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Nepenthes rajah

  • #61
I am wary of schultz mixes
Don't be. They're amazing. If there is fertilizer in them, it says so on the bag. Read every word before buying.
 
  • #62
Yeah I just say that because where can you get them now. They are nice though. The Predator is getting big now. I'm sure it's in a 6 or 8in pot now. I'm just trying to find the right mix.
 
  • #63
naah! It doesn't say that on the bag of peat moss. I am 100% sure. A member on my local OCPS board also bought schultz peat and found it out the hard way. There are slow release fertilizer balls in them.


Don't be. They're amazing. If there is fertilizer in them, it says so on the bag. Read every word before buying.
 
  • #64
i have shultz peat and the plants are fine
 
  • #65
Varun- Yes, I believe Jeremiah grows his big rajah in pure LFS. I did also, in the same size pot that he grows his in...but my plant was about 3x bigger than his and needed to be repotted. The problem was, and I'll repeat it once more, that the roots were all tangled in the moss..which was rotting, and I could not get it off the roots without damaging them. Thus the decline of the plant, plain and simple. Had I been growing in an open mix I would have been able to just pot the whole root ball on into a bigger pot...or maybe could have removed a good deal of it without having to tear the roots up so much.

If you want to grow your rajah in LFS that's fine. You just need to be prepared for the day when it needs to be removed from the root mass. And there will be that day. You just can not be misguided into believing that what works for one does not work for another. That does not apply here. Sphagnum does not last forever no matter how careful you water and how much air circulation you give it. It WILL eventually decay and if the roots of your plant are tangled up in a lot of it where do you think the moss will begin decaying first?

Varun I'm concerned about something you mentioned earlier. You mentioned that you need to water your moss often to keep it alive but the media you grow your rajah in stays too wet. You need to decide which is more important. The moss or the rajah. If you want to keep your rajah healthy, then under your growing conditions you may need to forgo the beauty of the live moss..if it means you have to keep your rajah media so wet all the time. There is so much emphasis on top dressing with live moss but so often to the detriment of the plant being grown. I'm pretty sure there is no Sphagnum moss growing where rajah does. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. And if I am...well then there you go; my humble appologies.

Also, the rajah we grow may be a higher elevation form than the burbidgeae we grow. They do grow at different elevations and therefor react differently to cold in different ways.
 
  • #66
All the habitat photos I've seen of rajah have it growing in sandy bare clay soil/rock. I've yet to see Sphagnum (any species) growing around it, but I could've just missed it. One would think these clay soils would not provide much aeration, but it is my understanding that lots of aeration is provided by fern roots.

Just for reference, burb grows 1200-1800m asl.
Rajah grows 1500-2600 asl.

I've always wanted to try a burb, but I think my temps would kill it. I had a rajah that survived about a year, but it only pitchered once, and there's no way I could've kept it alive long term.
 
  • #67
I still get jitters on how you could have felt to have lost such a specimen. My humble condolences. I do agree with you on the fact of the media deteriorating. I did expect that the moment I decided to pot the plants in it. The concern is how long it can go before considering a repot.

Well Phil....to be totally honest...I feel that I should wait a bit longer...especially atleast till I make a definite grow setup. Right now I use a shelf method with 3 crappy single tube, CFL light fixtures positioned on cardboard boxes to light a shelf and whatnot looking horrible and inconvenient. I am planning on a new highland setup in the summer...something more of a tank style which would serve my purpose for a good chunk of time. Then I feel I should repot...i.e., let my plant regain its strength by growing more leaves and pitchers which I can feed. Then for sure...I will repot into the new lighter media. Make no mistake, your experience has taught such that I will never ever pot my future neps (and even current ones) in the same media that I currently use. My plant is still only 8 inches in diameter from leaf tip to leaf tip (measured yest with a ruler ;) ). I still fall into the category of juvenile plant growers. I definitely want to grow this to adult size....so your information is really very helpful. I am already making an archive with information like this which I can refer to in the future. :)

Hmm....I totally agree with you and no denial over with that point. I have to do something regarding the wet media. Earlier when the sphagnum was very little, it used ot have a microenvironment from the LFS media and stayed pretty damp without problems. I used to water once a week then. Now, I literally use a liter of water every day just to keep the growing sphagnum moss happy. Since sphagnum only takes what it wants and lets the remaining pass..the media collects the remainder. You are right. I have to do something about it. I might probably start removing some of the moss, put it aside and use it as a media-mix for my future plants or ceph cuttings. I am currently also trying in replacing the sphagnum with polytrichum. Polytrichum has a far sturdier stem structure...grows a lot taller, looks many magnitudes better ;) and also provides good aeration. Plus....it doesn't require too much water as long as the humidity is fine. The concern is that it grows a lot slower and is harder to establish than sphagnum.

