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Instead of growing everything in sepreate pots and all that I want to get one of those big bales and a big rubbermaid bin, dig and whole in the ground and put it there. Add a couple bags of perlite into it and be all good. Another option would be to get a some what smaller one so I could bring it inside by the back door where it gets cold but maybe 40's-50's. I want everything from flytraps to d. filiformis filiformis (maybe tracyii) to s. purpurea purpurea to d. rotundifolia and intermedia. Could they all work together? Does it need to be freezing cold for the purpurea and rotundifolia for them to good? I really would like to keep it in one bin if I could.
 
(general question to the group)

What is this obsession with Perlite lately?
where did that come from?
it sure seems to be getting a lot of "press" lately, in the CP world.
are people actually planting CPs in pure perlite?
if so..why??
I must have missed something..

(to JMurphy)

yes, 40's-50's would be fine for dormancy..
they dont NEED to freeze..
IMO, a good dormancy temp is anywhere between 35 and 49.
50's is borderline..
and by the 60's, its getting a bit too warm..

Scot
 
I just use perlite because when I didn't use it the peat moss became like a sponge and it looked bad. That's good because bigger is better for more protection and holds water better right? Plus they all look better together.
 
I know I've been using perlite with my Sarrs, VFTs, temperate Drosera and other things that I grow outside year round as a 1:1 mix with peat rather than using a 1:1 mix of sand. The last two bags of sand I bought (one being play sand and the other being pool filter sand, each from two different manufacturers and from two different retail outlets and purchased about a year apart) both reacted with muriatic acid (the play sand much less reactive than the pool filter sand, but reactive nonetheless) so I didn't feel comfortable using them in a soil mix. I opted to go with perlite instead.
 
I'm fond of 2/1 sand/peat, just because I like my plants on the "dry" side. But to be honest, I've seen them growing in the wild in clay, in mucky sludge, in peat, in live LFS, and in practically pure sand, and I can't tell I can see a difference. They were all doing equally well. If you have very red plants, add a little extra peat (or peat tea) 2/1 sand/peat would be great if you're on a budget and have a BIG space to fill (I imagine wheel-barrow loads of perlite would add up in cost!)

Sand, perlite, peat, APS, LFS, .... it REALLY doesn't matter what you plant them in as long as it holds water. Andrew sent me a buttload of Dionaea this past spring and I just threw a bunch of crap I had laying around (sand, peat, LFS, bark, charcoal, Styrofoam peanuts, APS, Etc Etc) and they've all done great, as well as a few purps I stuck in there. It's quite literally a fruitcake of a mixture and they do great.

I love perlite. Retains water and is very free draining, but it's not important if you use it or not with something so EASY as Sarracenia. Sarracenia are really bomb proof and don't make much of a fuss.
 
JMurphy, All of those plants will work fine together. I grow them all and they do good here and the temps here have gone down to 6 degrees this year. JLAP is right about the mix, I don't think that it matters too much as long as it holds some water and drains well. Different things work for different people. I use 50/50 peat and sand/perlite. Here are some pics of my bogs:

DSCN13772.jpg


DSCN13752.jpg


DSCN13702.jpg
 
Nice pics bucky. How do you go about watering your bogs?
 
Thats a nutty bog :D If I ahd warmer weather and more cash and some more plants then i'd have something like that :D Wheres the drosera ??? :D
 
That's a pretty nice bog you have there. How do you go about watering that?
 
  • #10
If you have very red plants, add a little extra peat (or peat tea) 2/1 sand/peat would be great if you're on a budget and have a BIG space to fill (I imagine wheel-barrow loads of perlite would add up in cost!)

JLAP,

I need some clarification. I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about here... when you say very red plants, do you mean maintaining the red coloration in something like S. flava var. rubricorpa or S. flava var. atropurpurea or are you talking about something different?

Thanks...
 
  • #11
That's what I meant :)
 
  • #12
<grin> Gotcha... I kind of thought it was, but I wasn't sure... I've learned when I've been interpreting from one language to another to never assume anything... always ask for clarification! ;-)

Thanks!
 
  • #13
Captain Hamata and JMurphy, Mother nature does a pretty good job of watering here as we usually get about 40" of rain annually. If it does dry some, I have a reverse osmosis system and I buried a water line from the house to the bogs (that is what the white barrel behind them is for) and I can put a small hose off of it and lay it on the bogs and water it that way directly from the RO. Hope that wasn't too confusing!
 
  • #14
That's a good pretty good idea. It looks great.
 
  • #15
It does work really good. I will post updated pics this year. I am excited to see how much the plants change each year.
 
  • #16
I just use perlite because when I didn't use it the peat moss became like a sponge and it looked bad. That's good because bigger is better for more protection and holds water better right? Plus they all look better together.
Check out this thread. Catalani & Bob Z are 2 long-time CP growers who both use 100% peat .... Different strokes....
 
  • #17
Check out this thread. Catalani & Bob Z are 2 long-time CP growers who both use 100% peat .... Different strokes....

I agree Ron. Brooks Garcia also uses 100% peat. Like you said, different strokes.
 
  • #18
We had around 29 inches of rain this last weekend where I live :0.
Extreme flooding. And i got to stock up my CP water supply :)
 
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