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Sunshine Mix #4?

P

PlantFanatic

I went to my local indoor garden shop. You know, the kind where they help you grow "tomatoes" indoors. I told their plant person I'm growing carnivorous plants and he directed me to their Sunshine Mix #4. It says it only contains peat, perlite, and a pH adjuster (to 6.5). Has anyone tried this with their CP's? Do I need to run screaming and pull my Sarracenias from their pots that I transplanted them into? Sorry I'm a complete novice. :(

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Also, I called my municipal water facility, and the TDS in my town is on average 84ppm, fluctuating between 74 and 92. I've found conflicting information on whether this is suitable for CP's. Thoughts?
 
PlantFanatic said:
http://cdn3.volusion.com/wmfby.pgjgu/v/vspfiles/photos/064277074447-2.jpg?1369829045
This is the exact kind.
Click to expand...

And from the manufacturers web site is this:

Ingredients:
Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, perlite, dolomite lime, low phosphorus fertilizer, proprietary blend of endomycorrhizae, and wetting agent

And so, it has a fertilizer added, and that probably makes it inappropriate for most CPs, and that includes Sarracenia. However, what they don't tell you is how much fertilizer they've added, and that would be the key, since many growers have proven that Sarracenia can tolerate low levels of certain fertilizers and may in fact reap some benefit. But this Sunshine Mix is a bit of an unknown. Is there risk you might damage your plants by using it? Yes. Do you know how great the risk is, and is there an easy way to assess the risk? Not really, no.

Here's what I think:
If you can afford to regard your Sarracenia plants as "disposable", then you may want to leave them in this mix and see what happens. If you're not comfortable doing that, then remove them and repot them into something you know is safe. Best option is to buy some Peat and some sand or Perlite and make a blend yourself. That's what most of us do.

Perhaps other folks here have used Sunshine #4 and can comment on its suitability.
 
PlantFanatic said:
Also, I called my municipal water facility, and the TDS in my town is on average 84ppm, fluctuating between 74 and 92. I've found conflicting information on whether this is suitable for CP's. Thoughts?
Click to expand...


Municipal water rated at under 100ppm TDS is generally safe for use with most CP types. However, there is risk of accumulating damaging levels of dissolved solids if you continue to add more water to a non-draining environment as it is used up/evaporates. In other words, if you keep your plants in dishes or pools of standing water, then you really ought to dump the water out periodically and flush the plant with clean water and then return it to its dish/pool with fresh water added. Its the accumulation of salts from the water supply as you add water to a closed system that becomes problematic, and if you start with 90ppm water, its easy to increase that figure to a point where it becomes toxic. Does that make sense?
 
I don't care what the pH or fertilizer situation is, I'm not using a mix containing lime for my CP's.
 
So I got my TDS meter. The local water was just as the water report said. The Sunshine #4 mix measured 112 ppm, and the "plain" peat I bought in bulk measured 640 ppm. Unfortunately I took these readings right before I went to work and didn't have time to transplant my plants back into the sunshine mix. I'm hoping since they're dormant the won't have absorbed much from the peat moss of doom. I guess I can't take the word of any salesman on whether the medium is safe since no one seems to understand what PLAIN SPHAGNUM PEAT is around here. Also, coffee where I work measured 910 ppm. Anyways thanks for everyone's input. I'm going to stick with the sunshine mix for now and use a pH adjuster to lower it back down.
 
  • #10
I'd be curious to see what effluent from your peat reads after being rinsed through with water a few times. I haven't tested this, but I wouldn't be surprised if peat straight from the bale can have effluent with a fairly high TDS count, especially if the bale has been sitting around for a while. Doubly so if the peat has been exposed to warm, moist conditions.

TDS via is a really coarse measurement. All you're getting is a sense of is ionic concentration, and not all ions are created equal in the eyes of plants. Do let us know if you get a chance to flush the peat a few times and re-measure the effluent.
 
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