Vermiculite and CP\'s

[Dyflam]

Just want to get opinions on this. I know it stores moisture but don't know if there are any negative impacts.

[greencrunch]

Hi Dyflam, I have read that vermiculite will eventually break down and release minerals into the soil mix, but I have seen other reports saying it won't, so I don't know for sure. What are you wanting to use it for? Most peat based soils do not have problems with moisture retention and pumice or pearlite tend to work better for loosening soils as they do not compress.

[arie]

I use vermiculite in my soil mix about 10% of the mix for years with no problems at all
arie

[CP2k]

I would definetly recommend using vermiculite for the cps that like richer soils(mexican pings/nepenthes).

[Martin]

I wouldn't recommend it for Nepenthes which grow naturaly in sphagnum...
It almost killed my N. aristolochioides....

Martin

[D muscipula]

I dredged this up because i have an almost unlimited supply of vermiculite (it's used to pack all the chemicals the lab gets in case the bottle breaks). Is the consensus that it's a good additive to lowland mixes in general, and a bad idea for highland? What about drosophyllum or pygmy sundews?

[goldtrap2690]

when it breaks down it becomes into this mucky gooey stubtance which is very unpleaseant to see or have also it contains minerals in it such as pottasium and magnesium which make it unsuitable for cps other then nepenthes and mex pings . i use it on my neps and pings and they have no problem .

[D muscipula]

I didn't know that mica would break down. How long does that take?

[BigCarnivourKid]

Here's the MSDS sheet for vermiculite: *MSDS (http://www.schundler.com/msdsverm.htm)

And at the bottom of this page is a bit on the use of vermiculite and it's uses in horticulture. *Keep in mind that they are assuming we are growing flowers for the garden and not CPs: *HORTICULTURAL USES OF PERLITE AND VERMICULITE (http://www.schundler.com/hort.htm) *Note that it states the vermiculite won't break down.

[D muscipula]

Thanks BCK

Augh!!! Not an MSDS! http://www.**********.com/iB_html312/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I thought this an interesting bit of trivia:

Quote[/b] ]vermiculite is derived from the Latin 'vermiculare', meaning to breed worms

pH from 6 to 9.5, and varies with time

Yeah, it obviously has limited appeal for CPs. *I couldn't find the part that says that it won't break down, but there seem to be first-hand accounts here of it doing so. *Does anybody actually use it, here?

[Capslock]

I use it sometimes in my Nepenthes mix. They grow great, but I haven't used it long enough to judge whether it breaks down or not over time.

Capslock

[BigCarnivourKid]

D. muscipula, I found that in the second link whare you have to go to the bottom of the page to find the vermiculite info.

Quote[/b] ]Like perlite, horticultural vermiculite is permanent, clean, odorless, non-toxic and sterile. <span style='color:blue'>It will not deteriorate, turn moldy or rot</span>. The pH of vermiculite is essentially neutral (7.0-9.5)

[vft guy in SJ]

DM, its right at the start of the part where it talks about horticultural vermiculite...
Quote[/b] ]Like perlite, horticultural vermiculite is permanent, clean, odorless, non-toxic and sterile. It will not deteriorate, turn moldy or rot.
Near the bottom of the page, but the top of that section.

Steve

[vft guy in SJ]

lmao BCK.. ya beat me to it http://www.**********.com/iB_html312/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Steve

[monkeyman]

I use vermiculite and lfs in a 1.1 ratio for my propagating trays and it works wonders (especially nepenthes). However, you must keep the water level down because wet vermiculite is also great medium for algae. With Vermiculite, you only have to submerge the very base of the pot to keep the entire medium moist.

Mike http://www.**********.com/iB_html312/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif