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Hi, I am about to re-pot my Sarracenia, as it has long outgrown its original pot and needs a better soil mix. I have purchased some long-fibre sphagnum moss live, a bag of perlite and a bag of Sarracenia compost. My question is this; what ratio do I mix the compost and perlite and how do I go about adding the moss? I am told that the moss goes on the bottom of the pot, with the compost and perlite mix on top of the moss. Is this correct?

Hi all, Just thought I would introduce myself. I've always been interested in carnivorous plants, but am a very newbie grower. A few years ago I had a couple of cape sundews which were fun for a couple of years, and a venus fly trap which I kept for about 3 years until it failed to come back in the Spring. Now that I have a greenhouse (unheated), I plucked up courage to give it another go. I bought a couple of cape sundews, and a couple of 'spathulata' sundews which I hope to put outside permanently. My biggest question right now is compost for a hopefully expanding collection! Buying it from a specialist seems really expensive so I am keen to make my own, but I don't know where to start. Sundews like a peat and sand mix apparently, but I'm not sure where to buy either (The local garden centres don't seem to stock peat, and I have builders sand but apparently this is too limey). Where do I start? Or am I forced to buy the expensive stuff from the specialists? All help appreciated, MG

Is it okay to use perlite in the mix for nepenthes ventricosa. I purchased one and it very quickly started to die off. The supplier said it's because of perlite in the mix, they said it burns the roots and is for large plants Only. I'm not so sure as the mix was purchased stating it was for this purpose.. any help will be appreciated

Like many growers on here I use Moorland Gold as an alternative to peat in a lot of my compost mixes. My fairly simplistic understanding is that it is derived from peat sediment running off the Yorkshire Moors into reservoirs. The reservoir filter systems collect the sediment which is then bagged and sold. Great stuff too! So, my ears pricked up one day recently when a local TV news item mentioned Yorkshire Water's Moors For The Future project. If I got it right they were saying that they were going to "manage" the moors better to make the water cleaner by preventing the sediment getting into the reservoirs. See quote below. "What's been done We are blocking up grips - channels that were cut in the past to attempt to drain the land and make it suitable for grazing - and natural gullies. This will increase water levels and slow the water flow. It also traps peat sediment and helps prevents it getting into water destined for our water supply." Does anybody know any more about this project? I wonder if this will mean that we will shortly be looking for an alternative to our peat alternative?