Best soil mix for some large plants

[Predator]

Hello

I have just picked up two very large Nepenthes a spectabilis and a truncata up until now I have only had small specimens but these are really big and the spec has upper pitchers.

I would like some help with my soil mix, I would appreciate some recommendations from people that might know what would be best for these two mature plants.

They are in live sphag for now but I think they have been growing in coir or something similar I have the following media available to me.

Live sphagnum
Peat moss
Perlite
Orchid bark

 

[Smitty]

This same exact, identical thread was created yesterday...
http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1025763

 

[swords]

The only thing I do differently in mixes for larger plants is I use shredded Cypress Mulch* instead of orchid bark because it's like 100X cheaper. I don't use the mulch for small plants simply because it's too hard to fit the longer mulch pieces in small pots. Once a plant goes in a 6" or bigger pot I use the mulch.

*Shredded Cedar Mulch is fine to use if you have no pet insects who will be offended by the smell of Cedar, I do have critters so I buy Cypress Mulch.


So a larger plant would be potted at my place using 1 part each:

shredded Cypress Mulch
shedded dried LFS
charcoal
large chunk perlite
sunleaves "Rocks" (an expanded shale product, can be swapped out with some other inert water retaining rock like APS, lava, pumice or whatever you have locally and is not crazy expensive)

 

[seedjar]

I second what swords said, for the most part. The only place I'd differ is that APS is not a precise substitute for lava rock/pumice or that Sunleaves "Rocks" product. APS is great but it's much more fine than most aggregates, and that does seem to make a bit of a difference. I think APS is a better substitute for perlite than it is for the other inorganics mentioned. APS and orchid bark are a pretty solid combo - cypress/cedar mulch maybe not as much as bark, because it isn't quite as chunky, and makes the mixes drain differently. Don't get me wrong though - I love APS and think it should be adopted universally. But it does have its own quirks that you have to plan for.
~Joe