Could i use vermiculite?

[Helldragon4356]

Whats the best?? Perlite? Vermiculite? or Sand?

 

[chloroplast]

The best for what? What are you trying to accomplish?

I usually avoid vermiculite in my CP mixes as it tends to decompose and turn to mush over time. I tend to avoid sand unless it is very coarse, quartz/silica sand--finer grades make the medium too dense. I am a big fan of perlite for making the medium more airy, though some complain that it "floats" to the surface over time.

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Now that you mention it, I do dislike how floaty perlite is. Although, like you said, not much beats it in terms of keeping the soil airy.

As for vermiculite, I've never used it. Is there some kind of advantage to it?

 

[jimscott]

This one topic that you will get just as many differing opinions as you do respondents. My preference is to mix sand & peat and then add LFS on top (live if possible). These most closely approximate nature, though it is only a microcosm of a bog.

 

[Brian_W]

I like to use the coarsest grade of quartz sand-blasting sand for sundews. I've also used a 100% fine sandblasting sand for pygmy sundews (no peat, just sand). It was a dense, but worked really well. I've also tried a sand/laterite mix which also works, but laterite is pretty expensive.

Brian

 

[PlantAKiss]

I hate perlite but I do use it. I normally top-dress the pot with pure peat or LFS to hide it but the dang stuff always surfaces.

I've used vermiculite mainly with pings. Most of my other plants are in various mixes of peat/sand/LFS.