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rescued a sad looking sarracenia yesteerday
- Thread starter agunn1231
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Wesley
God must have an interesting sense of humor
Terracotta tends to leach minerals into the soil that can be harmful to carnivorous plants. Not to mention that the constant moisture would be an algae magnet and your pretty clay pot would quickly turn to ugly slime green.
I'm not a huge fan of big box stores myself, but as a member of the horticulture industry as a whole, a little knowledge goes a long way. Big box stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart do not lose money when their plants are not sold. The way they operate is that ALL plant material in their stores belongs to the grower all the way until the plant is scanned at the register. At that point the retailer makes the money with which they pay for the plant. It's genius for them because they can never lose money on the plants they sell. Reduced price plant material generally varies in how its cost is distributed, but at will almost always swing in favor of the retailer and not the grower/distributor. So overall, the only people that are hurt by the death of the plant is the plant and the grower. At least that is how the American system works in the big box stores. Small-time retailers are much better both keeping the plants alive and having better business practices when dealing with growers.
I will say that some of my most prized carnivorous plants and orchids were sale plants though.
I'm not a huge fan of big box stores myself, but as a member of the horticulture industry as a whole, a little knowledge goes a long way. Big box stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart do not lose money when their plants are not sold. The way they operate is that ALL plant material in their stores belongs to the grower all the way until the plant is scanned at the register. At that point the retailer makes the money with which they pay for the plant. It's genius for them because they can never lose money on the plants they sell. Reduced price plant material generally varies in how its cost is distributed, but at will almost always swing in favor of the retailer and not the grower/distributor. So overall, the only people that are hurt by the death of the plant is the plant and the grower. At least that is how the American system works in the big box stores. Small-time retailers are much better both keeping the plants alive and having better business practices when dealing with growers.
I will say that some of my most prized carnivorous plants and orchids were sale plants though.
chibae
An orchid fancier with a CP problem
I'm sorry, economics aside I consider stores such as Lowes and Home Depots to be the plant equivalent of a pet shop buying their stock from "plant mills". Much of the orchids sold do not come from stateside growers but come from large factory nurseries in Taiwan. Those that are grown in this country, not just brokered through a middle man, are grown in plant factories whose greenhouses cover acres. This includes any plant mass produced for the big box pot plant trade not just orchids. To worry about the "grower" losing on a few plants is akin to worrying about Frank Perdue having to eat the cost of a few bad chickens. The loss is already built into the purchase price and deducted as a part of doing buisness in the overall operating plan.
well it was a local store who had almost no CP's two years ago and now has a lot of them. The store also knows very little about CP's, but they have an ungodly amount of neps..which makes me smile, cause i get them when they are marked way down and then get them growing nicely. They have tried to convince me that my neps cannot be repotted this time of year, and they say to keep other CP's inside of the little glass terrariums with out being exposed to outside air. Any ways, i like to get my plants there because they always seem to have something in stock, and the sarr caught my eye, sad looking plant sitting in a puddle of black slime, and slightly moldy...as i said, not much hope to rescue it, but still a chan ce as there is 4 tiny green pitchers left, I just wanted to get it out of there and into a place where it may have a chance, i am the same way with betta fish lol. So back on topic, peat/perlite mix....I dont have any peat on hand but have a lot of LFS...will that work?
Hi Aggun1231
The LFS will tend to break down quickly and is probably better used as a top dressing, however by the sounds of it the plant is in dire straights and will more than likely be happier in LFS than in the, what is probably a nutrient enriched soup, that it is in now.
Put it in that till early spring, and if you can find some peat and perlite before it starts growing again, repot it into that then.
Cheers
Steve
The LFS will tend to break down quickly and is probably better used as a top dressing, however by the sounds of it the plant is in dire straights and will more than likely be happier in LFS than in the, what is probably a nutrient enriched soup, that it is in now.
Put it in that till early spring, and if you can find some peat and perlite before it starts growing again, repot it into that then.
Cheers
Steve
lil hokie
heatherfeather knows the weather!
The majority of my Sarrs are in a peat, perlite, silica sand mix however I'm now moving away from perlite and sticking with peat and silica mix of mostly equal parts. I also have the majority of my plants in ceramic pots that are glazed inside and out, which I have found at Home Depot actually. They are quite nice. I also have a layer of silica sand on top because I had a bad fungus gnat problem which I no longer have and the plants seem to do pretty well with it.
Do you have a picture of the plant? You should take a picture of it for before and after whenever you make it thrive! Good luck!
Do you have a picture of the plant? You should take a picture of it for before and after whenever you make it thrive! Good luck!
Hi agunn
Try this for starters, the important thing is to make sure the roots are spread out and there is good contact with the medium and always top water the first couple of times to settle the substrate onto teh roots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivVz45YtMyk
Cheers
Steve
Try this for starters, the important thing is to make sure the roots are spread out and there is good contact with the medium and always top water the first couple of times to settle the substrate onto teh roots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivVz45YtMyk
Cheers
Steve
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