Howdy:
Am starting a series of commercial trials with different growing media that are inexpensive and locally (Guatemala) available.
While most of the materials being used in the trial are fairly traditional or straightforward (long fibred sphagnum, coarse sphagnum peat, fine conifer bark, pumice, lava chips, shredded tree fern, etc.), I have also made up a mix of fine, composted, hammer-milled coco fibre + 4 mm pumice at a 1:1 ratio and set up 20 x 6" plastic hanging pots with rooted cuttings from several common highland Nepenthes spp. in it.
I see that coarser grade coco chips, with or without ammendments, appear to be popular with some growers on this forum following BE's successful use of it as a growing medium in Sri Lanka. I was wondering whether anyone here has used the finer grades of coco peat with Neps. Frankly, I'm a bit leery about it, since it seems rather "heavy" when wet, but the distributors claim that the local hort trade has had fantastic results with it as a substitute for sphagnum peat. The pumice does appear to open it up quite a bit, but I'm still concerned about compaction and nutritional issues down the road. What makes it an attractive option is price - but it still needs to do the job...
Thanks in advance,
Jay
Am starting a series of commercial trials with different growing media that are inexpensive and locally (Guatemala) available.
While most of the materials being used in the trial are fairly traditional or straightforward (long fibred sphagnum, coarse sphagnum peat, fine conifer bark, pumice, lava chips, shredded tree fern, etc.), I have also made up a mix of fine, composted, hammer-milled coco fibre + 4 mm pumice at a 1:1 ratio and set up 20 x 6" plastic hanging pots with rooted cuttings from several common highland Nepenthes spp. in it.
I see that coarser grade coco chips, with or without ammendments, appear to be popular with some growers on this forum following BE's successful use of it as a growing medium in Sri Lanka. I was wondering whether anyone here has used the finer grades of coco peat with Neps. Frankly, I'm a bit leery about it, since it seems rather "heavy" when wet, but the distributors claim that the local hort trade has had fantastic results with it as a substitute for sphagnum peat. The pumice does appear to open it up quite a bit, but I'm still concerned about compaction and nutritional issues down the road. What makes it an attractive option is price - but it still needs to do the job...
Thanks in advance,
Jay