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Vft soil problem

I'm having a soil problem.... I'm using 50% Shultz Canadian Sphagnum peat moss(no additvies) and %50 volcanic perlite and about all all of my Venus fly traps have died. Seems thats the roots have rotted.... Can anyone give me suggestions on mixing the right mix of soil???


LenG444
 
I have noticed that some perlite now being sold has Miracid fertilizer added. Otherwise, I see nothing wrong with your soil mix. Personally, I use 100% peat moss, but that is just what works for me.

If your soil mix is OK, the next questions are:
How long did you grow the VFTs before they died?
Were they putting out new leaves for a while and then all suddenly croaked at the same time?
Did you recently transplant them?
Perhaps you are keeping the plants too wet?
Do you have an infestation of some type of insect or fungus?
Are each of these plants in individual pots or all grown together?
How old are they? Did they flower or did you cut the scapes?
 
Well..

I bought them bare root at cooks. They grew good for about 2 weeks. I watered them with the tray method. But that can't be the problem because I bought 1 typical venus and a primaflora prepotted and they are doing fine. So I'm pretty sure that I'm doing something wrong with mixing the soil wrong but I'm not sure what im doing wrong. Am I transplanting them wrong or something also???
 
They only thing, if you think you rotted the roots, did you let the tray get dry before watering again? If it was standing in water 24/7, then that may have happened. I dont think the soil mix would have a great effect on them.

Cole
 
Hey len, check out my recent thread "Can you diagnose this problem" in this forum. I'm having problems with my VFTs that i think are related to soil, too, but perhaps Cook just had a bad TC batch, because that's where i got mine, too.

How did they look before they died? Mine are turning brown (like they're burned) around all the edges of the leaves, and entire leaves are dying off.
 
The leaves started to turn black and no I only watered every 2 days tray method. I just thought that was normal thing like shock from shipping but I could see growth of fungus near the bulb.
 
What Soil mixture of Soil does Dean Cook use? It looks like he uses sphagnum moss, green moss and silica sand? Can someone confirm this and tell me how he does this?
 
I do not know if this helps, but the leaves of my traps turned black and I thought I was going to lose them all. I changed the soild mix to 70/30, peat/perlite, with long sphagnum at the top. I then moved the traps to a new terrarium with brighter light. They took off within a couple of days and are doing very well now.
 
I somehow doubt he uses 'green moss'.  That would be poor practice for even a newbie, and Dean is anything but that.  I don't think it has anything to do with Dean, i was just making random guesses.  Anyway, i repotted three of the plants i had in that other soil, and only time will tell if they do better now.  Here are pictures of the burn on the leaves:

A week ago:
20030428-D.muscipula 'Blood Red Traps'-burnt.jpg


Today:
20030505-CP-D.muscipula-mystery burn.jpg


The traps are beginning to split now, and in the second pic you can see the 'typical' in front that has been the worst affected. It has lost all but two leaves, and those two are long (almost etoliated (sp?)) and with small, deformed traps.

When i repotted, i saw signs of new root growth, but didn't look very closely for root rot, unfortunately.

Is that how yours looked?
 
  • #10
Yes. mine looked like that, but a little worse. They have come back bright in color with sizable traps. Good luck.
 
  • #11
I would have to say that all my traps turned black. I thought I could save them but they all showed sign of mold/fungus near the base. I'm pretty sure It was the soil but I'm still not sure what I did wrong??? I'm prety sure that the roots had plenty of airiation, I used reversed osmosis water, I watered using the tray method once every 2 days, and I gave them plenty of sun. Only thing that I can think of isa bad soil mixture but where did I go wrong? On Mixing?

LenG444
 
  • #12
LenG444,
Aside from the posibility that the peat or perlite had fertilizer mixed in them, there is also the possibility/probability that the plants were more susceptible to mold problems because of the the several changes they went through getting to you. First they are unpotted and the soil cleaned off, then stuck in a dark container and banged around for several days, then stuck in a new soil mix, in a new environment. That's a lot to take for anybody.

On a another note, and I stress I don't know if this is what you had, but while Schultz tends to be a good brand, I had to throw out 5 bags of their peat moss late last season because they were so badly contaminated with a yellowish mold. These bags were opened directly after getting them home from the store.
 
  • #13
BigCarnivourKid said
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">On a another note, and I stress I don't know if this is what you had, but while Schultz tends to be a good brand, I had to throw out 5 bags of their peat moss late last season because they were so badly contaminated with a yellowish mold. These bags were opened directly after getting them home from the store.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

That is an interesting point. I have found that brands of bagged sphagnum peat are quite variable and produce different results for me. Two years ago, I bought one "premium" brand (I can no longer remember which) that was unable to grow CPs, they simply died -- that stuff ended up in the flower garden. I have found that Sunshine Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss works consistently best for me. No, I do not work for the company. The Sunshine bags that I got this year had more chopped up sticks than usual, and seedlings of some conifer keeps germinating. I expect that this particular batch came from the surface of the peat mine.
 
  • #14
Thanks for Info but Where Can I buy Sunshine Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss??? Or Other good brands alike???

LenG444

I would of thought there would be alot of nursuries in South Florida but I can't seem to find one.
 
  • #15
Len, if you're on the Eastern half of S Florida, you've got one of the original Nepenthes nurseries in your backyard. Orgel's Orchids, it's called. I didn't make it there last time i was down because it was closed that day
sad.gif
, but i've heard great things about it.

I think i've seen Sunshine Canadian at Home Depot. Worth a try...
 
  • #16
I was not trying to advertise for Sunshine brand. I was trying to say that there is a lot of variability of peat quality in brands and my experience is that some work better than others. If you are having problems with your CP soil, try another brand.
 
  • #17
Is Fafard Peat Moss any GOOD?
confused.gif


Here are the specs



SPECIFICATIONS

* 95% organic
* Ash content not over 5 %
* pH 3.4 to 4.4
* Approximate weight 75 lbs per 5.5 cu.ft. bale
* Moisture content 35 to 55 %
* Absorption : 12 times its dry weight
* 5.5 cu.ft. and smaller compressed 2-to-1 in heavy polyethylene bag
* Quantum XL compressed 2.5 to 1 in disposable waterproof plastic bale

LenG444
 
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