NZ sphagnum moss

[upper]

i just got those packet of 25$ sphagnum moss. its brown and dried, but it'll hydrate and suck in water once i submerge it in water for 10 minutes. so i did. and today i put it on top of my peat moss so i woudnt harm alot of root. so i just lifted the leaves up alittle and insert the sphagnum moss under. and when i went to check on my capensis.... the moss was filled with algae.... i didnt want this, so i decide, i want to fill it up with sphagnum moss and peat moss(no perlite) should i mix it? or should i make it layer by layer... and should i even do this? i mean i got heat pad under in case it gets cold..... and 1600 lumen table lamp that i put like 4" away from the plants, the capensis seedlings are growing really fast . my adelae's hair thing is starting to turn red and producing dews... i water from the bottom, but sometime it gets so humid, the water drops from above and wash away the dews :-(. should i put pure sphagnum moss? should i mix peat with sphagnum moss? or just pure peat? is there anything that i did that was wrong?

 

[D_muscipula]

sounds like thats humdi sphangum only adds to the humidity lol.
thats goods that adelae is starting to look better and the capes are growing.
you should think about getting perlite or something besides LFS sphagnum to add to the peat.
adelae will do fine in just LFS I heard that havet tried it but I have a small prolifera growing
in some rehydrated LFS. prolifera is a sister to adelae and has pretty much the same growing conditions.
as for the algae IDK what you're talking about neither do I have any idea what to do.
was it NZ sphagnum I hjeard thats good quality sphagnum moss its not like the crappy canadian sphagnum that grows from canadian peat moss.

 

[xvart]

LFS is not a typical ingredient in Drosera soil mixtures. Stick with peat, sand, and perlite mixed up real well (not layered). The reason you mix it up is to provide air and drainage, throughout the mix, which would not be provided if layered.

Also, I moved this to the Drosera forum since that is what your questions are about.

xvart.

 

[upper]

wait, so i cant use the NZ sphagnum moss as a soil mixture? i heard some people put CP in pure sphagnum moss.... and i thought i was short on supply so i went to buy peat and NZ sphagnum moss, but it turns out i have no use for both of em...... since i'd also need perlite right? and the only perlite i've found was miracle gro ><

 

[jm82792]

I use it for anglica though

 

[upper]

you use what for anglica?

 

[D_muscipula]

haha well what are we talking about upper.
sphagnum moss does not provide extra drianage and root areation like perlite does doesnt have to be eprlite you can use silica sand but sphagnum I would stick to it as a top dressing.

 

[Not a Number]

Drosera anglica, D. rotundifolia, D. linearis, D. capillaris, D. filiformis, D. intermedia and D. arcturi are commonly found growing in Sphagnum moss or sandy sphagnum.

From the bottom up a typical Sphagnum bog is:

Clay
Sand/Gravel
Sandy Peat Moss
Peat Moss (partially decomposed Sphagnum moss)
Long fibre Sphagnum (dead Sphagnum moss)
Live Sphagnum moss

and of course lots of water.

Many times sand will be mixed throughout all the layers. And naturally there will be some intermixing between layers.

Drosera adelae grows on layers of dead leaves under the shade of trees in the rain forest - that's why they don't like a lot of light.

LFS and peat mix? Why not? Just be aware that peat and LFS holds up to 20 times its weight in water so it is easy to waterlog your plants when using pure peat moss, or pure LFS or a mixture of both. Because of the airy nature of LFS it tends to dry out quicker than peat moss.

Adding sand or perlite does basically two things: improves drainage and makes the mix lighter and more airy. The latter makes growth easier for plants with weak root systems which includes many Drosera species.

It can be difficult to judge how wet pure peat moss is. Use the touch test. You'll soon learn what's not too wet and not too dry.

You can read about bog formation:
http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/fischer/429_info/429trips/volo_bog/Content/Site 2.htm
http://www.botanik.univie.ac.at/~temsch/bogs.html

 

[dewy]

I use a mix of NZ lfs and peat for my cape sundews. When using 50:50 peat:sand and also 50:50 peaterlite they never did very well. I then decided to try NZ lfs and peat and my plants are much healthier. Here are some pics.

However, my D. scorpioides are planted in a mix of 50:50 peaterlite since pygmies like a airy soil.

 

[ilbasso]

Is this the blond sphagnum (yellow rather than brown)? The blond NZ moss that I've used tends to get algae rather easily.

 

[dewy]

I use a top layer of peat moss to cut down on algae. My last batch was the yellowish NZ spaghnum, but now my current batch consists of the darker brown spaghnum.

 

[The Griffin]

NZ sphagnum by itself works great for most Drosera. I used milled sphagnum for sowing seed as the growth rate(for me) was 4 X better than peat sand. Now mind you, the silica sand I used was rather fine, so maybe peat /sand was too compact. I used xvart's mix on a N. alata once and it grew great in that.
I have turned to adding perlite to the sphagnum, not because it's necessary, but because it's cheaper, lol.
I have always managed to let the bottom of the tank dry before adding water, so maybe that is why sphagnum works so well for me.

Cheers,

Joe

 

[upper]

its uhh... light brown... its not yellow, its light brown...