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Sarracenia : Not enough pearlite, should I repot right now?

  • #21
Oh, I was thinking of amounts along the lines of growing plants just in live sphagnum alone.
 
  • #25
Wouldn't the sphagnum at the bottom die due to lack of light and getting crowded out by everything on top?

Which is exactly how Sphagnum behaves in nature, yes. You know how peat bogs form, don't you?
 
  • #26
Dosent work well for me for seedlings. sphagnum grows too quickly and will smother smaller, slower growing seedlings. Adult plants I concur.
 
  • #27
I'll echo the subjectivity of media. I have seen Sarracenia in the wild grow in a wide variety of conditions and media: From semi-aquatic in live sphagnum (flavas in NC) to pure peat and LFS (purpurea in Ontario) to varying percentages of peat and sand (too many and in too many places to remember) and even in very fine silty clay (various species and hybrids in MS and AL).

I grow my Sarracenia in peat/sand (percentages vary from batch to batch, but runs at least 50/50 and usually has a bit more sand than peat on average). I have a fairly local, reasonably inexpensive source of washed, coarse grit sand ($9 per 100-lb bag). I think the coarse grit sand helps aerate the mix and can prevent root rot (but I don't have a lot of evidence of this). It also lasts longer (I try to repot every few years, but I have plants in the same pots for 5-7 years in this stuff). Would my plants grow in pure peat? Probably.

I grow a few plants in LFS (purpurea venosa montana) to mirror the wild conditions I've seen. But -- that being said -- I have purpurea purpurea plants in the same peat/sand mix as nearly everything else, and I've seen them growing in alkaline marl soils (silty clay) as well as pure LFS in the wild.

In short? If it works for you, it works. Period :).

I don't use perlite in my Sarracenia mix. It's more expensive and less available for me. I use it for Drosophyllum and will be using it for D. regia (now that I have plants of both ... finally!). I also use it for my Heliamphora and my Mexican Pinguicula.

Where I have plants that are more prone to rot, particularly over winter or in the early spring as they emerge from their hibernacula (like temperate Drosera) I use more sand and keep drier.

I don't think there's anything wrong with using perlite, and I think it would help with aeration as my coarse sand does. I also think your plants in peat will do fine this year until you can repot.

And another thing :): I repot my plants throughout the growing season and even divide them. Mostly because I'm alternately busy/lazy and don't get around to it early in the year. I have divided plants up until November without ill effect (as long as the plants are fairly large and have a decent rhizome with each portion -- otherwise there is stunted growth and occasional death in the spring as the plan burns up its limited reserves sending up new pitchers and flowers).

So if you wanted to repot at this point, I don't think there would be any harm in that, either.

And I'll keep my mouth (or hands) shut on the ecological ethics of any media component mentioned above :).

Jay
 
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