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The Beef with Perlite?

  • #21
VFT's and Sarrs, in the wild, live in very wet peat bogs..
their roots are designed to be in contact with more water, and less air, than most plants..
yes, they dont need to be 100% saturated with water, and there is some air in the peat and sphagnum,
but why would you need perlite to *increase* the amount of air in the mix?
the plants dont want or need increased air in the mix..

If sphagnum and peat is what the plants grow in, in the wild, then it seems to me that sphagnum and peat
in the ideal media to grow them in, in captivity..
(I also dont like sand in VFT and Sarr mixes, for the same reasons..if they dont grow in sand in the wild (which they dont)
why should I add sand to my mix? again, I see no benefit or reason for it..)

so it comes down to..what is the benefit to using perlite for VFT's and Sarrs?
I see zero benefit, or need, or use, for perlite..
perhaps using it (if its clean) is "neutral"..no gain, but no harm..
but if that is the case, why use it at all?

Excellent rebuttal, Scot! My only counter comment regards oxygen in the media. Though the plants do grow in exclusively peat and sphagnum, the water is usually slowly moving in the wild, isn't it? This avoids stagnation and increases oxygenation. In a potted or stationary bog scenario, wouldn't perlite and sand provide these same benefits?
 
  • #22
Excellent rebuttal, Scot!

thanks!

My only counter comment regards oxygen in the media. Though the plants do grow in exclusively peat and sphagnum, the water is usually slowly moving in the wild, isn't it?

Perhaps..but its not significant IMO..I have visited several wild S. purpurea and Drosera bogs in upstate NY..they are usually "kettles"..glacial remnants..big holes in the ground, with no outlet, and often no streams as inlets either..just water trickling in from the hillsides when it rains..
so in those cases, there is really no moving water at all..so I dont see moving water as being a factor..
the main difference would be the sheer *volume* of peat and sphagnum! the plants are not confined to a small pot..so the huge open area of the bog would probably decrease stagnation, when compared to our plants in captivity..and sure, there will be some bogs, with inlet or outlet streams, where the water is slowly moving..but in the bogs I have seen, not so much..

This avoids stagnation and increases oxygenation. In a potted or stationary bog scenario, wouldn't perlite and sand provide these same benefits?

I dont see how..you would have pieces of perlite, or grains of sand, surrounded by peat..the peat "blocks" the air from getting to the buried perlite and sand.
If you had a pot of *only* perlite, or a pot of *only* coarse sand, then sure! nice and open and airy! ;) air flows right through it..
but sand or perlite mixed with peat: the peat is still very fine..its still going to "block" air flow from getting to the embedded pieces of perlite..
so you have tiny islands (pieces of perlite) with a bit of trapped air in them..surrounded by peat, and isolated from each other by peat..what good is that? ;)
I dont see how peat + perlite is any different than 100% peat..

I still see zero benefit to using perlite..and *lots* of drawbacks..(nasty powder, possible fertilizer added, possible lung damage, etc..)
So no benefit + lots of drawbacks = no logical reason for using it..

still not sold! ;)
Scot
 
  • #23
Again, excellent points made by Scot. The potential lung ailments have always bothered me. Even with a respirator, my shop still gets dusted over when the perlite comes out.

So far sand has been nearly dust free in my experience.
 
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