Trying a no-sphagnum mix.

[Capslock]

I'm trying to see how a no-lfs mix works for me. I'm using cedar mulch, pumice, charcoal, and some peat/sand mix. I figure I can fertilize this mix and not end up with mush, and this plant hasn't been growing any for me anyway.

Capslock

 

[phissionkorps]

I only use sphag if I'm strapped for time

Personally I layer the bottom of a pot with lava rock and then use 1:1:1 peaterlite:vermiculite...personally I find it better than sphag (as in...considerably better)

I also use pure cedar mulch for my rajah

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

That mix just LOOKS good. I bet it will work great, and if it does heck, I may try some!

phissionkorps, you use pure cedar mulch for your N. rajah? How does it fair?

 

[xvart]

Is that left-most pitcher buried halfway? Any reason for that?

xvart.

 

[Clint]

Sometimes you have to bury or cut off a pitcher to plant something.

 

[phissionkorps]

Yes I use pure cedar mulch for the rajah. I've only had it for probably 4 months max, and it seems to have finally settled in. In that time Its produced 2 new leaves and looks pretty healthy. I decided to use just the cedar mulch because it drains way faster than sphag, and still holds water, though not as much, which is a good thing for rajah. I had always heard that it needs a pretty airy mix, and cedar mulch has a lot of holes in it

 

[JMurphy97]

What is the most natural mix? The kind you would find them growing in the wild? I try to make everything look as natural as possible without all that perlite and other stuff. Your mix looks good but take the perlite out or make it so you can't see it and it's way better.

 

[phissionkorps]

"most natural mix" is species dependant. Gracilis/mirabilis/raff would be in a peat swamp, northiana on a limestone cliff, etc

 

[Capslock]

Heh, as soon as I posted the pic, I noticed I buried one of the pitchers. I went down and pulled it out last night.

Capslock

 

[The Griffin]

Remember, what Nature has is not always what we want. Hard to mimic the ground water, ect, for a peat swamp in cultivation. Some Florida growers figured out pure lfs works great for bicals for example.
As for Capslock's mix, it does look beautiful. If you water enough, you can get away with courser mixes. I freaked when I saw N. aristolochiodes that somebody bought at the 2006 conference(from Black Jungle, I think) and it was in pure cedar mulch(I think-it was pure bark mulch of some kind) and it looked great!
Some German growers have an article in a older CPN using lava pebbles, Seramis and Lectacon(the latter are clay pellet types) and with a few Osmocote an a lot of water, they look great too.
Is the cedar mulch just garden center type stuff?

Cheers,

Joe

 

[Outsiders71]

Just don't drink the pitcher juice, cedar mulch is toxic .

 

[phissionkorps]

you can get cedar mulch at garden centers, but you have to be sure that it hasnt been treated or colored or anything, and i recommend washing it well before use

 

[Capslock]

Yeah, this is "GreenAll" 100% natural Red Cedar Mulch from a garden center. It doesn't look like it's colored or treated, but boy did it need a lot of washing! I let it soak overnight, then poured the bucket full of mulch and water through a colander. I put it back in the bucket, filled with water, stirred, and into the colander again. I repeated this last step about five times before I was happy with the cleanliness of it.

Capslock

 

[The Griffin]

Has anyone who soaked bark or mulch noticed a turpentine smell from the oils in the wood?
Natural, but makes me nervoice, lol.

Cheers,

Joe

 

[jimscott]

While "natural" cp soil media varies, for the most part, though, one can't go to far wrong with sand, peat, and LFS. Can't beat that for texture, water retention, draining, and antisceptic qualities.

 

[leewoojin94]

hm...

mine is coconut husks, perlite, charcoal, lava rock, fir bark, vermiculite.

good thing. super drainage. bad, dries too quickly

 

[phissionkorps]

leewoojin, your mix seems a bit on the chunky side.
I'd leave out either the coconut husks or the fir bark, or replace one of them with peat

 

[Clint]

Wonder why you guys can't use untreated animal bedding... seems like pine or cedar or aspen or whatever shavings would hold water, drain well, and dry out in a pinch of needed be.

Personally my favorite mix when I did grow nepenthes was 1/1/1 orchid mix (bark, charcoal and clay rock things)/LFS/perlite with brillo pad on the bottom of the pot.

 

[The Griffin]

If leewoojin94 can keep the watering up, it sounds like a great mix. That's "if." I could never water enough. You can experiment with mixes more if you have room and start prodcuing rooted cuttings. If that was my mix, I would cut vermiculite and firbark out and use peat and lfs in place of those. Some don't like one or the other of those components.
Actually, I have never been fond of lava rock either, but I can never get small enough pepples(aquarium stores sell nice small ones for a fortune!)
It really depends on your growing conditions.
Try this: start a thread on what everyone's favorite mix is, and see how many responses you get(there has to to be one from the past if you can dig(pun) it up). You will get a ton of combos to that question.

Cheers,

Joe

PS JLAP I love your new avatar, lol.

 

[Clint]

Thanks, It's so me lol

If you're looking for small pebbles, buy a bag of Schultz Profile from home depot. It's aquatic plant soil. It's heavier than perlite but still very light. It's inert and only 6 bucks for 10 pounds. I'm crazy about the stuff.