Peatmoss Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Good day, I recently received a number of fine quality South American Drosera from Best Carnivorous Plants. The species in question are: D. gaminifolia D. rorimae D. camporoupestris I also received D. kaiturensis and D. esmeralda from a member on forum a while back. Now, the first three Drosera I listed, arrived as clumps of four or five plants. I was curious as to which soil medium is better to grow these in, so I planted them half and half in either peat/sand or sphagnum/sand. I wanted to deduce which side is correct, at least in my conditions. The plants have now been in my care for about one week, and I find the results surprising, considering the main opinion is that sphagnum is better for growing these species. (Keep in mind, these plants are growing in my extremely sub-optimal conditions of 90* plus temperatures for the last few days.) I have observed results for all three species: D. gaminifolia Peat/sand: Both plants in this mix are doing very well, and producing new leaves. Very impressed by apparent ease of growth! Sphagnum/sand: One of the plants in this mix, appears to have aborted the latest leaf, but the growth point has some green, so I hold out hope for it's survival. The other plant is showing no new growth since it arrived. D. rorimae: Peat/sand: Both plants in this mix are doing very well, and producing new growth! Much better than expected... Sphagnum/sand: The plant in this mix is doing badly, but the bunch of plantlets are doing fairly well in living sphagnum... D. camporoupestris: All plants of this species appear to be doing fairly well... The D. kaiturensis and esmerelda are both in a peat/sand mix, the esmerelda is doing very well, but the kaiturensis does not like my conditions, and is at risk of dying... Just another note: I also received D. ultramafica from BCP and put it in peat/sand as recommended by Mey et al. This plant is producing many new leaves... Very nice! Can anyone else post information to help corroborate this? What soil mixes to your SA Drosera do best in? I figured I would post here, because it seems everyone and their mother's brother has a ton of phantastic SA dews. Photos will come when the plants start looking better. Thanks, Gabriel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark funnell Posted October 4, 2016 Report Share Posted October 4, 2016 Hi there. Ive also bought plant from Bcp. Very good quality and good size portions from him to. Would love to see how your plants have come on since your last post. I have planted all of mine in equal parts peat/sand mix also. The drosera i done this with is D-roraimae D-solaris D-caledonica D-Oblanceolata. All apart from solaris have taken of well considering the heatwave that hit here in the uk, was reaching over 35c in my shed witch i dont think help matters for them trying of establish in my conditions. Hopefully with the cooler temps now arriving they they will take off more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel H-C Posted October 7, 2016 Report Share Posted October 7, 2016 Peat and sand for all of them for me. Just make sure it's lime free, and don't always rely on what's said on the packaging! Nigel HC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundewmatt Posted October 9, 2016 Report Share Posted October 9, 2016 ive grown mine for years in sphagnum and they've grown quite well. have actually been considering switching over to a peat based mix lately though, and may conduct some experiments soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark funnell Posted October 21, 2016 Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) On 07/10/2016 at 5:35 PM, Nigel H-C said: Â On 07/10/2016 at 5:35 PM, Nigel H-C said: Peat and sand for all of them for me. Just make sure it's lime free, and don't always rely on what's said on the packaging! Nigel HC To true. I wash mine up to 20 times with tap water till the water is non cloudy. Then flush a further 3 times with rain water. Edited October 21, 2016 by mark funnell 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Anderson Posted October 21, 2016 Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 Hi there, about 5 months ago I was gifted some very ill young seedlings of d roraimae in a peat perlite sand mix that looked a bit dodgy so I pricked them out and moved them into pure nz sphag and a mix of peat and coarse quartz sand that is completely inert and used in aquariums (unipac maui coarse quartz sand), they are all growing away happy now but I would say that the peat sand mix is far ahead of the sphag one in size and vigour. I think the problem with my friends mix was the sand want great and probably had lime in it. I stoppef using sand in any of my mixes a long time ago because all the horticultural lime free sands I could get my hands on, either bubbled and fizzed when testing with a weak acid or was to fine and all needed a ton of rinsing to remove all the crap out of it! It's only in the last year that I started using sand again since I found the coarse quartz sand I use now. Mark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark funnell Posted October 22, 2016 Report Share Posted October 22, 2016 (edited) Ive tried horti sand but had bad results like you experienced. I also use the same Unipac quartz sand now. So far im rather happy with it. Haven't experienced any build up on the top layer like using perlite for example. My roraimae loves it to. Only started growing Tepui sundews withing the last few months. Was pleased to find something decent to start my new growings. Edited October 22, 2016 by mark funnell 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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