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Ideal medium for nepenthes.

JB_OrchidGuy

Cardiac Nurse
Hello folks. Just curious for a long lasting medium for my nepenthes. My current mix I highly peat and I think it might be the reason for the decline of my treasured truncata. It is a rather large plant and I have had it potted in the same huge pot for about 3 or more years now. I thought it was the winter that caused it's decline bug I don't think that is the case anymore. I don't like repotting nepenthes due to very fragile root systems. It proved fatal to some nepenthes to repot. I don't care for LFS in my area because it breaks down and compacts so easily then doesn't hold water well. Lost a few nepenthes that way. Then I am back to repotting again.

What I would like is a recipe for your mix. Like 3 parts this 1 part this and so forth. I am thinking a heavy sand mix might be good. Like 3 parts sand to 1 part peat. I don't like perlite because it floats and plants stay outside during the summer. I am just at wits end. I hope I can repot all these plants in time so they can rebound. I have 3 bogs yet left to do and they take some time to do to make sure plant and tags are correct. Wow it sure is easier to keep up with it rather than putting it off.

Thanks everyone! I feel like I am relearning a lot this go around.
 
My preferred mix for my outdoor and windowsill neps. works well in low to average humidity.

fine bark/fine perlite/fine charcoal/ in equal amounts and a inch thick LFS topdressing

My mix for my HL chamber neps is almost identical, except the ingredients are more coarse due to the higer humidity and more frequent watering. Also, I use Live LFS for the chamber neps.
 
Have you ever tried cocohusk, tree fern fiber or various orchid barks? They ought to give you a couple years before completely falling apart, and given your humidity I'm not sure you'd need peat in it to retain the moisture. Give this website a look and see what they describe for the water retention properties, and maybe if you email them you might get a good recommendation:

http://repotme.com/orchid-media/index.html

I know Ozzy and Crissytal are in the same general area as you, and maybe ask the coastal Hawaiian growers because it's roughly the same environment, albeit with less heat because they have chilled tradewinds moving the air around a little bit more. Sam Estes in the swamp on the big island pots in what looked like sludge + rocks, which may be peat : volcanic rock, considering the heat and sun his plants all receive (so they can stay in a wetter mix).
 
There are as many composts as there are Nepenthes growers. I grow seedlings and most of my highland plants in live sphagnum moss; for others, I use a 2:1:1 mix of live sphagnum, pumice, and fine orchid bark. Other recipes call for small amounts of charcoal, pumice, coco husks, or vermiculite

Quick draining, not sodden, is the order of the day . . .

Nepenthes truncata (Pasian)
NTRUNCATA-2.jpg
 
It gets humid and HOT here. I water orchids just about every day. In the 100's and high humidity biting the summer. I have treefern fiber but not enough to pot up these guys. I guess they could be watered every day too. Treefern lasts a LONG time. Goal is to never repot but sure I cannot get there growing in containers. And to think I just repotted several nepenthes before realizing the peat was causing the decline in the truncata. Found that out after looking at the peat from the bog that I'm taking down and how it is do compacked and like paste. I have thought about the stiff used for hydroponics too. Inorganic and I can set a pump to water every day and just up the pot size when needed. Will give me little to no rootzone disturbance when I up pot. I wonder if I could grow the ferns in that with the nepenthes. I have a fern growing in with one of my nepenthes. The nepenthes is doing great. I learned in biology ferns tend to form symbiotic relationships with surrounding plants. Thus sharing sugars and stuff through the roots. I wonder if that is happening with my marbled dragon.

I honestly forgot about the non organic hydroton until I read thez's post. I really do wonder if I could do a system that uses hydroton as the medium. Use a timered pump to fill the pots twice or more a day but let them dry the rest. My brain is working now. What kind of ph do bros generally like? The hydoton is neutral. LFS gets really acidic like peat and that can harm some plants too. Hmmmmmi need to start reading now.

---------- Post added at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 PM ----------

Bella that truncata is wonderful. Mine is sad now and come to think has been on the decline for a while now. I just didn't catch it. Bella my concern with LFS is the breakdown in SC and the only time and place I can get it to grow well is on my bog that stays wet. I want to minimize repots if I can. I have almost killed several orchids due to compacted LFS. I would hate to do ghat to my bros too. They don't bounce back like orchids in my experiences. Maybe I am asking too much of my medium?? Or expectations?

