Date: Thu, 3 Aug 2000 13:23:33 -0700 From: "Doug Burdic" <dburdic@harborside.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2343$foo@default> Subject: Re: Live-Spahgnum
Hi,
<MCliff428@aol.com wrote:>
> I see that some plants like Darlingtonia call for a soil recipe with
only
> live sphagnum. This makes sense, but should I put the plant in store
bought
> dead long fiber sphagnum and the live stuff on top? Can collected
dead
> long fiber sphagnum be used from a bog (the stuff beneath the live
tips)?
> Thank you.
-The most important cultural element in growing Darlingtonia is that
their root zone stays fairly "cool". Two miles from here they grow
in a sandy-silt muck...30 miles away from here they grow in pure
live Sphagnum...250 miles from here they grow in this 'Gumbo
Clay' on a Serpentine mountain. One of the major characteristics
these natural substrates have in common, is that they are all provided
with a fresh oxygen supply to the roots in a cool root zone
environment.
I've grown Darlingtonia in just about everything, but a 1:1 peat moss
(granulated) : horticultural grade perlite seems to work best. If
you're going to use pure sphagnum moss and aren't going to be
able to provide a frequent flushing with cool water through the
root zone, I'd add some perlite to the Sphagnum & mix it up
well prior to planting. This will provide porosity not only for
oxygenation in the root zone, but will also help prevent the old
Sphagnum from becoming too compacted which results in
anaerobic conditions that lead to other problems you don't want
to deal with. A final note on raising Darlingtonia; If you are
growing them in an extremely warm environment, keep the
humidity high by frequent misting. This will help compensate
for the warm soil temperatures as least temporarily. All this
IMHO of course..-
Good luck and good growing,
Doug
Doug Burdic
dburdic@harborside.com
Florence,Oregon
----- Original Message -----
From: <MCliff428@aol.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <cp@opus.labs.agilent.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 6:56 AM
Subject: Live-Spahgnum
> I see that some plants like Darlingtonia call for a soil recipe with
only
> live sphagnum. This makes sense, but should I put the plant in store
bought
> dead long fiber sphagnum and the live stuff on top? Can collected
dead
> long fiber sphagnum be used from a bog (the stuff beneath the live
tips)?
> Thank you.
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