Nep soil mix(emergency!)

[Starman]

Hi everyone,
I got a young and very nice N.alata this morning.
It needs potting up(arrived bare root)
I have seen what mix to use for Neps in previous threads, but there is a problem, I dont have things like charcoal and osmunda fibre, and I cant get them anytime soon!!
I have the following soils:

Orchid bark
Peat
Perlite
Vermiculite
Sharp sand
Live Spaghnum Moss

What is the best soil mix for my N.alata out of these ingridients?

Thank you for any help,
Dino

 

[Rob-Rah]

I would go for pure live sphagnum moss with a little orchid bark mixed in.

 

[Starman]

Thanks Rob!

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Robs suggestion is good. I would toss in a little perlite also to improve drainage. N. alata is not terribly fussy though so if you have it potted already then just leave it as is.

 

[Phyrex]

Charcoal and osmunda fibre are just optional ingredients. The fibre isn't better than sphag peat but people mostly use it because it's better for the environment (and cheaper?) as far as I know.

And charcoal only absorbs nutrients so they don’t build up. It does eventually break down itself thus releasing the nutrients all at once which is bad (hhmkay) but this doesn’t happen for a long time so when you re-pot ‘regular’ (once in two years or so) this isn’t a problem.

 

[Starman]

I have potted already and just saw your post, Tony.
Il keep in mind when I get another Nep or repot my alata.

Thanks for the info phyrex!

 

[TunaSurprise]

I have a few Neps growing in pure sphagnum.The main reason i use 1/2 osmunda fiber is for drainage, just like Tony suggested as a use for the perlite.

 

[The Griffin]

TunaSurprise,

Aren't you he who was formally NepsMaster? Why the name change?
Note there are different types of sphagnum, and for those of us who have copies of Slack, he had chums who grew neps in a type of live sphagnum that did not seem to become as waterlogged as others.
Also, some lowlanders do well in pure lf sphagnum(bical , from what I hear from Florida growers like Trent and Steven Stewert). Do you know what kind of alata you have(highland or lowland)?

Cheers,

Joe

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Pure Sphagnum works GREAT for N. bicalcarata. I also have a smaller bical in peat and sand and it is also growing great, so go figure!