Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

(I type too much, so skip to the second paragraph, because that's the point of this thread) :laugh::smile:

Recently, I had enough time to observe my nepenthes a bit more closely than I usually do. I ended up sifting through the soil mixture to check on how healthy the roots of the plants were, to see in general how my nepenthes were liking their conditions. All my nepenthes are in a 3:1 mix of coconut husk and sphagnum moss, and origionaly I thought that this mix drained really well. The soil mix in the pots, however, breaks down pretty fast; lower down in the soil, particles built up and held water like pure peat moss. Higher up in the soil, it would dry out faster, because most of the large peices of the soil remained in that area. The sphagnum on the surface of the mix turned black, and broke down very quickly(maybe from wetting and drying out so frequently), and looks like it caused even more particles to go to the bottom and reduce drainage. I also remember there being alot of salt build up in the lower areas of the mix. So, the majority of my nepenthes have poor root systems.


If anyone would be nice enough to share their Nepenthes secret soil mixes, go ahead! I remember some threads about burnt earth,how is that working for growers using it?


Also, does anyone know if there is a difference between horticultural charcoal and charcoal for water filter. (also called activated carbon, I think)

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

To help develop a successful mix of my own I'll be doing some experiments with N. madagascariensis, and, depending on if I have enough space, I'll test between 3-6 different soil mixes(I'll need 4-7 plants since there will be a control also).

Possible mixes I'll try:

1:1 LFS to perlite*

?:? mix of polemer gel to bits of packaging peanuts(the kind that dosen't dissolve in water)

Pure LFS

Pure Cocoapeat

1:1 mix of Live sphagnum to orchid bark

2:1:1 mix of orchid bark to cocoapeat to charcoal

The control will be the mix I'm now using- 3:1 coconut husk to LFS

*- I read in CLiff Dodd's articles at (http://borneoexotics.com/files/cliffDod.htm) that perlite releases flourides and that hurts nepenthes. Can anyone here confirm this?

I still have to determine what ratio would be best to try for this mix. This is the mix I am most curious about, since it is entirely artificial, with no organic matter in it.


It will likely be a while before I do this, since I still have to order the plants. I just want to notify anyone who is interested.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Sounds like a good idea Marigold. I have heard that cocopeat breaks down quickly and has a high salt content but i haven't used it myself.

I use a couple of different mixes and just keeping changing the media for individual plants until they start gowing well. If it looks like a plant is struggling I change the mix. I am currently using pure LFS for some plants (I think a gracilis and raff from memory), a mix of about equal parts peat/sand/pine bark (the type orchid growers use) and a third mix of equal parts LFS and pine bark.

All three seem to work for individaul plants. Obviously the peat mix is the worst drained with the highest water holding capacity but I put a x rokko into this after 6 months of no growth and it has now taken off with almost half a dozen small pitchers.

Please keep us informed of your results. It will be interesting to see how the different mixes go with one species. It would also be good to see if people with a bit of space can try the experiment with a few different species to try and come up with mixes for individual species.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

For all my neps, I use a mix of 1:1:1:1:1 perlite, vermiculite, orchid coco chips, sphagnum peat moss, LFS. When potting up lowlanders I use the same but I use a greater percentage of peat moss. I believe this is ok, the plants seem to be growing alright.
However, I want to create a new mix that improves air circulation around the roots. I wanted to add to my current mix something like charcoal or some sort of bark. I was wondering if the bark they sell for reptile terrariums at pet stores would work. Also, when buying charcoal, Is the charcoal that they sell at convenience stores ok? This is the type of charcoal that one brings home for BBQ's. It is not the nugget type, I am talking about natural charcoal that even looks like little bits of wood, only black hehe. Anyways I wanted to know if these two materials would work. My concern arose because in some of my larger neps that are potted with my current mix, the water does drain out almost immediately after watering, although it drains out very slowly and I was wondering if I should be concerned about this. Alright then, I'll appreciate any advice.... Later!

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

It sounds like you have it all planned out quite well!

I use a 1:1 mix of coconut husk and course perlite and I have been very please with the results over the past year. I also grow all my Neps in coco lined baskets as they are great for added air to the roots.

I have used coco peat before but was very unhappy with the results as it seemed to become far to compact and didnt seem to have near the airiness as coconut husk....plus I like the look of the coconut husk better.

I look forward to seeing the results as time goes on so please do keep us informed of your progress Marigold!

