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Changing my ways

Hi All:

I need to change my soil mixes.  The current mix I am using is not working for me.  I use perlite and peat 50/50 and mix well with distilled water till moist.  The cp's I transfer die maybe not after a couple weeks but months.  The soil turns brownish green then the plants becomes weak.  After awhile all my cp's that I have transplanted have later died that year
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. I want to know if any of you all have had this problem with the mix of peat and perlite?
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My main question is what kind of sand do you all use for cps? The kind that pft uses and other stores in which you seen cps.  What is the name of the soil and brand and mixes you use? Where can you purchase it?

Thank You for your time,
Travis
 
I gave up on all peat mixes a few years ago..
I tried pure peat, and 50/50 peat and sand (never tried perlite)

I found the peat mixes was far too dense..my peat and sand mix ended up being as hard as concrete..I wasnt impressed..

so I switched back to pure long-fiber spagnum, love it!
nice and open and airy..and besides, its what sarracenia grow in naturally!
I will never go back to peat..

Scot
 
Hi Travis.  When i first repotted my VFT and S. minor a year ago, i observed a terrific response from the plants.  I don't even remember now what mix i made, except that it had peat and perlite in it.

However, some plants i received bareroot and potted in a peat/sand or peat/perlite mix this year have done very poorly.  It seems to me that the peat must be very irregular in purity or quality.  All i remember about the peat i used that worked well is that it came from a large bale.

Tamlin suggests getting sand at pool supply stores, because silica sand is used in filtration.  I think that's good advice, although i haven't tried to find a pool supply store in the frozen NE yet.

You might try cocopeat.  I intend to try out some of the "alternative" media components like that at some point.  I have some stone wool i was given that looks interesting, too.

ScottyChaos, do you use lfs for all your plants?  I was under the impression that some CPs did poorly in lfs.  Where do you get it in sufficient bulk to use as your primary mix?
 
Hi Travis -

My VFTs and sundews are in 50:50 peatmoss mixed with sand ('playsand' in a 50 lb bag from Home Depot). I also use this for my mini-bogs.

My Sarracenia do best in pure Long Fibered Sphagnum, and if I'm running low and want to stretch it out, I add some of the above mix.

WildBill
 
I wonder if it's really the effect of the peat but the neps that I repot in pure LFS recovers in 2-3 days and continue their growth....the ones in sphagnum peat get stunned and won't grow for a couple of weeks!
 
I use sphagnum moss (the New Zealand kind) and it works great for my N. ventricosa but have not used it for my vfts. Maybe next Spring I will try that with one of my vfts. I do not think sphagnum moss would be great for sundews? What soil combo would work for sundews?

D muscipula
Where can you get cocopeat? I may want see what it looks like...besides internet looking.

WildBill
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">My VFTs and sundews are in 50:50 peatmoss mixed with sand ('playsand' in a 50 lb bag from Home Depot).  I also use this for my mini-bogs.
[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Works good? What is your secret?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I gave up on all peat mixes a few years ago..
I tried pure peat, and 50/50 peat and sand (never tried perlite)[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

I am starting hear you...I have bad luck too. I am thinking sphagnum moss instead. I was thinking at first sand and peat?

Thanks,
Travis

This is my 1000th post, Wow!
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Time flies when you are having fun
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With few exceptions Sphagnum moss is an ideal medium for most all CP. Yeah, there are exceptions, but as a general rule of thumb, mine is "thumbs up". Drosera love the stuff. I have the best luck with fresh live moss that has been milled in a food processor. Moistened dead moss will also mill like this, providing an excellent loose medium. It's also ideal for seed germination.

I generally use 1/2 - 3/4 pot of peat/sand mix that has been well rinsed, with a top dressing of the above milled moss. The live moss discourages algae and other opportunistic organisms. Pure LFS however is a little deficient in micro nutrients in my opinion. Although we stress the need for a lack of these nutrients in the mix, no plant should be completely without them, so I always incorporate some of this mix as well. After a season the moss will begin to make heads, and must be kept trimmed. That is the major drawback to the use of LFS: eventually it will grow, and then attention must be given so it doesn't overwhelm the plants. Live milled moss is good for about one season of carefree use.

