nep repot timing

[Leo]

Hi all -

I'm planning to upgrade my 3 inch pots to 4 inch pots, but can neps be repotted anytime, or should summer repotting be avoided like many of the other carnivores? The neps are JFinn, Ventricosa, Sanguinea, and Rafflesiana.

Also, any repotting tips, pot suggestions, soil recipes, etc, will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Leo

 

[Pyro]

You should be able to repot anytime with Neps since they don't have a dormancy period.

Media can be any open, well draining mix, I use 1:1:1:2 orchid bark:lava rock:charcoal:LF sphag, sometimes I and a handful of peat. I am sure there are a million and one recipies so go with one that works for you.

Pyro

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

You can repot Nepenthes anytime of the year with no ill-effects. Summer IS usually the best time though as the daylight photoperiod is longer and the extra light and more availibility of insects you can feed it will help the palnt come right back from shosck (if you've induced any) quickly. To repot your nepenthes ***IF YOUR SURE THEY NEED TO BE REPOTTED*** take the pot place your fingers around the stem and the surrounding soil and turn upside down and tap the pot until the soil falls all out leave the soil on the roots and do VERY little touching to the roots. Next place your plant in the PREPARED pot up till the bottom of the stem and tamp the soil down lightly around the top. *******Have everything ready BEFORE YOU REPOT*******Have your pot all ready with extra soil mix nearby and soil enough for the roots in the pot alreeady, empty your pot over a garbage can too, the soil will make a huge mess other wise.

Tony taught me that.

But yeah they probably do need to be repotted if they are in 3 incher pots. Soil mixes? Hmm- I use Living sphagnum as my main and best recipe and my most used one. But I would go with long fibered sphangum,orchid bark,perlite and a little peat to acidify and keep it together.

 

[Leo]

Thanks for the info!

Since I can't obtain live sphagnum where I live, I was wondering if I could purchase partially dried LF sphagnum and "revive" it. If I bought the kind of LF that they sell for example here:

http://homeharvest.com/soilconditionerspeat.htm

can I easily turn it into live moss?

If not, is there anyone here willing to ship a small amount of it to me in exchange for a nominal Paypal transfer (I'll also cover the shipping)?

Leo

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

yeha that looks good on that site.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

If they need repotting because they have outgrown their 3" pots then I would suggest larger than a 4" which would only give you a half more inch all around. Probably looking at 5-6". If your repotting because they need fresh potting mix then your probably on target. A nice simple mix is about 1:1 Canadian peatmoss and perlite. You can get a bit fancier and add a little fine orchid bark or chopped sphagnum moss. Many people have good results with pure sphagnum or even mixxes of fine bark perlite and sphagnum.

It is all a matter of personal preference and what works best for you. You are looking for something that will hold moisture but drain well so the roots don't suffocate.

If your planning on just popping the plants out of the pot and moving them up in size without removing much of the old mix then you should look for something similar. IE if they are growing in a peat mix.. go for a peat blend to kinda match the old mix.
Tony

 

[steveo]

If you can't "tap" the earth out of the upside-down pot, consider snipping it away instead. Works for me.

I put mine in a 6" pot. I used about 4 whole pumice morsels in the pot, because the pot was plastic and I wanted to make sure that there was plenty of air in there. LFS, perlite and peat in equal measures for the rest.

I've had the plant (x J. Finn, maybe) for almost 4 months, and over that time the growth and color has been very good. The newest pitcher looks to be over 3 inches.

Steve