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Peat substitutes?

Does anyone know of any decent peat substitutes that work with VFT's?
 
o_O you shouldn't have much trouble getting peat. Just buy some Jiffy 7 pellots and take them appart... but as for peat alternitives, you can use LFS which is harder to get I think, or you could give Pingman's hydroponic methoid a try.
 
The only other thing I have heard is cocopeat, but it can get mucky. Maybe cocofiber might work...
Why do you want a peat substitute(hard to get, environmetal issues ,ect)?

Regards,

Joe
 
I need a peat substitute because of a few reasons.

1) Its only available locally for a very brief amount of time if at all.Usually it's only available from the beginning of march to beginning of june of so....sometimes a lil more sometimes a lil less.Ive not seen it this last spring at all.

2) Its bad for the enviroment for companies to harvest so much peat from bogs since its not a renewable source.And Id like to not contribute to the destruction of bogs.Also if bogs ever run out in our lifetime what would everyone use if they werent prepared for peat shortage or unavailability.

3) I would like to avoid the possibility of contracting the fungal disease that peat/sphagnum has the possibility of carrying especially since Im prone to cuts and skin breaks on my hands.

Also in order to use it year round id have to stock up in spring for the entire year or ship it in which could be pricey because the weight of the bags and shipping costs.

I do however have a constant access to cocofiber at local stores.I have heard of people using it for bog plants in general but Im not sure if it would work for VFT's or other carnivorous plants.
 
What method does he use for growing CP plants hydroponically?

I am very familiar with hydroponics in general but not in relation to carnivorous plants.
 
Some solutions to your problems and updateing your slightly out of date data:

1) Buy a lot at that time, the pellots are easy to store
2) Maybe 50 years ago it was, but anything you get from Canada will be from a peat farm. It's renuable now, just not as cheap as illegally harvesting it.
3) The fungle disease occured back when peat was improperly stored in large piles under tarps in the sun. No cases have been reported since this misshandleing was made illigal in in the USA and Canada. Wash your hands if your worried, but I wouldn't be since it is now also sterolized when it's harvested. (you should resterolise it though since the process isn't perfict)

4) Peat pellots weigh next to nothing.


smile.gif
 
I've yet to hear of any peat farms but then again Im not big on using peat or even soil...I've always found better results by far by using hydroponic growing methods even with trees than using soil or other similar organic medium.

Im not sure about the source of the peat sold here but peat seems to be very limited in my area.(Although you can find any kind of soil mix imaginable.)Overseas as far as I know,peat bogs are still being harvested and if the product is from overseas Id rather not contribute to that.I may check into peat pellets.But Im confident carnivorous plants can be grown hydroponically if done so with alot of research and consideration.70% of CP nitrogen requirements are met through insect predation and additional vitamins and minerals are gained by insect predation as they adapted the ability to devour insects because of the lack of nutrients in their habitat.And since there is almost no nutrients found in their natural growing medium,(peat itself contains no nutrients for the plant but it does store some gained from the soil it was in/near)the plant gains nutrients via leaves.So a method of weak nutrient solution and a ph of approx 5 and distilled water with regular insect feedings should prove possible either that or no nutrient solution and just distilled water with a ph of approx 5 and regular feedings with a very weak foliar solution should work also.Which leads to me do alot of esperimentation until i find the ebst method but for now I guess peat pellets might have to do.Thank you for the advice and help.
 
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