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Potting medium

Ok, I know this has probably been covered a hundred times, so I apologize in advance.
I read "the savage garden" and was going to use the suggested potting medium for my 8 neps that arrived today. Wel.. after a long drive around town, I can't find some of the components, so this is what I have
Live Sphagnum moss
Long fibered sphangnum
Peat
Perlite
Charcol
Vermawatchamacallit

Can I use a combo or all of these in equal parts? Or would it be best to wait till tommorrow to pot em and keep looking?

Thanks
Casper
 
Nepenthes aren't really picky about soil just as long as it holds water, drains easily, and is slightly acid and poor in nutrients.

You can use live sphagnum or dead sphagnum alone as a mix, they are pretty much universal soil mixes in the cp world.

A mix of peat perlite and charcoal with a bit of vermiculite would also be acceptable. Just experiment, all the components you have presently are all acceptable.
smile.gif
 
Casper, that is an admirable selection of ingredients. Neps like the lighteners (perlite, charcoal, vermiculite) with some long sphag, bark, or some regular peat. You could use them all!

IMO,

Long fiber peat: holds water, long lasting, neps seem to like it.
Chopped peat: holds water, neps seem to like it. Stinks on occasion.
Bark: helps with last sentence. Really good to put on top of the mixture. I guess it lightens when mixed. There may be nutrients? Now I'm reaching blind...

Experts: advantages to bark?

Charcoal: ditto to helping stink, and a lightener.
Perlite: lightener and drainage help.
Vermiculite: ditto.

I like about half or more peat or bark and about half or a bit less of the lighteners. Sometimes I'll throw in a BIT of silica sand to be crazy.8)

I do like to load up on long sphag and lighteners at the bottom to avoid major stinking. Chopped peat needs to drain.

Experiment and tell ME what works best. You have the ingredients. Go crazy.
 
about vermicultite , i don't really like it because some times it decomposes and when it doe it turns into this mushy stuff thats starts to smell and it will make the mis not very airy after .
 
ok, as an update, I read the first reply to my post and got a little ansy. So, I potted all my plants in straight live S.M. Tonight though, I believe I am going to re-pot them. 2 of em are really too big for the 4" pots I have them in so I need to repot those before the roots get too settled anyway.I guess I am just going to try a few different things and see how it does. Really hard to do an experiment when they are all different plants. I don't have anything to base my results on, but oh well, could be fun.

Casper
 
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