---------- Post added at 03:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:34 PM ----------

Bella what do you mean not sodden?
 
JB -- Thanks. I have friends who use sphagnum-based mixes -- often with a bit of "orchid bark" in the 100˚ plus heat of Summer in Austin, Texas; and they've had little problem with the breakdown of the moss. Any time that I have used denser mixes, I too have noticed decline and slowed growth. My suggestion is to mix some larger bark into the compost to keep it aerated . . .
 
Ok yeah we are slot more humid I think here than Austin. Never had luck with it myself. Ok I will definitely repot. Also concerned about acidity honestly. They were growing phrag discovered in 2002 in LFS. The plants were slow growing and not doing well. They discovered they despised the acidity and changed medium and they took off. So that got me thinking about my nepenthes. So going to look that up now too. I have to do something before they all perish.
 
Ok yeah we are slot more humid I think here than Austin. Never had luck with it myself. Ok I will definitely repot. Also concerned about acidity honestly. They were growing phrag discovered in 2002 in LFS. The plants were slow growing and not doing well. They discovered they despised the acidity and changed medium and they took off. So that got me thinking about my nepenthes. So going to look that up now too. I have to do something before they all perish.

Most all of my neps are kept in a very acidic environment -- and I also occasionally use a "peat tea" and coffee to decrease the pH further . . .
 
Ok yeah we are slot more humid I think here than Austin. Never had luck with it myself. Ok I will definitely repot. Also concerned about acidity honestly. They were growing phrag discovered in 2002 in LFS. The plants were slow growing and not doing well. They discovered they despised the acidity and changed medium and they took off. So that got me thinking about my nepenthes. So going to look that up now too. I have to do something before they all perish.

Some neps like N,ampullaria and bicalcarata love acid soil, some, like northiana and bochiana seem to hate acid...so looking at their natural habitat will be helpful.
 
  • #10
Nothing should ever be floating in a Nepenthes pot, even perlite. The ideal mix will drain so rapidly that things won't have time to float, but it should also retain moisture well. I've used a variety of mixes over the years, but I found that the two things that seem to generate the best results for the health of the plants is to have a mix that remains light and airy and to use big pots so the roots have somewhere to go. However, the size of the pot is not going to matter if your mix gets compacted or mushy. You will need to repot every two to four years in any case, and it's not a problem if you are gentle and just take your time.

The mix I generally use now for lowland plants consists of equal parts New Zealand sphagnum, peat, and perlite, often along with another equal part of either coconut chips or cypress mulch. If the mix doesn't seem airy enough, I add more of the coarser ingredients from there until it feels fluffy. I only use New Zealand sphagnum (many sources online) because it is just better quality, and it won't break down as fast. It also won't break down as fast if the mix is properly airy.

For highlanders I use pretty much equal parts of sphagnum and perlite, (for some of the more finicky varieties it's more like 2/3 perlite) with some peat and coconut chips thrown in much lesser amounts. Lately I've been adding some horticultural charcoal because it's a good idea to do that.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, it sounds like you are going a little heavy in your use of peat. Not a good idea, and even perlite won't aerate it enough for nepenthes in the long haul. Sand is okay, (pure quartz sand only) but it shouldn't be a a major part of your mix. You should only think of it as an addition if you want to use it. Some people use orchid bark for a coarse component, which greatly increases drainage, and that will work, but I find that it breaks down much too quickly into mush for me and often contains pathogens like funguses.

If your roots are already damaged from being too soggy too long, you might be looking at a long recovery with a lot of TLC. I've had several plants recover from that kind of situation, including a rescued N. villosa. It always took a while to see results after that kind of damage.
 
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  • #11
I've read several places that truncata likes to be grown on the drier side so a more loose soil would be much better. Although I have never used Hydroton Grow Rocks I have seen a few people growing in this or similar stuff and have been rather pleased with it plus it will take a very long time to break down. Hope this helps
 
  • #12
I've read several places that truncata likes to be grown on the drier side so a more loose soil would be much better. Although I have never used Hydroton Grow Rocks I have seen a few people growing in this or similar stuff and have been rather pleased with it plus it will take a very long time to break down. Hope this helps

Mine are kept in highly wet conditions. The one pictured earlier is kept above my kitchen sink and always gets a few cups . . .
 
