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only lfs in pots?

i was wondering if i transplanted some lowland neps into some pure lfs, would this be good?
 
Which species are you considering? Some are more sensitive to compacted LFS than others but some will thrive in it.
 
I grow all but one of my neps in live LFS or dried new zealand LFS (those in pots >6" also have orchid bark mixed in). They've all been doing fine.
 
i grow everything in live lfs.
 
Strait up LFS (live or not) works for all my neps.
 
I like to mix in some sponge rock to limit my LFS use and to avoid compaction. With even more in larger pots. But I don't grow lowlanders.
 
its ok...as long as you dont have N. Northiana which only likes alkaline and will suffer in LFS.
Alex
 
ok thanks alot guys for the feedback
smile_m_32.gif
 
If glider14 observation is true then i was right to choose mixture of 50/50 each - coarse podzol soil and limestone chips(collected from northiana's limestone hill). First it made an off shoot,now have 4 small pitchers. Thanks for bringing up glider
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  • #10
Thats not entirely true glider and rbjong. I have an N. northiana in a mix of peat/perlite with a top dressing of living sphagnum moss and it has pitchered and produced side shoots with o problems. I suspect IF someone has a different clone it could be more or less sensitive to the alkalinity of a mix.
 
  • #11
maby someone should preform an experiment. 2 N. Northianas, one in peat, perilite and LFS and one in all alkaline. see which one will grow better.
Dustin: im not saying that it WONT grow in acid mix but that it wont grow as well. it should grow better in alkaline mix...
Alex
 
  • #12
Like i said, depends on certain clones. To perform such an experiment it'd have to involve a large quantity of plants in each group. That way it would allow a greater understanding of how the plants would react in a group, versus one or two plants.
 
  • #13
Doesn't northiana actually grow in accumulated bits of decomposing plant matter in crevices of limestone? Wouldn't this be an acidic soil with slightly alkaline water? I can't imagine very much of the limestone actually dissolves in the running water to make it that alkaline. I had no trouble growing my second northiana in typical Nep soil with some lfs and most experienced growers I've talked to suggest the alkaline soil thing is a myth. The one I grew with limestone chips in the mix ended up dying, but I killed a lot of Neps back then.

Actually I'm moving away from LFS in my conditions. It just breaks down too quickly and gets tangled up in the roots and is hard to remove. But I still use a little in my mix.
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] (srduggins @ Aug. 02 2006,3:07)]Actually I'm moving away from LFS in my conditions. It just breaks down too quickly and gets tangled up in the roots and is hard to remove. But I still use a little in my mix.
hmmmm, do you have to repot more often using lfs? how often?
 
  • #15
depends on how often you water and how long it stays wet. it even depends on what kind of pot you use, for example an orchid basket would last longer.
 
  • #16
the less water i use, the longer the lfs lasts???
 
  • #17
well, not necessarily. use pure water, that way algea won't grow and make the lfs mushy, further decomposing it. LFS that is soggy wet all the time won't last as long as LFS that is free draining (fresh) loosely packed, and allowed to dry oh-so-slightly before watering. don't skimp on the water just to make the soil last longer, repotting once a year is a good practice anyway.


think of it like this, a banana (or anything else organic for that matter) sitting in a tray of water will rot faster than a banana sitting on a table that you water everyday (WTF?) lol
 
  • #18
I use NZ LFS for small plants and larger plants of a few species which seem to thrive in it, such as N. hamata and N. tentaculata.

In my conditions, it tends to stay too wet, so I crock pots up to 4" to about 1/3 their depth.  Small baskets don't need crocking, but baskets 5" and larger have a smaller inverted basket placed in the bottom.  I avoid solid pots over 4" for LFS.

Done this way, plants dry quickly and require water every day or two.  This keeps them more or less in sync with the majority of the Nepenthes, which are potted in a more complex, loose mix.

As a bonus, the NZ moss often starts to grow, which is attractive and generally indicates the growing environment is satisfactory.

In these conditions it still has the disadvantage of difficult repotting if it has started to break down, and if watering is missed for 3 or 4 days, it dries completely and is difficult to re-wet. Also, the plants in LFS are foliar fed only, making my fertilization regime more complex.

I didn't mean to get carried away here...this is just what works ok for me.
 
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