LFS as medium

[mikefallen13]

I was wondering if I could use high quality dead LFS as growing medium rather than the normal Peat and perlite mix for drosera like capensis, venusta, and other rossetted species. The only reason I'm asking is because LFS would be a lot easier for me to get since fertilizer free perlite seems to be scarce in garden centers around me. So would it work?

 

[swords]

My D. adelae is growing in pure LFS and doing fine.

It's the only dew I grow though.

 

[ErrorEN]

Would definitely work. I prefer to chop it up though. Gets annoying when the roots become tangled.

 

[Cthulhu138]

I've used it with mixed success. It didn't seem to bother D.capensis or aliciae on a long term basis. My venusta var. coccicaulis, hamiltonii and, slackii didn't seem to like it. The venusta started growing up on a stalk, the hamiltonii would not dew up and, the slackii refused to make new leaves. It's strange that you can't find fertilizer free perlite. If it makes any difference, I don't use perlite on my dews anyway. Just sand and peat.