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Laterite

  • #21
Hi !!
I read (on Kinabalu Park, visitor's guide of GLOBETROTTER) that high level of iron, silica and metals in the soil is poisonous to many plants, on the contrary Nepenthes can live without problems in this kind of soils. That's why ultramafic soils are typical for some endemism of rare species of Nepenthes and orchids.

Regards

rajah
 
  • #22
Nep g has a good point... something that I want to elaborate a little more on.

I fertilized some of my neps with osmocote.... and I sort of put an liiiiitle bit too much on my N khasiana and N rafflesiana. So what happened? Well, the plants are alive, and they threw out a bunch of big green leaves, but the newest batch of pitchers are TINY! ITSY BITSY TEENY TINY LITTLE BUGGERS!!
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So be warnéd: If you're thinking of using fertilizer, only use a little, and water A LOT!

Jœl

(I'll post a picture tomorow so you understand what I mean. ) :s
 
  • #23
mindmaze, i understand what u are talking about. when i recieved the N. khasiana the pitchers where huge. now that i just water that one and superthrive it 2 times a month. the pitchers are really small now. i'm not putting the other fertilizer on it cause i think it is to little to play around with it. so that is telling me that the nursery i got it from was placing the stuff on it or something else to make it grow faster and bigger.
 
  • #24
I am growing Nepenthes merrilliana in pure laterite. I transplanted it last year into this and so far the plant is growing without any problems, although I can't say I have noticed any significant improvement in growth rate as a result. Robert Gibson has told me to use caution with laterite, as the composition can vary considerably.
 
  • #25
I wish I knew what the heck that stuff was in my local aquarium shop, they said it was a laterite "mimic". Looked just like it but was easier to find and supposidly better!

I am gonna give my neps a big balst of superthrive this week somwetime b/c the heater in my greenhouse went out and they are all balck now ecpet for the living stems.
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Luckily all the ones that got forze are common species!
 
  • #26
N. merrilliana grows fine with a bark/peat based compost and a handful of laterite thrown in. Expensive stuff($14 for a small box). I have seen the Flourite, which is a better bargain if it's the same, but why is it called that? Isn't that the soft stone that is purple/green that glows under black light?
Regards,

Joe
 
  • #27
No, Flourite is not colored anything other than grey, brown and red. natural clay colors. It would look quite ugly to have a heavilly planted "nature aquarium" with blue gravel.
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I hate those novelty fish tank gravel colors - those poor fish!

Flourite is mineral rich clay compound made by Seachem aquarium products. It's baked and then crushed up to create small pieces of "gravel" to use as an aquarium substrate which will continuously feed aquatic plants Iron, Magnesium and other trace elements (works great I must add). A 10 lbs sack of Flourite runs about $20-$25 but is the size of a 20 lbs sack of regular gravel due to it's light weight.
 
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