ONLy $4.49 shipping! 

Instant Potato Flakes | 40 LB bag | honeyvillegrain.com

Ed


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