Help osmocote

[Predator]

Hello all

I arrived home from holiday to find that my girlfriends nan who lives with us has put osmocote pellets on nearly all of my plants, I had bought the bag of osmocote to try some out on some neps but not used it yet, she thought she was helping and said some plants looked like they needed some help which is her reason why she has done it. She was put in charge to look after the plants why we were away but we told her to only water them, she is old and doesn't listen and always thinks she knows best, she also cannot grasp the fact these plants don't need fertiliser and does not understand them but she has grown plants and vegetables for years and thinks she knows everything and will not listen to me. In some pots the osmocote has been pushed down into the media so repotting would be the only way. My worries are do I need to repot everything? I have many plants, or will some plants be Ok with the osmocote?

Plants affected

Cephalotus
Nepenthes
Heliamphora
Dionaea

 

[Not a Number]

The flytraps I would change the medium.

I couldn't say anything useful about the Heliamphora.

With the Nepenthes and Cephalotus if only 3 or 4 pellets per pot were added I wouldn't worry much about it. Cephalotus get like 40% of their nutrition from their roots. And you're probably not using the tray method with either genus so just discard the runoff.

Since my Cephalotus needs repotting and division I was going to try some pellets on one of the divisions to see what happens.

She probably didn't push the pellets in very deep. You may be able to just scoop out the top layers and pellets.

 

[Predator]

Thanks for the reply I think there maybe more more than four pellets in some I think some have 10 or more in and some only 5 or 6 pellets. I have also heard that osmocote can kill live sphagnum moss is this true? alot of my plants are in or have a top layer of live sphag moss.

 

[Not a Number]

Too much nutrients are not good for Sphagnum. You may want to peel off your top layers and put it into separate containers for the time being. You should be able to find any pellets in the Sphagnum either with backlighting with a strong flashlight or just gently squeezing between your fingers or pressing down against a hard surface.

A thin layer of peat moss under the Sphagnum helps but isn't necessary.

 

[seedjar]

NaN got it on the nose. Flush the pots regularly, and the live moss is probably the only thing that's in any significant danger. If it was applied at a reasonable concentration the Cephs and Neps should be fine. Your Neps will probably show a growth spurt and perhaps be reluctant to pitcher for the next few months at the very worst. The Cephs might even be grateful for it - a paper that Butch referred me to reported that Cephs take up as much as 70%-80% of their nutrition through the roots. (I don't remember if it was Butch or another grower, but somebody here has a Ceph growing quite well in Miracle Gro potting mix.)
As for the Helis, repotting might be a good idea. If they're like other Sarraceniaceae they shouldn't mind the nutrition from the Osmocote, but if fertilization causes the media to break down faster, they certainly will object to that. The Dionaea should definitely be repotted. Again though, not the end of the world - flytraps appreciate being repotted into fresh peat regularly.
~Joe

 

[Wire Man]

We use Osmocote at Meadowview on occasion. About one pellet for Sarracenias (per plant) is safe. Neps can take a bit more. I think we use something different for flytraps, it's a bit strong for them. We do use a low amount on seedling neps for the roots, just to give them a bit of a boost. Mature neps can handle a surprising amount of the stuff.

It's a slow release fertilizer, taking months to fully release.