TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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I want to kill any insects in the peat before I transplant my venus fly traps and bring them inside. I want to put them under lights. When I water in new peat, I'm getting all kinds of bugs. I would rather not have any pests.
Some people, like Tamlin, microwave their soil media, particularly LFS. I never have, but then again, I have only 2 years experience, as compared to decades worth. Sterilization does reduce unwanted growth, but does it make a significant difference? I think rinsing media well goes a long way toward prevention of undesirables. I often see sedge grass in my LFS, but they are easy to pluck out.
I didn't nuke the recent mix I made and there are now lots of baby centipedes scurrying on the surface of my small Ping collection - they're no bother though, just not pleasant to think there are centipedes in one's room! My peat bag sits outside and exposed to the elements, especially rain, to have it automatically leached. I usually microwave it to get rid of spores, bugs, and other possible pathogens. It seems to work very well so far, however this also eliminates the predatory mites (really cool to watch them hunt springtails!) and Collembola spp. (springtails).
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