TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Hey Phyrex,
LFS is Long Fibered Sphagnum. This is basically one of the many species of sphagnum moss that is collected, dried and sold with a minimal amount of processing so the moss is still very spongy when wet and fibrous.
When you say "Life sphag", I assume you mean LIVE SPHAGNUM. This is exactly the same thing as LFS except it is still alive. You typically can't buy Live sphagnum right of the shelf. Some specialty CP nurseries will have it sometimes and a lot of people on this forum could probably set you up with some.
This is a picture of dried LFS, much like you will see for sale from orchid or CP growers: LFS
This is a picture of live Sphagnum: Live Sphagnum
For Nepenthes, you would typically use LFS as part of your soil mix and you will often have live sphagnum growing on top of your nepenthes pots.
Hope that helps.
Steve
LFS is Long Fibered Sphagnum. This is basically one of the many species of sphagnum moss that is collected, dried and sold with a minimal amount of processing so the moss is still very spongy when wet and fibrous.
When you say "Life sphag", I assume you mean LIVE SPHAGNUM. This is exactly the same thing as LFS except it is still alive. You typically can't buy Live sphagnum right of the shelf. Some specialty CP nurseries will have it sometimes and a lot of people on this forum could probably set you up with some.
This is a picture of dried LFS, much like you will see for sale from orchid or CP growers: LFS
This is a picture of live Sphagnum: Live Sphagnum
For Nepenthes, you would typically use LFS as part of your soil mix and you will often have live sphagnum growing on top of your nepenthes pots.
Hope that helps.
Steve
Hey, Phyrex.
When I use LIVE SPHAGNUM for a top dressing to my nepenthes, I find that the ones away from the light tend to say greener then the immediate top that is exposed. However, the deeper down the live sphagnum just stays brown and mostly alive. I don't have any reason to think that live sphag throughout the pot would cause any issues. But, hey...I've never had that much live sphagnum before. If it is that readily available in the Netherlands....then I consider myself lucky that I am moving there.
When I use LIVE SPHAGNUM for a top dressing to my nepenthes, I find that the ones away from the light tend to say greener then the immediate top that is exposed. However, the deeper down the live sphagnum just stays brown and mostly alive. I don't have any reason to think that live sphag throughout the pot would cause any issues. But, hey...I've never had that much live sphagnum before. If it is that readily available in the Netherlands....then I consider myself lucky that I am moving there.
SuperSphag are the chopped of growing points from the NZ stuff when it's dried.
You wouldn't get the same result by just chopping LFS.
Adding perlite yourself (50/50) seems to be a good Nepenthes mix.
I probably don't even need peat or LFS at all since I have supersphag, perlite and live sphag for the bottom and top but I'm still not sure if adding some other ingredients would be benefitial.
Also stuff like orchid bark...
But the point of this topic was to figure out whether LFS would be better than live sphag in certain Nepenthes mixes.
Some growers grow Nepenthes in 100% pure live sphag right or is that LFS?
You wouldn't get the same result by just chopping LFS.
Adding perlite yourself (50/50) seems to be a good Nepenthes mix.
I probably don't even need peat or LFS at all since I have supersphag, perlite and live sphag for the bottom and top but I'm still not sure if adding some other ingredients would be benefitial.
Also stuff like orchid bark...
But the point of this topic was to figure out whether LFS would be better than live sphag in certain Nepenthes mixes.
Some growers grow Nepenthes in 100% pure live sphag right or is that LFS?
Potting mix is more art than science. The same mix will behave differently for each grower. Environmental factors, watering schedules, plant size vs pot size etc etc etc all affect how the mix will work.
If your asking if you can use live Sphagnum in the place of dried LFS then I would say yes. Whether you should use all LFS either dried or live or some mix of supersphag and perlite or whatever is hard to say. Your best bet is to start with a basic mix of some LFS (live or dry), some chunky water absorbent bits (orchid bark, coconut husk chips etc) and something to keep the mix loose and airy (perlite). Then see how the plants do and start tinkering from there. For me 100% LFS is way too wet, even supersphag with perlite (1:1) in my situation can be a problem for some plants, but not others.
Assuming all your other environmental conditions are correct, you will know your mix is on the right track when you get good strong root growth throughout the mix.
Tony
If your asking if you can use live Sphagnum in the place of dried LFS then I would say yes. Whether you should use all LFS either dried or live or some mix of supersphag and perlite or whatever is hard to say. Your best bet is to start with a basic mix of some LFS (live or dry), some chunky water absorbent bits (orchid bark, coconut husk chips etc) and something to keep the mix loose and airy (perlite). Then see how the plants do and start tinkering from there. For me 100% LFS is way too wet, even supersphag with perlite (1:1) in my situation can be a problem for some plants, but not others.
Assuming all your other environmental conditions are correct, you will know your mix is on the right track when you get good strong root growth throughout the mix.
Tony
