TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
vft's wouldnt really need Live LFSM, so I hope your not looking for live. it'd also be more expensive (alot) and you'd have to attempt to keep it alive too, if your balcony is too dry for VFT. then its undoubtedly too dry for living moss, as jimmy said, if your looking for dried moss then you would spend more money on shipping than just going somewhere easy and buying some...
Hi Nar,
As Jimmy stated, you can buy dried sphagnum moss at Lowes for less than $5 a bag. Any live sphagnum for outside pot on a dry balcony would soon become dry and dead. If you really do want live sphagnum for outside, you have to either water or spray the moss several times a day or make a mini bog. Basically, a simple mini bog would be to place a pot (w/ drain holes) in a larger pot (w/ NO drain holes) and keep the water level high to insure the live sphagnum stays wet all the time. If you are not willing to do the above, than the dried sphagnum moss at Lowes is what you should buy.
As Jimmy stated, you can buy dried sphagnum moss at Lowes for less than $5 a bag. Any live sphagnum for outside pot on a dry balcony would soon become dry and dead. If you really do want live sphagnum for outside, you have to either water or spray the moss several times a day or make a mini bog. Basically, a simple mini bog would be to place a pot (w/ drain holes) in a larger pot (w/ NO drain holes) and keep the water level high to insure the live sphagnum stays wet all the time. If you are not willing to do the above, than the dried sphagnum moss at Lowes is what you should buy.
NaRnAr
Ive got Crabs!
Alrighty, I will give the dry moss a go...might be easier right now. Thanks for the suggestion for Lowes, I wasnt sure where to get either kinds. 
I was thinking of making that mini-bog tho...Ive got the pots all ready, just have to go get my substrate!
Thanks again guy, sorry for all of the noob questions and confusions!
I was thinking of making that mini-bog tho...Ive got the pots all ready, just have to go get my substrate!
Thanks again guy, sorry for all of the noob questions and confusions!
Wolfn
Agent of Chaos
bluebird
Rub my belly!
Alrighty, I will give the dry moss a go...might be easier right now. Thanks for the suggestion for Lowes, I wasnt sure where to get either kinds.
I was thinking of making that mini-bog tho...Ive got the pots all ready, just have to go get my substrate!
Thanks again guy, sorry for all of the noob questions and confusions!
I've bought the better-gro stuff it's pretty good I use it on top of my minibog to help reduce peat splashing around when it rains hard also I have the LFS/perlite in my N.sanguinea that I repoted from lowes it's doing well and on top of the lfs if starting to get a tint of green in some places so I hope it's alive.. no pictures due to bad internet sorry.
mixes will vary obviously depending upon the types of CP's your wanting in your bog, you can always go with the standard cp mix which is 50-50 peat/perlite. if its more of a drosera bog you may want to go the sand way,
not say that sand isnt okay for the other cp's. generally speaking you'll probably just reserve LFSM for the top part of the bog to help with relative humidity and water retention...and as it was mentioned before, it looks better and keeps peat and perlite from floating and winding up everywhere and all over your plants...
I've got 2 small bogs set up that way outside, one pure vft's and the other a mix I picked up for a forum member here just a week ago, the one i set up is doing really well and I'm waiting to see how the other bog will do, it may turn out a bit cramped
make sure you get something big enough to allow for all of the plants to reach maturity, and think about what your planning on placing within the bog, you may even post here what your plans are theres alot of experienced bog creators here who can give tips as to what makes a good bog.
Let us know,
Chris
not say that sand isnt okay for the other cp's. generally speaking you'll probably just reserve LFSM for the top part of the bog to help with relative humidity and water retention...and as it was mentioned before, it looks better and keeps peat and perlite from floating and winding up everywhere and all over your plants...
I've got 2 small bogs set up that way outside, one pure vft's and the other a mix I picked up for a forum member here just a week ago, the one i set up is doing really well and I'm waiting to see how the other bog will do, it may turn out a bit cramped
make sure you get something big enough to allow for all of the plants to reach maturity, and think about what your planning on placing within the bog, you may even post here what your plans are theres alot of experienced bog creators here who can give tips as to what makes a good bog.
Let us know,
Chris
upper
Capensis Killer
a pic of my minibog in it's most simplest form.
i hope the pot on the right side is plastic.....
Nepfreak
Nepenthesian
Terracotta pots arent necessarily toxic... they just arent ideal most of the time, they allow much more evaporation of the moist media which basically means it'll dry out quicker than with a plastic pot, it also allows for a build up of minerals or the leaking of minerals into your media which could prove to be toxic over a long period of time... and if they dont have drainage holes your looking at a potential problem with being unable to determine how much water it needs and when...or flooding if it were to rain a bunch randomly...
not to say that people dont use glazed pots for vft's and havnt had good results becuase they have, but its not necessarily ideal... if your going to use terracotta make sure its a much much larger pot that way it'd take alot more time and heat to lose water and also more time to cause mineral buildups or problems...
when are you going to get them planted!?
show us some pictures when you get it done!
Chris
not to say that people dont use glazed pots for vft's and havnt had good results becuase they have, but its not necessarily ideal... if your going to use terracotta make sure its a much much larger pot that way it'd take alot more time and heat to lose water and also more time to cause mineral buildups or problems...
when are you going to get them planted!?
show us some pictures when you get it done!
Chris
you really dont need LFS for VFTs. It will grow ok in it, but no matter how dry your balcony is a mix of peat and perlite (i really prefer sand for my mixes, only use perlite for my Nepenthes) and just keep it in the saucer of water or you can just hit it with the watering can every couple days if you don't want to keep standing water around.
I'd be wiling to bet it would be just fine.
I'd be wiling to bet it would be just fine.
