D_muscipula Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 (edited) What would be a good soil choice for a nepenthes sanguinea and a ventricosa? I have peat moss and perlite but I have money for other soil ingredients. My terrarium is fairly large( 3 feet long) and I am thinking about doing this http://www.pitcherplant.com/terrarium.html What would be a suitable soil mixture for a capensis a sanguinea a ventricosa? I would really appreciate if you responded to this topic For my nepenthes how about placing long fiber sphagnum in the bottom of the pot to prevent soil from falling through the drainage holes, and then mixing peat moss with coconut husk maybe perlite or more sphagnum? Edited September 16, 2007 by D_muscipula Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aidan Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Image removed. Breach of copyright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisduddridge Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 There are loads of possible soil mixes for neps. i have used equal parts peat perlite and LFS for mine, but adding orchid(pine) bark is also good. the general idea is to create a soil that is open airy and drains well, while still retaining some water to keep the soil fairly moist. For tropical pings a good soil mix is equal parts sand peat perlite and vermiculite. capensis i wouldnt imagine is too fussy as it is very easy to grow but growing it in equal parts sand and peat works well. Keeping the neps in their pots with LFS at the bottom of the pots is a good idea, but make sure they are not sitting in water. I reckon a mix somwhere in between the mixes i suggested for pings and capensis would be ok for the two of them. I dont know much about pings but i think some of them need a dry summer dormancy so the ping may not be suitable. you will have to wait for more experienced ping people to help you on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_muscipula Posted September 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 (edited) I could remove the pinguicula,If you check out the picture in the link I provided I would grow the capensis in the middle and the nepenthes on the hill so they are not sitting in water. If peat /perlite with long fiber sphagnum is okay then I guess I could order some sphagnum. I will need more peat though I only have half a bag and my terrarium is 3 feet long,I have about eight bags of perlite. Do I have to use sphagnum moss? I just found out the place I was going to order it from has a minimum order of 15 dollars I found out that for 12 bucks the hardware store has a 3.8 cubic foot bag of sphagnum peat moss I have used this brand before and It works well Edited September 16, 2007 by D_muscipula Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glider14 Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 believe me. a planted CP terrarium is more trouble than its worth. what i did after my planted tank disaster was keep them in pots and just put them in in the terrarium. as far as nep soil goes, for 3 i use a 50:50 LFS and cypress mulch with a top dressing of Live sphagnum and for the other 4 i use straight LFS. i use the straight LFS for both my N. sanguinea and my ventricosa. if you use peat and perilite use something like a 3:2 mix of perilite and peat. i believe thats a mix ive used...hanvent used perilite in a while as i cant find it anywhere. Good luck! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_muscipula Posted September 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 I would like a mix that won't break down easy I don't plan to repot my terrarium after all it is rather large. I have a non planted terrarium and a greenhouse.I want the terrarium to look natural I realize it is easier to just grow them in pots. a planted CP terrarium is more trouble than its worth. what i did after my planted tank disaster was keep them in pots and just put them in in the terrarium. what was your disaster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glider14 Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 variety of things. root rot, soil fungus, plants that liked it drier than others....and so on. i used D. adelae, D. capensis, some pings, and a N. 'Judith Finn' from Lowes. it was a very airy mix....something like 2:2:3 peat sand and perilite . the problem with planted tanks incluede: no mixing of temperate and tropicals no mixing of drier/wetter loving CPs if something is in the soil, everything is affected they have to be smaller plants. larger plants will get too big and then once they get to big, you have to remove them and therefore might hurt them. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D_muscipula Posted September 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 they have to be smaller plants. larger plants will get too big and then once they get to big, you have to remove them and therefore might hurt them. They won't outgrow the terrarium for a bit,It is three feet long.I plan on the plants getting big so I can take stem cuttings and propagate them,the nepenthes I have are fairly easy to propagate( sanguinea and ventricosa)Then I will have more plants and I can climatize them into my greenhouse which stands empty.I will probably put off the planted terrarium till next summer because of finances(birthdays,christmas and lawns don't get mowed much in december) I have taken many thing into consideration I realize that the soil mixture could ultimately effect the growth and health of the plants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Caldwell Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Hi, Just a suggestion: if you buy a lot of square pots all the same size then they'll all fit together without any gaps, and if you have the potting mix right up to the top of each pot or even slightly heaped, you'll end up with something that doesn't look so different to the look you're after, but with each individual plant in its own preferred mix, and you can move the plants around quite easily without disturbing others. Cheers, Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorick Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Hi,Just a suggestion: if you buy a lot of square pots all the same size then they'll all fit together without any gaps, and if you have the potting mix right up to the top of each pot or even slightly heaped, you'll end up with something that doesn't look so different to the look you're after, but with each individual plant in its own preferred mix, and you can move the plants around quite easily without disturbing others. Cheers, Tim And then you could top the whole thing with Spaghnum mos so you don't see the pots at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimscott Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Hanging baskets work well and so does a mix of sand and peat, with pine needles on top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathijs Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Hanging baskets work well and so does a mix of sand and peat, with pine needles on top. I think that your mix is way to heavy (peat/sand). A ventrata would thrive well, but some more difficult species wouldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phissionkorps Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 I think that your mix is way to heavy (peat/sand).A ventrata would thrive well, but some more difficult species wouldn't. I grow all my lowlanders in pure peat or peat and perlite for over two years, and they do quite well for themselves. Highlanders wouldn't do well in such a mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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