  • #13
I have a N. truncata that was declining until I repotted it into an airer mix and started keeping it on the drier side of moist. It responded immediately, and now it's growing great.
 
  • #14
I too find that trucata likes a chunky mix.
 
  • #15
Wow thanks. Yeah I was looking at the ph for a hand fun and they did best between 4.0 to 5.5 most liking 4.8. Was just a handful looked at in this study. I admit to know more about orchid than nepenthes. And still learning. Yes nepguy. Mainly peat. I will be fixing this Wed. Just ned to figure out how. Do I want inorganic or gently repot every 2. Idk. But I need to do something and I think they will recover hopefully. Thank for the recommendations so far. Awesome of you guys. Thanks again.

---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:38 PM ----------

Well I have been growing long enough to know what works for one will not work for someone else. So I will contemplate my options.

I also know plants can adapt. Orchids should not be kept wet at all. But they can adapt to grow semi-hydroponically with hydration and roots growing in the water at the bottom of the pot. Bella maybe your beauty is grown in z mix loose enough and is used to the constant drink. My my my that is a beautiful truncata. Mine was very nice the 1st year putting out litter or larger pitchers.

Gea did the grow with it in pots? Do like a hydroponic thing wetting every so often? How did they use hydroton? That stuff shouldn't break down.


My my the choices. And I still consider myself a nepenthes noobie.

---------- Post added at 04:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 PM ----------

And yes orchid bark breaks down in about a year or less in some cases.

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------

Oh and 1st objective Wed is getting my poor truncata out of the suffocating peat mix it is in. I am ashamed of myself now. What I get for listening to so relatively new grower in the beginning. Now that I think of it he never kept plants long enough to know what worked long term. :-/ disointed in myself now.
 
  • #16
they grew in pots and generally were just using hydroton or the like as a portion of their mix, if I can find a pic later I'll post it.
 
  • #17
Please do. I am struggling with myself on what to repot these guys in.

I would rather find out now than grow a specimen rajah and loose it to repotting. If I'm going hydroton or similar I would rather find out now.

They say repots can be done safely. I am just scared because if experts loose plants to repots. I'm sure a noobie like myself will loose specimen plants.
 
  • #18
Please do. I am struggling with myself on what to repot these guys in.

I would rather find out now than grow a specimen rajah and loose it to repotting. If I'm going hydroton or similar I would rather find out now.

They say repots can be done safely. I am just scared because if experts loose plants to repots. I'm sure a noobie like myself will loose specimen plants.

Honestly...I've never lost a single nep due to repotting in 6 + years of growing, so as long as you are gentle, I don't think you need to worry.

Rajah is one exception however.....it HATES repotting....so your best bet for one of those would prolly be a mix of mostly perlite of some other slow/non deteriorating components. Also..I avoid LFS for the reason that nep roots tend to entwine themselves in it and will not let lose without breaking. For something sensitive like rajah, that could be fatal.
 
  • #19
Has anyone tried this mix? Got it from carnivorousplant.org it is completely inorganic.


The mixture consists of one part each: Seramis® clay perls (Effem, Verden/Aller), lava gravel (sold in aquarium shops, grain size approximately 1 cm), Lecaton® (expanded clay perls used for hydroponics, grain size approximately 1 cm) (Figure 2). These ingredients have the advantage of being more widely available than lava-clinkers. The mixture is slightly alkaline with a pH of 7.2, and should be soaked in purified water before being used.

The site said it works for high and low alike and all species. Including cuttings.
 
  • #20
Has anyone tried this mix? Got it from carnivorousplant.org it is completely inorganic.

The site said it works for high and low alike and all species. Including cuttings.

In the past, I have used something similar with cuttings; but then again, out of curiosity or college-induced penury since the 1980s, I have also used cellulose sponges, fibreglass insulation, and wads of foam rubber to root Nepenthes. Some actually use bits of discarded foam as a constituent of Nepenthes composts; however, I have never used an entirely inorganic mix with established plants.

One thing to be concerned with, if you should ever lean towards coconut husk-based mixes, is to ensure that the materials were not harvested near a beach. I know of several growers in Asia who lost significant collections do to phenomenally-high sodium in the husks . . .

 
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