Yeah! there is no sphagnum from what i have seen and read about the N.rajah habitat. You are definately right:
- First thing I need to do is to start trimming away at the sphagnum layer in the rajah and my other nep pots.
I will probably start doing this tomorrow
The last thing I want is the nightmare of seeing a black creeping death on my highland neps. :(

Anyways, Thank you for your all your advice Phil. Thanks for sharing your experience and making me aware of the concerns with the current media that I use. :) I have certainly learnt a lot in this thread that will redefine the way I will grow my plants.
 
  • #68
I think it tought most of us a lesson. I know I will stop using it as a mix as well. Even though all mine except the predator are still small.
 
  • #69
I am not sure if someone said this but, since you like using things like the laundry basket, can't you line the inside with moss then fill it with good substrate, that way you can have the cheap big baskets and won't have to worry about the soil going through all the holes.
 
  • #70
I'm pretty sure that the basket is so they can get some air flow through the soil.
 
  • #71
bingo! :)
 
  • #72
Wouldn't the substrate just wash right out the the laundry basket when he watered it if there wasn't something holding it in?
 
  • #73
well......its not a laundry basket per se. Its a pond lily basket. and naah.....the holes are small enough to not let the sphagnum to "run out" with the water.
 
  • #74
No, I meant like dirt substrate. I was saying why don't you use sphagnum to line the basket then fill it with the better coarse substrate that won't become paste like the sphagnum, or would mesh be better to cover holes?

Am I being confusing?
 
  • #75
Well! I get what you are saying. But I don't plan on use fine grain ingredients that can run out of the holes for my plant. :) That means the bark, perlite grades will be the big pieces which will be big enough to stay in the pot.
 
  • #76
And also if you line the outside of it with sphagnum it kinda blocks airflow into the soil.
 
  • #77
JM, that doesn't make any since. It couldn't stop air flow that would harm the plant because it is IN sphagnum.
 
  • #78
Hi
A very interesting thread :cool:
I am in the process of repotting my rajah plants & have been considering other mixes. To date I have used LFS and Seramis Clay pellets with orchid bark. I agree that all Nepenthes do best in as open a mix as possible- far bigger pitchers and much better root systems.
I have read about cedar/redwood mulch being excellent but wonder if I could find it in the UK? How is it packaged- garden centre/orchid nurseries? If that was not available what would you use?

Phil- How deep was the root system on your large rajah, as I have read that they are often quite shallow but spread a long way. Your loss sounds like everyones nightmare:-(
I know that it is always a nerve wrecking business repotting large and older plants you have had many years- Do you or don't you and whatever you decide can seem the wrong decision!

Did you support all the pitchers as I guess most grew well beyond the container they were growing in?

cheers

bill
 
  • #79
Redwood is normally sold in plastic bags in the garden center outside here in the states. I just got done repotting many of my plants in a treefern/firbark mix from tropical plant products. Now I just potted them so I am not totally sure how they will do in the long run, but treefern lasts a long time.
 
  • #80
Bill-

My N. rajah was growing in a 14 inch wide by 12 inch deep pot of pure LFS and the root mass filled the entire pot from top to bottom. I had a layer of polystyrene packing peanuts in the bottom of the pot for drainage that the roots had completely encompassed. It was inevitable that I was going to do damage but had no choice as the sphagnum was going bad and had that awful ammonia smell forming in it.

I never needed to support the pitchers. The leaves were each 16 to 18 inches long with tendrils that stretched out about 20+ inches long. The pitchers all formed once the tips of the tendrils touched the ground surrounding the base of the pot.

And now if you'll excuse me...I'm going to sit in the corner and cry again!
 
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