74 replies to this topic

[mobile]

sandy pandy, on 4th September 2009 - 22:58 PM, said:

The last big bag ive opened is much darker (almost black) and seems quite damp compared to the others. It has big lumps of twigs and stuff in it, not nice at all.  Ive lost a few plants (VFT,s) since potting them in that rubbish.

That sound like the stuff I had from a local bog... it killed every Dionaea that I put in it. I think that the dark stuff if from deeper in the bog and is more decomposed than the surface peat. I found that it compacted too much and that coupled with the excessive moisture retention caused rot.

[sandy pandy]

The westlands is easy to get,    most garden centres stock it, i just cant find any other make.  Where do you order your Moorland gold or Shamrock from, i will need to get a batch delivered.      Sandra

[mobile]

sandy pandy, on 6th September 2009 - 19:07 PM, said:

The westlands is easy to get,    most garden centres stock it, i just cant find any other make.  Where do you order your Moorland gold or Shamrock from, i will need to get a batch delivered.      Sandra

Moorland Gold is available from here: http://www.organicca...products_id=494

or if you are interested in ordering it via the pallet load: http://www.wrorganic...uk/compost.html

It's not cheap but, given the weight, any peat you order mail order is going to be costly in delivery charges.

If you have a local independent garden centre/nursery it may be worth while asking them if they can source some Shamrock peat for you. Or if you have a local organic shop they may be willing to get some Moorland Gold in stock if you explain what it is.

Edited by mobile, 06 September 2009 - 18:33 PM.

[Peabody]

Sandra,

Visit www.wrorganics.co.uk

This is where I bought a bag of Moorland Gold. One bag should pot up plenty of plants. The site gives you the details of the price and the delivery cost. I came home from work to find the bag of the stuff by my back door so there is no need to sign for it or have to collect it from a depot. I use peat from my local garden centre and it has been absolutely fine. I have tried mixing peat and Moorland Gold and it wets out very well.

I have treated my Flytraps badly by keeping them very wet over winter and they have all survived very well.

Good luck !

[sandy pandy]

Thanks guys for the info,    i will check out the sites and see what i can get.  I never thought of asking the garden centre if they would order some in.  Next time i go i will ask.     Sandra

[wallsg7]

Heather,my irish moss peat was westland.Ive used it before without trouble but this batch was more fibrous than peaty if you know what i mean.It seems to be the only brand available in this neck of the woods lately.I will have to order some from further afield i guess.Dread to think what the del charges will be.

[LJ]

Yep, I know what you mean. My latest lot of Arthur J Bowers is just the same! I think the last lot of westland just seems to be poor quality unfortunately and really wished I hadnt planted so many cps in it (though the sarras dont seem to be minding much yet). I'm getting quite paranoid about it now, a fair few plants are not looking so great after being potted in westland and I dont think my new peat is much better, I've actually taken to potting the less healthy looking plants or new aquisitions in live or dried moss now. Though with the cost of that I might be just as well going with moorland gold.

If anyone knows of anywhere selling peat around the Yorkshire area that isnt westland please send me a pm with the details!!!

Heather

[mobile]

Heather,

There is no guarantee that a different brand will be any better. As peat is a natural material, there will be inconsistencies even amongst the same brand. It can depend on the location and depth that is extracted from the bog. I don't know, but I wonder if the peat extraction companies are extracting from less favourable parts of the bogs as peat availability gets less due to more bogs now being protected?

I find VFTs to be particularly sensitive to peat quality so maybe we should start looking into alternative growing mediums.

[LJ]

You might be right there although by all accounts brands like shamrock are currently ok but I just dont know anywhere that sells it....

Quote

I find VFTs to be particularly sensitive to peat quality so maybe we should start looking into alternative growing mediums.

Its a pity the various carnivorous socities cant pull together on this one to try and do some proper research!! Your experiment seems promising though if its works well it might be difficult for any sizeable collection. It always seems that nothing works as well as gold old peat!! I think I'm going to try using live moss long term and see how that one goes, I've heard its not as good as peat long term but we'll see. I still have a bag of coco peat too to try out but I agree vfts seem more sensitive than other cp's so I'm reluctant to try it and from what i've read on here it really doesnt seem to be a good substitute and not that easily available either except from a few online places.....think the whole thing needs some radical thinking!

[mobile]

LJ, on 17th September 2009 - 19:13 PM, said:

Its a pity the various carnivorous socities cant pull together on this one to try and do some proper research!! Your experiment seems promising though if its works well it might be difficult for any sizeable collection. It always seems that nothing works as well as gold old peat!! I think I'm going to try using live moss long term and see how that one goes, I've heard its not as good as peat long term but we'll see. I still have a bag of coco peat too to try out but I agree vfts seem more sensitive than other cp's so I'm reluctant to try it and from what i've read on here it really doesnt seem to be a good substitute and not that easily available either except from a few online places.....think the whole thing needs some radical thinking!

