re:darlingtonia soil change

From: Wim Leys (Wim.Leys@vlm.be)
Date: Tue May 26 1998 - 07:06:09 PDT


Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 16:06:09 +0200
From: Wim Leys <Wim.Leys@vlm.be>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg1789$foo@default>
Subject: re:darlingtonia soil change


> I use peat, coarse snad, sphagnum in a ratio of 1:1:1, but I was planning
> on changing to peat:3,sand:1,perlite:1,and pine nedles:1. I am changing
> because in this soil mix the pitchers are numberous but are very small (
> nearly a third the size of the previous years)!, Does anyone elsse know if
> something other than the soil could be causing this?
>

I use 3 peat : 2 coarse sand : 2 perlite : 1 pine needles with very good
results. The sand must be thoroughly washed to remove all contaminants;
the pine needles I use are partly decomposed.

Don't exaggerate with the partly decomposed pine needles, When I first
discovered its positive effect on the growth of CP's, I started to think
like : " if a bit is good, (a lot) more will be better". So after a
while I ended up with green slimy algae invading my pots, suffocating
smaller plants, the soil started to smell rotten, problems with fungus
during winter, ...

When you use the complete brown pine needles, instead of decomposed
needles, this story may be different.

Kind regards
Wim



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