I am suspicious of pearlite, since I always encounter algae with its use (unless it is a trace amount). I dont know why, but i assume there are more salts in the pearlite than are found on pure silica sand. I use it, but usually in drier epiphitic mixes, or in cases where aeration is mandatory. Some preliminary experiments show the use of red cedar or redwood mulch may be better as an aerator of the mixes. I am experimenting, and so far the plants are doing well in such a mix. It's only been about a year I have tried it though.

The "brownish/green" build up on the soil Travis mentions is an indicator that all is not well with the mix. Pots with this look should be watered from above repeatedly, daily, to flush nutrients from the media, otherwise there will be all sorts of negative consequences. A temporary topdressing of milled live moss may be effective in killing any algae starting to grow, esp. if watered from the top: the natural high acidity of LFS acts as an antibacterial agent, and screens the medium from light which favors the growth of opportunistic moss and algae. Generally, if the condition persists over 2 weeks, I repot whatever was in it into fresh medium since in my experience plants growing in that situation rarely prosper, and often die when their roots are attacked by anaerobic processes and harmful microrganisms.
 
i use a 50/50 mix of peat and perlite its ok to use but sometimes i get problems with it because alage sometimes forms , the plant get completly covered in it when i water them , its messy , and the perlite floats on the water so i am also thinking about repotting my plants during winter . all i can find at stores that can beused for cps is perlite and peat , i've found 50 lbs of play sand so i plan on using that soon but i really want to find silica sand . any body know where i can find silica sand , the next best thing to silica sand that they have at the stres is a quart bag of horticultural sand which ix very expensive and also does any body know where i can find lfs , i can't find it any where , i can only find in on the internet : www.mosserlee.com , but it seems expensive .
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Works good? What is your secret?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
... we're all asking ourselves that when it comes to WildBill's CPs.

There are a few sources of coco peat here and there. I'll probably put up a discussion of sources for media components on the NECPS page one of these days, after moving and restocking my growing supplies with some different things to try out.
 
  • #10
Thanks Tamlin, goldtrap2690,and D muscipula, for all that information! How do you transpant a sundew (capensis) into a pot full of sphagnum moss? The roots are weak compared to a nep or the bulb of a vft. I could see dropping a seed of a sundew in sphagnum moss, then having the roots grow into the moss.
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I had a heck of time transplanting my adelae into peat/perlite mix...darn, sundew kept on fall on the side. Transplanting is not one of my favorite hobbies...I will be transplanting capensis sometime soon. I have about 10 capensis in a 3 inch pot.

Travis
 
  • #11
Travis -

I am almost brutal when digging up and repotting a capensis. They pop up in a lot of my other CPs and window boxes. I jam a fork in the soil underneath and pry it up. Some of the roots may tear, but they all have recovered quickly and nicely. Then I push and fold all the leaves upward and hold it that way while moving it around to minimize soil, etc., sticking all over the leaves. Still holding it that way, I set it the root part in a pot filled halfway up with damp long fiber moss. Then I slowly and gently pack damp pieces of the sphagnum around it until it can stand up by itself. The I water it from the top and set it in shade/partial sun for a few days.

With small sundews like rotundifolia, I pluck them out and lay on top of the sphagnum in the new pot and just water it in all around with an old ketchup bottle - the kind with the pointy tip.

Hope this helps.

WildBill
 
  • #12
Thanks WildBill! I looked at my D. Capensis last night and noticed flowers are coming up
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. I will see if I can get a picture of it. I will wait till I get the seeds then go from there.  I am going to use sphagnum moss for most of my cps now. I have some in store right now so that makes things handy.

Thank You All,
Travis

added:
I will let you all know how things go with my plants when I transplant. It will only be my sundews this year. Then vft's this coming spring. *cheers* to never stop learning!
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