I agree, the societies should perform research into this, afterall there would be no CP societies if we can't grow the plants! My hydroponics experiment is going better than I expected and I'm starting to get daring now with nutrients and growth promoters - I found growth slowed down without nutrients so I assume that VFTs must take some from peat. I may push it over the edge by adding too much but it's the only way of finding out if it's possible or not. For small setups hydroponics may be suitable but I agree that for larger collections it would take a bit more thought and planning.

[Davy]

"Its a pity the various carnivorous socities can't pull together on this one to try and do some proper research!!"

Heather, do you realise how few people actually join the various CP Socities?..I think the CPS has only about 200/250 members.
Most of their money goes to funding the quarterly newsletter, helping fund open days and conservation.
There is not the money or resource to do scientific studies of alternatives to peat.
Even at Kew Gardens, peat is still used as the main medium in CP growing media.
Also, to my knowledge ,(shoot me down if I am wrong): Evrey gardener from the large collections of plants throughout the U.K , has not found a media that surpasses peat as a medium for acidic loving plants.
Yes, there is Moorland Gold, but it costs .
If You have the money, it may be the thing to use..........I could not afford to repot 400+ plants.
(If interested in Moorland Gold, get in touch with Stephen Morley aka gardenofeden)

It is still peat, but in a form that is supposed to be enviromentally friendly.

Edited by Davy, 18 September 2009 - 00:14 AM.

[mobile]

LJ, on 17th September 2009 - 19:13 PM, said:

I still have a bag of coco peat too to try out but I agree vfts seem more sensitive than other cp's so I'm reluctant to try it and from what i've read on here it really doesnt seem to be a good substitute and not that easily available either except from a few online places.....think the whole thing needs some radical thinking!

I've never tried coir but there is an interesting topic about it here: http://www.flytrapca...i...f=30&t=1685

I'm lead to believe that the quality is variable so perhaps it would be best to experiment with some sourced from a hydroponics shop, such as Canna coir - which I believe contains Trichoderma.

[alexa]

I had a really bad year with my VFT’s, they seemed to rot from the inside for no apparent reason, it looked fine from the inside but if you pulled a leaf it would come away with a brown rotten base. I had air movement around the greenhouse so I’m not sure what caused it all. Some anti fungal spray from the garden centre managed to check it, but I lost a few good ones, bit of a bummer really.

Alex.

[Alexis]

What are they potted in Alex?

[LJ]

Davy - there's not only the CPS though - there are socities world-wide that could (in an ideal world) club together, perhaps along with places like Kew. I realise there isnt much funding available although if given a choice members might be more than happy to contribute a bit extra to help with the funding something like this - I know I certainly would! Ofcourse it will probably never happen, such a huge task for them all to try and work together but I can live in hope......

Alex - I'm with you on the rotting, lost quite a few plants this year, I keep mine on the dry side too with plenty of ventilation, I'm putting it down to the peat! If its not rotting then its overly blackening leaves and traps.

Carl - thanks for the useful link - its actually a bag of canna coir that I've got. Sounds like it might be worth a shot after reading that, I orginally bought it to experiment with but then decided I wasnt that brave especially with all the mixed reviews. I think I'll make some time tonight to pot a few expendable vfts up in it.

[LJ]

Edited - posted on wrong thread!

Heather

[alexa]

Alexis, I've been using a mix of peat, perlite and sand. I found that if I used just peat and sand a' la Slack, the medium became heavy and sludgy, but perlite kept it that bit lighter. This coming year I may try and get hold of some grit that SWCP have used, I'm pretty sure Alistair has had some good results with it.

I also found more slime mold this year that in previous winter seasons, I've no idea why, even though it's not harmful in itself, it looks pretty bad.

Heather, I'd not thought of that, maybe I should change my brand this year.

Alex.

Edited by alexa, 18 September 2009 - 19:11 PM.

[wallsg7]

Im interested to know if anyone currently grows their cps in moorland gold.How well do they grow and is it worth the extra expense?

[sandy pandy]

I have  tears in my eyes as i'm writing this!!     More casualties to add to my list... Louchapates, Petite dragon,
Black pearl, Short teeth, Wacky traps, Red fused petioles and cropped teeth.        R I P .

[mobile]

Sorry to read about your losses Sandra. Are you still using Westland peat? I once had a beautiful Petite Dragon which I lost due to bad peat