Hud357 Posted January 20, 2015 Report Share Posted January 20, 2015 I would go with fertiliser OD as a first choice. Sphag just doesn't like it. Unfortunately, like many I suspect, I tend to treat sphag as something to compliment the 'real' plants, it is a plant in its own right though and needs to be treated as such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North West Neps Posted January 20, 2015 Report Share Posted January 20, 2015 (edited) Another thing i've thought of, is that i also use horticultural charcoal chips in my mix. This stuff tends to be quite dusty in the bag as you'd expect, and i've just been shovellling it out of the bag and into my mixing tray. Of course, when it comes to watering, the charcoal dust in the mix essentially turns to black water. Could this be then sucked up by the sphagnum, hence the dark greeny-grey limp appearance ? Or am i talking waffle ? I'm thinking a combination of too much coffee and charcoal water is the reason ? I think i'll skip this year with the coffee feed, and also get into the habit of flushing my charcoal through before adding it to my mix in future. Can't hurt to try anyway, can it. Edited January 20, 2015 by Welshy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Evans Posted January 20, 2015 Report Share Posted January 20, 2015 I think its mostly from the coffee. The sphagnum isn't really dead, but it does have weird texture, correct? The coffee may have been a little too strong for the moss. Probably all you need to do, or perhaps should have done is leach the pots with pure water, it will clean up the moss. I always leach my soils. After making them, I leave the mix outside in the rain for six months before using it. It is a bit of a pain, but I've gotten used to my system. Also allows me to reuse old soil components like perlite and quartz sand without cross contamination issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatchGreyes Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I was using coffee, but it has the tendency to kill live sphagnum. It does work well as a fertilizer, however, just not as well as some other mixes, such as orchid fertilizer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.