soil mix for neps ?

[MICKEY]

what is a good soil mix for hl neps(n.maxiem) If lfs and ls are not avalable
peat ,sand, pumis,fir bark?

 

[jbradt]

I"ve been using a mix of peat, aps, and orchid bark for about a year now with good success.

 

[lance]

woodpeices, charcol and purlite are what seem to be in my 20 gallon bag of nep soil

 

[MICKEY]

what is aps

 

[31drew31]

Aquatic Plant Soil. Shultz brand is a commonly used brand.

 

[Wolfn]

I use pure sphagnum moss. Wet it and then let it try out briefly before watering again. Used it on all Neps with no problems.

 

[nepguy]

1 pt. LFS, 1 pt. perlite, 1 pt. coconut husk chips, & 1/2 pt. (or less) peat by volume. Works great. LFS is always available from online sources, as are the other ingredients.

 

[TheFury]

I'm about to try a mix of Better Gro orchid mix (looks like coconut husk, charcoal, coarse perlite, and bark in more or less equal proportions). I'm going to mix that 2 parts pre-mixed media with 1 part peat/sand CP mix and 1 part LFS and see how my neps like it. I've read from a few sources about growers adding stuff to store-bought orchid mix with good results. Might get a bit expensive after a few batches though, but I'm out of fixins' for my standard perlite/LFS 50/50 mix so I figured I'd experiment.

 

[swords]

For cool growing Highland Nepenthes I use pure live sphagnum, packed LOOSELY into a mesh orchid pot this allows the moss to grow out of the holes in the pots and allows the roots to get lots of cool air. Dead / dried LFS from Home Depot or Lowes (or ebay) is pretty much just as good, so long as it's loosely loaded into the pots.

When you get to 6"+ bigger pots it's a good idea to mix in fine orchid bark, perlite, APS, pumice or some other stuff to open up the mix and keep it from becoming too dense. Dense media will likely kill the roots on most HL Nepenthes, they like lots of moisture but also plenty of fresh air exchange in the root area. Lowland Nepenthes (warm growers) are quite often from swampy areas and will put up with dense wet media like peat & sand or larger pots of pure LFS, but still it isn't ideal.

 

[MICKEY]

going to go to lowes and get some lfs and pumis can't find any live moss maybe some of the dryed will grow in the spring when I need to transplant into bigger pots I think I will try to get some red moos from mass I think that will look great

 

[twigs]

I use dried sphagnum, perlite and cypress mulch.