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Soil mixture

Hi,

I'm new, and have recently purchased a vft. I have two questions actually. One, what % do I use of the sphagnum moss and perlite when I repot? And two, is spring water okay, or should I only used distilled or water by reverse osmosis?

Thanks,
jen
 
I personally use a mixture of 50\25\25 of Peat\Sand\Perlite
But a 50\50 mixture of Peat and Perlite will do great.
For the spring water, I don't reccommend that since it might contain added salts, so just stick with R/O water or Distilled.
 
Stay away from spring water and stick with distilled or R/O treated. 50/50 peat/perlite will do fine.
 
thank you everybody for the info. Sorry, I did end up finding the info. I needed, but after I already posted of course. As I was reading about dormancy, it says that mid autumn is the best time to do this. I just got my plant yesterday at Meijers, and I would like to enjoy it for a while before I put it in the fridge. Any opinions from somone who knows would be great:)

thanks,
jen
 
The best way to successfully get the plants into and out of dormancy is to do it slowly. In nature, the daylength begins to shorten and the temperature drops slowly over several months. This allows the plant growth to slow while it begins storing materials in the rhizome in preparation for the winter. If you take an actively growing plant out of its cozy terrarium or sunny window sill and plunk it in the frig with no light, it will be quite a shock. Similarly, taking a plant out of the frig in the spring and putting itin a warm place or in bright sun may also cause shock. I suggest that you induce both dormancy and resumption of growth over several weeks to let the plant adjust to the changing conditions.
 
Hi Jen, I see from your profile you're a Michigander like me. That being the case you may not need or want to put your VFTs in the fridge. If you have an enclosed garage or porch you can place your VFT there for the winter. A north facing windowsill does great too. What kind of "cool or cold" areas do you have around your house?
 
i dont like perlite. i only use it when i have to. i plant my vft's in 2/1 sand/ peat because i like my soil a little drier. 50/50 sand/peat is perfect, too.
 
Yes, I am from Michigan also. My utility room isn't insulated very well, and it gets pretty cold in the winter. I think it gets too cold though. Maybe my basement would work. Where do you put your plants for the dormancy period?

jen
 
  • #10
Hey Jen, welcome to the forums. I like to use long fibered sphagnum (lfs) in my soil mixture as well. I really retains the water well, and carnivorous plants seem to like it. I run mine throught the blender to get it chopped up into pretty fine pieces, and then use that in the mixture. I like a 2:1:1 mixture of lfs:peat:sand. They all are very happy plants
smile.gif
Good luck with yours.

That's my concern too for this winter. I can't put it in our garage because it freezes in there too, and I don't think our basement gets cold enough. If you are going to use the fridge technique, how do you acclimate it slowly?

- Joel
 
  • #11
Well,
I think I am going to take the weather temperature gauge from outside and put it in our cellar we have in the basement. It stays colder in there than in the rest of the basement. Do you know what the temperature should be for the dormancy period? I think around 35-40F. Maybe I'll start it in the basement since it is not as cold as the cellar. Then transfer it to the cellar.

jen
 
  • #12
You got the right temperature, just above freezing. You will find that there isn't a "correct recipe" for soil media, in most cases. Most of us do our own thing, often by what we learned from others or what we have already had success with or what we happen to have on hand. I have settled on mixing pool filter sand with Canadian peat and then topdress with the bagged LFS (long fiber sphagnum). It seems to work. As Tamlin stresses, it is important to wash our media thoroughly, to remove the impurities and help prevent undesirable algae and moss. Some people even "nuke" their media in the microwave.
 
  • #13
i usually just add crap to the media untill it "looks" right. after awhile you develope an instinct about cps.
 
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