Happy growing!
Victoria

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

I dont believe there is a perfect soil mix.Some mix maybe good for some type of plants and not good for some other types of plant.So,if we can divide by which type of nepenthes likes which type of soil,then it would be great.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Im going for 100% LFS works best for most of my plants.LFS is dead/dried spahgmum moss rite some of my LFS seems to start growing again.And also a little live sphagmum moss on the top will make it look good

Ken

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

I've tried the following mix before:

- pure long sphagnum moss
- sphagnum moss + perlite (1:2)
- coconut chips + coconut peat + sphagnum peat + sphagnum moss (3+1+1+1)
- wood bark + sphagnum peat + chopped up sphagnum moss (2+1+1)
- fern tree bark + perlite + chopped up sphagnum moss (2+1+1)

Generally a pure long sphagnum moss does well for me compared to the rest but after about 2 years, the moss compreses and my plants do not look that good. Also slimy algae starts to grow.

I do not have much problem with sphagnum moss + perlite, but somehow my plants are not very happy with this mix. Growth seem to be very slow.

I have similar problems that Marigoaldsfail21 faces for my coconut chip mix. Problem with the top half of the media drying up too fast. But when I place a layer of sphagnum moss on top to lock in the humidity, the neps seem to like it. However, I've just recently started to use this media (in the past 6 months) and would not know how long my plants would be happy in it, especially when the coconut chips start to decompose.

So far the wood bark mix and fern tree bark mix is the best. The fern tree bark does not decompose and so the media does not compress over time. This is great but it's not easy to find in Malaysia and is expensive. Also if the fern tree bark that I buy comes from an old fern tree, I can't break up it's strands even with a hammer (It comes in block of about 1 feet x 1 feet). The wood bark is also good but it will decompose over time.

Fauzi is testing with florafoam with some good results. His plants seem to love it. Need to get an update from him. For those who do not know, this is the material florist use to stick flower stalks in to keep them in place in a basket arrangement. It usually comes in green colour. What Fauzi does is he cut the florafoam into cubes of 1cm x 1cm x 1cm (height x length x width). He then places a layer of sphagnum moss at the bottom and top of the florafoam in the pot. This material does not decompose and ratains water while allowing air between the flaorafoam cubes in the pot. On top of this it is relatively cheap. Have any other members here tried this before? I'm thinking of changing all my neps media to this but the problem is it does not come in cubes, At least I've not seen it yet in Malaysia. You'll have to cut it yourself. Here's how it looks like. Its on the row nearest to you, second from right

Attachment 369

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

David, that photo of the potting materials, might be a good idea to number them and then we identify what they are, nice for reference. :)

1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10

1
2
3 Dried Long Fibered Sphagnum moss?
4 Coco Chips 1cm X 1cm?
5 Cocopeat?
6 Perlite
7 Vermiculite
8 Peat?
9 Florist Foam 1cm X 1cm
10

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Good idea Arvin.

1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10

1. wood bark
2. chopped up dried sphagnum moss
3. dried long sphagnum moss
4. coconut chips
5. coconut peat
6. perlite
7. river sand
8. sphagnum peat moss
9. flora foam
10. vermiculite

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Not being a wet blanket but there ain't any perfect soil for Nepenthes other then those found in the wild where the plants are already growing. Even then, those plants there would have adapted to the conditions they are in.

So what we need to do to is to understand the needs of the species, look at our own growing conditions and tweak the proportions of available types of media, in order to find what the plants grow best in.

Let me elaborate on just the growing conditions...

Borneo Exotics grows most of their plants in cocopeat. Why? Because cocopeat is readily available. Secondly, being a nursery, the humidity, temperature, air circulation is made near ideal for Nep cultivation. Therefore, the type of media used does not affect the plants very much as long as it is not basic (alkaline) in nature.

I use LFS/perlite (50:50) for nearly all my plants and pure burnt earth for cliff/granite/limestone growing species like N. northiana. I get good light and wind at my balcony. So LFS works well to retain moisture. I tried cocochip but it dries up too fast for me. Too fast even for species like N. albomarginata which likes the media drier. I have perlite in pots which are 5 years old. I don't see any decline in the plants.

One friend uses peat/perlite (30:70) for many of his plants. He has a garden with constantly high humidity and he waters them often. Some plants don't do well for him when potted in the same LFS mix as mine because they tend to suffer from root rot.

Your plants will tell you what you need to add to the mix. Either LFS or peat to increase the water retentive property, or fern bark or perlite to provide more drainage. My "best" mix is not going to your best mix unless you live with me in the same apartment. ;)

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Sorry, Cindy, Alienfx, I guess I could have chosen a better title, I didn't mean perfect literally. I was thinking more of in the ways of a mix that would be low maintenance, and would work well for most common intermediate-growing neps.

(Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil just sounds like some sort of action/adventure movie title though, doesn't it?)

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Well, I think Cindy really nailed it with her comments! I tend to have lots of plants with water trays under them because it's just too hard to keep up with watering when we get a hot, dry, windy spell. I notice that I have to match my mix to the method, as the hanging pots won't do as well in the same mix as my water tray plants.

I had been using just coco cubes for a long time as I could not source perlite or pummice stone anywhere around here. Now that I've finally found bulk sources I've incorporated both into my mix when I transplant because of the same problems of breakdown of the coco cubes that everyone else seems to have come across.

David, we just had a festival here Sunday called the "Global Mala" which was focusing on the environment, especially as applied to a small island such as our own. One of the displays was put together by a local hotel and concerned the floral foam. I was not aware of its toxic qualities and the fact that there is no way to safely dispose of it. I don't think they were implying that it is toxic to the plants themselves but rather that it is an entirely artificially made product with no safe way of disposal. As an alternative (to hotels and florists for their uses) they found a science project done by a couple of high school students who created a wooden frame and press into which the put coconut fiber and clay soil and compress it into brick sized blocks. They set up a demonstration showing how to produce a good alternative. They told me that their experience was that the foam did eventually get 'mushy' whereas the alternative lasted far longer. I was brought to meet them by a friend who thought it might be useful to me for my plant propagation. While the clay doesn't sound that good for the neps, it will probably work for some other species.

Good to hear of your experiences with the wood bark as one supplier here in Thailand has just started offering it in bulk quantities. Actually, what they are selling is "Pine bark", here's the link to a thread on it; http://forum.iloveferns.com/index.php/topic,195.0.html

And the quest for 'perfect' media continues!

By the way, Cindy's comment about particular species' tolerances and likes/dislikes suggests a great idea for an ongoing thread for us all to add input to. I have yet to find any such data base.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Shawn,

Thanks for the information. I think it is good to experiment with this new alternative to floral foam. So this coconut fibre and clay material is in a block or cubes? Is it soft as well? Does it hold water etc. But is this new product in the market yet?

I think the clay should not be a problem for nepenthes.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Nah, no need for apologies, Marigold. Did you see the ;) at the end of my post? Seriously, thanks for being able to accept my opinion. It takes a certain level of maturity for forum members to agree to disagree. :1thumbup:

I believe the rest like myself, have consciously sought after the "perfect mix". It took some of us shorter time and others, a longer time to realise that there are many other factors involved. What I put forth to you and other members here is to help you all cut the chase. Hope no one minds me being candid. :smile:

Floral foam is just styrofoam. I don't use it for my plants because I don't like my food in styrofoam too. LOL

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

I have been using flora foam since Adrian said he is using it also.Quite some time already.So far no problem but what i do is i mix many material in the same ratio.

flora foam: perlite:coconut fiber:black soil:clay:river sand:moss:coal:wood chips

So,far i find its ok for my neps.It drains very fast and quite airy.Its healthy to let some small plants to grow with our nep cause their roots can keep the soil airy and absorb any nutriens in the soil.

Flora foam releases toxic if we burn them,so must not burn them.Once we are not using it for the nep,we can mix with normal soil and use for other plants.

Im using flora foam:moss: perlite mix for my other cp's like drosera,sarra and recently ping.So far no problem.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Hi David, unfortunately, it is a 'do-it-yourself' product which they were promoting to the other hotels. The Thai high school students put it together as a display presentation for a science fair and this hotel picked it up from the internet and trained their own staff in the process. I have made plans to take my foreman to their hotel so he can do it with them once and then come back and train my own staff in the process.

You can make the mold in any shape you want (they used a very simple wooden box with no top or bottom). The freshly made sample I saw was still soft and very wet. It appeared to hold water quite well. They had a proportion of 3 parts coco/1 part clay soil (I think!). The finished product did not appear to be too 'clayey' as it is just spread throughout as a binder.

I'll try to take pictures and get more info when we do the 'training', but that may take me a few weeks yet - too busy at the moment!

The other thing that struck me was that it probably needs a 'frame' of some sort to keep it from falling apart in heavy rains. I was considering building some raised beds (raised above the surrounding ground level for drainage purposes) and then hollowing out long trenches which were just the width of the individual blocks so as to hold them in place. Perhaps placing dividers between the blocks so that its easier to lift the plants when ready to transplant - I'm always looking for an alternative to buying thousands of plastic pots! :tongue:

Hey, what about that 'species like/dislikes' data-base idea? :blush:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Shawn, the idea is great. But I am still thinking how to input the info. Not an IT person, you see... :laugh:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Thanks for your reply alienfx!

