Muel Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ok so I changed my mind on the terrarium I put these into earlier in the year and wacked the Cephs in this tub in the greenhouse. It's just a big storage container with no drainage . I'll just be watering it based on how the sphagnum looks so I'm not really worried about drainage though I may put some holes in the bottom at some point. The soil mix is sphagnum and perlite. I intend to leave them here and let the whole tub get properly overgrown :) I think I might bring them inside and put them under a light for winter but I'm not sure yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredG Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Fill that tray to the brim, it'll look a lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 I find I end up with smelly medium when I don't have drainage, as it doesn't get flushed through and it becomes anaerobic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus B Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 I find I end up with smelly medium when I don't have drainage, as it doesn't get flushed through and it becomes anaerobic I am busy repotting nearly all my cephs after the sphagnum went bad even with drainage. They grew well for a couple of seasons and then crashed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted September 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 I was going to wait until it grows fresh Fred and I reckon I'll be having to squash the moss down before long. I can cope until then I'll just try not to look at it . I used to grew the origional baby Ceph I got all that from in an undrained fish bowl with just sphagnum in it so it's done alright in those conditions so far. Like I said I may well decide to put holes in the bottom and wack the whole thing in a tray. It's also a very perlite dominant mix it's in so I'm not too worried about the moss underneath breaking down and causing too many issues. We shall see I guess... I'm more worried about what I'm going to do come winter as this is the first time I have put Cephs outside. I reckon it's lining up to be a cold one this year so I'll probably end up bringing them inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lsternar Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) I am busy repotting nearly all my cephs after the sphagnum went bad even with drainage. They grew well for a couple of seasons and then crashed. Funny you mentioned this Mark. I had exactly the same problem with the very top layer of sphagnum looking green and healthy while underneath it had gone off colour and slightly smelly. They started growing poorly and I almost lost my Giant !!! Re-potted them all and are now making a come back. The top half of the pot was filled with a 1:1:1 mix of sphagnum, course perlite and pea gravel. Cheers Louis Edited September 11, 2014 by lsternar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus B Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Funny you mentioned this Mark. I had exactly the same problem with the very top layer of sphagnum looking green and healthy while underneath it had gone off colour and slightly smelly. They started growing poorly and I almost lost my Giant !!! Re-potted them all and are now making a come back. The top half of the pot was filled with a 1:1:1 mix of sphagnum, course perlite and pea gravel. Cheers Louis Greetings Louis, I am re-potting in Canadian peat, as it seems better than the Kiwi peat that I was using, which is not as good as it was in the past. I have found a source of course sand similar to what I used in the past that I am mixing in with peat. The sphagnum can stay on top as I am trialing shade cloth under gravel at the base instead. The parent plant has recently died back to a tangle of dark rhizomes wrapped around an orangish rhizome that is as thick as my thumb. It seems that that mix did much better in the warmer weather during the drought years than now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muel Posted September 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Well that sounds worrying I thought sphagnum was supposed to be alright as it degraded. The stuff in mine is dried underneath and live on the top. I'll defo have to keep an eye on it then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lsternar Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 (edited) Greetings Louis, I am re-potting in Canadian peat, as it seems better than the Kiwi peat that I was using, which is not as good as it was in the past. I have found a source of course sand similar to what I used in the past that I am mixing in with peat. The sphagnum can stay on top as I am trialing shade cloth under gravel at the base instead. The parent plant has recently died back to a tangle of dark rhizomes wrapped around an orangish rhizome that is as thick as my thumb. It seems that that mix did much better in the warmer weather during the drought years than now. I came across a couple of forums claiming that the Brunnings brand peat moss sold in Bunnings is re-packaged Canadian peat. Do you know whether this is correct and if so could it be used for Ceph's. I'm looking for a close source for Canadian peat moss. In the past my Ceph's were potted in pots (150mm) filled half way from the bottom with a mix of 1:1:1 peat moss, course perlite and pea gravel; and as mentioned previously; the top half of the pot filled with 1:1:1 sphagnum, course perlite and pea gravel. I've now re-potted them in the same way except that rather than having the top mix filling half of the pot, it is only filling the top 50mm, I do this because in my growing conditions I prefer most of the rhizome sitting in sphagnum rather than peat. Hopefully with a thinner layer of sphagnum it won't go off. Hope I haven't confused everyone Edited September 11, 2014 by lsternar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lsternar Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Greetings Louis, The parent plant has recently died back to a tangle of dark rhizomes wrapped around an orangish rhizome that is as thick as my thumb. WoW.......that's one very large rhizome!!!!!!! The orange colouration in the rhizome sounds promising and it should come back with a little TLC and a lot of patience with these slow growers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus B Posted September 11, 2014 Report Share Posted September 11, 2014 Well that sounds worrying I thought sphagnum was supposed to be alright as it degraded. The stuff in mine is dried underneath and live on the top. I'll defo have to keep an eye on it then. It may well depend on your conditions and the set up employeed. If you can get a flow of water through it, it may be all the difference. My issue may be partly that I used to use automated overhead watering and now I manually water with plants sitting in trays. Even plants in my basket pots went backwards, but these were in much better condition than those in ordinary pots, even though they had more sphagnum around them. Correct my if I am wrong, but from most of what I have read and seen in photos, cephs grow best where there is movement of the ground water, even if the substrate is putrid, which may be key. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lsternar Posted September 12, 2014 Report Share Posted September 12, 2014 Over the last year or so I've taken up growing Disa and Masdevallia orchids and while researching best cultivation methods for these two orchids I found that the preferred growing medium to use with these two unrelated orchids is pure sphagnum moss as it encourages rapid and healthy root growth. BUT the texts advised that while sphagnum has these advantages; the sphagnum must be replaced at the start of the growing season EVERY year as it's benefits start to erode after a season. This has also prompted me to limit the depth of the sphagnum I use when potting up Ceph's as I think sphagnum that is deep within a pot and very moist doe's, lets say have a certain shelf life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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