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long fibered sphagnum

Anybody use lfs with perlite for potting mix I been reading alot of pros and cons but not much opinions from actual people and their results. I guess I ask this in regards to sarracenia ,fly traps, and temperate drosera rotundifolia and intermedia
 
Using Sphagnum fibers in a soil mix for temperate insectivores is kind of a waste of a pricey resource, and there is no advantage over using peat, which is what most growers choose. Sphagnum is better for genera like Nepenthes that need fast drainage and lots of air in the mix. Sarracenia, Drosera and Dionaea don't need as much air in their soil. Those genera are more at home in a mix of 50/50 peat and sand. (Perlite can be subbed for sand, if needed, but you may want to use less than 50% Perlite, since it can leach Fluoride, which plants can object to.)
 
LiThanks for the straight forward answer thats all I needed to know I guess I just wanted to clear the air. I hear people swear by either or. I was also unaware about perlite leaching fluoride. Would silica sand be a better choice
 
Thanks for the straight forward answer thats all I needed to know I guess I just wanted to clear the air. I hear people swear by either or. I was also unaware about perlite leaching fluoride. Would silica sand be a better choice
 
Oh geeze sorry whimgrinder I see you mentioned sand already thanks
 
Drosera like the rainforest sisters love spag and will suffer or slow growth in peat mixes over spag, as Whimgrinder said it is predominantly for nepenthes, as for perlite leaching, I wash all of my soils before I use them, and via washing have never had an issue with perlite, perhaps your source is polluted, maybe try another source.
Also I grow a couple temperate/tropical drosera in spag such as filiformis, capensis and spathulata because in peat mixes they grow much slower and attain smaller sizes, but I should also mention I am in a tropical climate so the airation helps to cool, their roots, same deal with dionaea where I use a soil mix of 1spag:1peat:1basalt.
However with spag you have to be carful and clean it as not all Sphagnum is actually Sphagnum in stores, I only use spag from NZ because I know its clean, I beleive that Chile spag is supposed to be good to, other sources can be polluted or worse not real spag.
Many utricularia also grow much better in spag over peat, such as U.Caerula, nelumbifolia and longifolia, only a small handful preffer peat, one being uliginosa, another being Nivea.
 
http://www.schundler.com/florides2.htm
Does Perlite Play a Role in Fluoride
Toxicity of Floricutltural Crops

by Tammy L. Everett and Paul v. Nelson
Department of Horticultural Science, NCSU

We can draw the following conclusions from this study:
  1. Perlite sources vary in their soluble levels of fluoride. The initial concentration of fluoride in leachate from the five sources of perlite used in this study ranged from 0.05 to 0.83 ppm. The higher value was potentially toxic but it did not persist. Soluble fluoride rapidly decreased in subsequent leachings to very low concentrations. If perlite was a cause of fluoride toxicity, the problem would be experienced in the initial weeks of culture. This has not been reported to be the case. Toxicity is more prevalent in later stages of the crop. Follow-up studies (data not shown) with additional perlite sources found that perlite with an initial F concentration of 1.7 ppm could be used at 50% volume of substrate to produce �Corsica� Asiatic lilies without fluoride toxicity; even when pH reached 4.2!
  2. Fluoride toxicity did not occur in three fluoride sensitive crops, Asiatic lily, Tahitian bridal veil, and spider plant, when grown in substrate containing up to 50% perlite at substrate pH levels below 5. Typically the substrate pH level would be 5.5 of higher and perlite would not exceed 25% by volume. Clearly, fluoride toxicity does not stem from these sources of perlite.

Temperate Drosera such as Drosera rotundifolia and D. anglica are typically found growing in live Sphagnum moss. To a lesser extent D. capilleris and D. intermedia (sandier substrates) . Long Fibre Sphagnum is an excellent growing media for these species.

Drosera cultivator extraordinaire Ivan Snyder uses Long Fibre Sphagnum almost exclusively as a substrate. On my Drosera grow rack about 95% of the species and hybrids are growing in pure Long Fibre Sphagnum. This includes the Drosera species named above as well as D. brevifolia, D. kateiurensis, D. meristocaulis, D. spatulata, and hybrids such as D. tokaiensis, D. beleziana and D. ultramafica × spatulata.

I find that highland species that enjoy highly oxygenated roots do well in mixes of 50-60% perlite to Long Fibre Sphagnum or pure live Sphagnum moss. These include Darlingtonia californica, Drosera regia, D. graomogolensis, D. glabripes and D. spiralis.

Long Fibre Sphagnum is a dwindling resource but it can be harvested in a sustainable manner as they do in New Zealand. Chilean source claim to harvest in a sustainable manner but with the drop in quality I've been noticing over the years I doubt this claim.

You could always substitute pumice or lava rock for perlite.
 
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Oh great you guys are amazing this helps alot atleast with the drosera have some seeds ready to go and a bunch of sphagnum. Probably do the peat/ perlite mox for the the flytraps planters and sarracenia. It's more economical considering they are all larger 5 gallon pots
 
Personally, I like to have a mix of sand and peat, with a top layer of LFS. That mimics nature in most cases, at least for American plants.
 
  • #10
I think that if your plan was to use LIVE sphagnum, that would be a bit different.
 
  • #11
Anybody use lfs with perlite for potting mix I been reading alot of pros and cons but not much opinions from actual people and their results. I guess I ask this in regards to sarracenia ,fly traps, and temperate drosera rotundifolia and intermedia

It worked well for my Sarracenia purpurea. I always prefer Sphag and perlite for my Nepenthes.

I grow lots of VFTs and Drosera in my LIVE Sphagnum cultures and they do amazingly well.
 
  • #12
I have been using perlite from various sources for years, unwashed to boot. I have never experienced any calamity due to flouride poisoning. Slowed growth? I can't say with confidence, but I never suspected my plants to be affected by anything.

I hear lots of folks say Plant A grows better in Substrate A than Substrate B, and that may be true in that grower's conditions. I always try to remember, though, that YMMV and lots of this type of information is mostly anecdotal.
 
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