Mineral media gone anaerobic?

[pappydew]

I decided to try a different type of media for my Mexican Pings, they were doing ok but it always seemed like they were too wet in a peat based mixture. So I experimented with a new mixture, which included lava rock, dolomite, vermiculite, perlite and turface (APS) and threw in a very miniscule amount of peat. No idea what ratio, I was just throwing in handfuls into the mixture, which was washed to the best of my ability given a small apartment and no outside space. I was going to add in some silica sand but realized I picked up a very fine grained play sand and didn't want it to compact the mixture. So I just decided to use it as top dressing for looks and maybe to keep any infestations away. A very small amount just on top of the media. I had been top watering to flush the pots even more and the media seemed to stay relatively moist but not water logged.


Now here's the problem...today I noticed that the tops of the pots are getting dark, as in some of the perlite has gone black on the outside. And the sand is definitely not the original color. Even worse, I fiddled around in some of it and my hands have a slight rotten egg smell (sulfur?). I'm a bit worried especially if the sand is starting to compact to the point where it has become anaerobic. I imagine that wont be good for the Pings since they do not have the biggest root systems.


Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[31drew31]

Ive had perlite get that blackish color on occasion and it never seemed to cause any trouble (see pic below). Never had the rotten egg smell in my Ping pots though. If you're worried about it I would repot and skip the top dressing of sand. Most Pinguicula never skip a beat when being repotted.

 

[pappydew]

Thanks, will probably scoop out as much sand as possible and just fill it up with the mixture from the rest. The plants don't seem affected too much but it's only been a week. Never had issues repotting into a peat/sand/perlite type mixture so I wanted to make sure.