TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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Exo
Tastes like chicken!
Nepenthesis
Formerly known as Pineapple
Jcal
Decumbent Fanatic
lil hokie
heatherfeather knows the weather!
I also only wash my silica sand, and I don't even wash my sand 100% of the time (though there does seem to be some benefit). It's not worth the time and effort to wash everything else. And in most cases there is no need, period. My plants have never complained. Don't believe the hype 
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mato
BANNED
Tap water 1-2 times, then pure water. The benefit is sustaining plants (especially seedlings) for long periods of time in wetter, damper conditions without having to worry about the pots being taken over by mold, algae or pests. I sort through LFS for anything that isn't LFS, as well as rinsing it, sand and peat. The soil compacts less towards the surface, and smells a lot less funny after repeated use.
Allowing pots to drain (and discard the drainage) as well as emptying and cleaning trays. It's worth it to keep our overall setups clean. Allowing the PPM and available nutrients to climb is not conducive to a CPs native environment, and in order to best replicate those conditions I highly recommend washing soil materials.
In sundewman's youtube channel, many of his sundews have not been potted out for YEARS yet their soil still seems fluffy, without a spec of algae or mold, and just starting to release nutrients that mature sundews may extract.
Hope this helps
-Dave
Allowing pots to drain (and discard the drainage) as well as emptying and cleaning trays. It's worth it to keep our overall setups clean. Allowing the PPM and available nutrients to climb is not conducive to a CPs native environment, and in order to best replicate those conditions I highly recommend washing soil materials.
In sundewman's youtube channel, many of his sundews have not been potted out for YEARS yet their soil still seems fluffy, without a spec of algae or mold, and just starting to release nutrients that mature sundews may extract.
Hope this helps
-Dave
First to loosen up the soil and get rid of any excess ppm, as well as dissolving nitrogenous materials. Soaking might be pointless, but rinsing is going melt away that annoying tannin. Especially with sand, rinse it with any water, and it becomes clear there are weird substances (like dust particles that float and give "suspicious" colors/hues") these are good enough reasons to me to give a cheap and preliminary rinsing.
I wash my sand first with tap water until the water rinses clear, THEN I give it a couple extra rinses with RO water at the end to rinse out the minerals from the tap water. If you do the whole process with RO water, you'll waste a lot of RO water.
I think a general rule as far as washing goes, at least for me, is if you think it probably has excessive minerals in it, it's better to be safe and wash it. But with organic soil addatives we use, such as peat, sphagnum, and orchid bark there's no reason to assume they have excess minerals. I mean, peat and sphagnum come from CP habitats in the first place for crying out loud! And pine or fir bark doesn't accumulate excess minerals. If you're using coconut coir though, It MIGHT be worth rinsing (I haven't used it, so I don't know).
Perlite by nature is sterile, chemically inhert (non-reactive) and virtually nutrient free, so no need to wash it. I also use red lava rock with some of my plants (helis and neps). It's fine without washing it.
Sand and other mineral soil addatives, on the other hand , come in various purities and degrees of contamination. If you can find a good supplier of clean sand, you may not need to wash it. I use silica blasting sand I bought from home depot (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/cat...=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All -The 100 lb bag of quartz sand, $7.87. Highly recomended). It is overall very clean to begin with compared to other sands I have tried, but I thnk it's still worth washing. There are so many suppliers out there it's generally a good idea to wash it as a precaution. I've also used granite pebbles in some of my soils. Granite is an inhert stone that won't leach minerals into the soil, but the bag of granite I bought had dust and dirt of unknown nature mixed in with the pebbles, so naturally I washed it.
I think a general rule as far as washing goes, at least for me, is if you think it probably has excessive minerals in it, it's better to be safe and wash it. But with organic soil addatives we use, such as peat, sphagnum, and orchid bark there's no reason to assume they have excess minerals. I mean, peat and sphagnum come from CP habitats in the first place for crying out loud! And pine or fir bark doesn't accumulate excess minerals. If you're using coconut coir though, It MIGHT be worth rinsing (I haven't used it, so I don't know).
Perlite by nature is sterile, chemically inhert (non-reactive) and virtually nutrient free, so no need to wash it. I also use red lava rock with some of my plants (helis and neps). It's fine without washing it.
Sand and other mineral soil addatives, on the other hand , come in various purities and degrees of contamination. If you can find a good supplier of clean sand, you may not need to wash it. I use silica blasting sand I bought from home depot (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/cat...=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=Search+All -The 100 lb bag of quartz sand, $7.87. Highly recomended). It is overall very clean to begin with compared to other sands I have tried, but I thnk it's still worth washing. There are so many suppliers out there it's generally a good idea to wash it as a precaution. I've also used granite pebbles in some of my soils. Granite is an inhert stone that won't leach minerals into the soil, but the bag of granite I bought had dust and dirt of unknown nature mixed in with the pebbles, so naturally I washed it.
in response to David F's comments. I've used sphagnum with twigs and bits of grass in it for many years with no negative effect. In the Savage Garden, even Peter D'amato says not to worry about the twigs and grass in Sphagnum. There's no use in spending that energy when many people have shown plants grow fine with the twigs, etc. mixed in.
I also think it is a good idea to change out the tray water occasionally to get rid of excess minerals, but peat and sphagnum don't start out with many excess minerals when you buy them; so, again, no need to rinse them! And the tannins don't hurt anything. I don't know why they're "annoying". I will periodically top water my plants to flush out any accumulating minerals and change my tray water every few months.
Edit: I can see the possible benefits of washing peat or Sphagnum to wash out some excees nutrients (NOT minerals), which would help inhibit algae growth if you're starting seeds or something, it's just that most people don't have the time and the benefits are minimal (IMO). If you want to try washing organic soil additives DO NOT use tap water, because organic products are able to hold onto minerals more, and the minerals from the tap water won't rinse out as easily as they will in sand.
I also think it is a good idea to change out the tray water occasionally to get rid of excess minerals, but peat and sphagnum don't start out with many excess minerals when you buy them; so, again, no need to rinse them! And the tannins don't hurt anything. I don't know why they're "annoying". I will periodically top water my plants to flush out any accumulating minerals and change my tray water every few months.
Edit: I can see the possible benefits of washing peat or Sphagnum to wash out some excees nutrients (NOT minerals), which would help inhibit algae growth if you're starting seeds or something, it's just that most people don't have the time and the benefits are minimal (IMO). If you want to try washing organic soil additives DO NOT use tap water, because organic products are able to hold onto minerals more, and the minerals from the tap water won't rinse out as easily as they will in sand.
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lil hokie
heatherfeather knows the weather!
It will depend on conditions, for sure
I'm sure your tap water in NC has much lower PPM than ours in arid Utah (or other areas of the west). And you have the benefit of frequent summer rains to flush out the soil, while most of our precipitation in Utah is in the winter and spring. So, we need to be a little bit more careful about mineral accumulation, perhaps. It's not as easy living in a desert with really hard water! lol
lil hokie
heatherfeather knows the weather!
It will depend on conditions, for sure
My water is in the 175-180 range last time I checked. It is much higher now than what it used to be about ten years ago. We need to change the pipes anyways even if you use it to rinse the sand I am sure it will not be that big of a deal especially if it is for the tougher species of CPs.
Probably so. I'm just cautious I guess.