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Shawn,

Will wait for your updates on that alternative media.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

I believe Athene from Penang once tried to start a thread on the basic cultivation info for each species. However, that thred died out. Perhaps I should put a "sticky" on it.

Perhaps we can continue in her thread and when I am free I will update the inforamtion into worksheet and upload into our archive under the "Nepenthes" page on archive.petpitcher.net. This document will be updated regularly by my when there is new info on the cultivation of the respective species.

How does that sound? Would need contributions from everyone or the data will not be accurate or complete.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Glad you like the idea Cindy! :2thumbup: I just met an IT whiz guy at the Global Mala who, unbeknowst to anyone else, quietly assembled an entire 'Sustainable Koh Samui Forum' board using temporary 'place holders' for topics and sub topics! Don't know how long he has been silently working away at it before quietly unveiling it the day before the Mala! But it blew everybody away to see what he'd done!

I'm a bit too tied up in things right now, but when I get time I'll re-post the idea and see what kind of response we get. I saw some great work done by fellow forum members around the time of the petpitcher changeover so maybe we can do another collaborative effort and bring this together as well! As you said above, it would allow all of us to 'cut to the chase' without having to make so many mistakes from trial and error!

Whoops, while I was typing, I just saw David's later reply about this idea - Great! Let us know when you get free time for this! :biggrin:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

It would be good if there is a format to follow. Otherwise we might get an essay to say that N. northiana does well in LFS and perlite, followed by another 20 essays on 20 other different species just because it works well for one particular grower.

Input needs to be substantiated and supported with growing experience (at least 1-2 years of growing the species) and not gleaned from the Internet or journals.

To give an example...

N. merrilliana
- grown in LFS/perlite for 2 years at the balcony (years the grower has the plant and where the plant was grown)
- produced pitchers sporadically and mostly during cooler and more humid weather therefore causing the assumption that the species perhaps prefers lower temperaures and higher humidity (description of the less than desired outcome)
- research suggests that it prefers a quick draining media and other growers who have made the change reported good results (reason for change)
- repotting into burnt earth caused consistent pitchering even during the hot and dry season (description of the positive outcome)

What do you all think? :smile:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Sounds good! Maybe some kind of very easy to use system of check boxes for the data to make it faster and easier for people to use and then an area for text for further elaboration? Lets all brainstorm about the format before rushing to get something out there that we later don't find all that useful.:crying:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Wow! This is becoming a very informative thread. I really like the idea of a database. Sounds like that would be a good project for everyone be involved with.

Cindy: haha:laugh:, I meant that I agree with you. I know there is no 'perfect mix,' only mixes that work well for certain species, in the conditions they are growing in.

Shawn, thanks for the info on your soil mix and the soil cubes. These soil blocks sound like they could really be useful in nepenthes mixes, and whats better, is, is that you don't just have to use clay soil or coconut fiber; You can use things like bark, or peat, or LFS. I think people may even start coming up with mixes for the cubes. :2thumbup:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Well, I've ordered the plants. They should arrive in about a week.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Cindy, I'm not sure, but there are floral foam being sold here that is quite different from styrofoam, the ones here are green and mushy to touch and absorbs quite a lot of water like a sponge, as opposed to styrofoam that doesn't absorb water. This is not to say that the floral foam is environmentally easy to dispose off though. :(

I love your ideas about the database. I am not an IT guy myself, but I imagine that maybe we can take some ideas off a Killifish website that I came across before. Not sure if this is the same one, but sure is similar:

http://www.bka.org.uk/BKA/SpeciesSea...Nothobranchius (just click on a name to see details)

http://www.bka.org.uk/BKA/SpecQuest.php?ID=477

This one is the interface on how people can contribute. Mind you however that it is like a "Poll". Which means that an expert's opinion versus say a novice's opinion will be weighted the same. A way around this is to allow comments from the contributors at the end of the database.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Floral foam is used for flower arrangements right? :smile:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Yep Cindy, that's the stuff, green spongy when wet but a bit crystalline.

Arvinn - that's an interesting approach! Not a bad model at all. We'd have to come up with the question fields but that shouldn't be too hard. We could always add more as we find we need them.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

http://save-on-crafts.com/floralfoams.html
Cindy found some foam photos for you. The reason why I said they are not styrofoam, is coz they are green and they are porous compared to styrofoam like the ones that are used on take out food, etc.

The key Shawn is for us to find someone who can duplicate the same interface for us, plus find a home/server for us.

TTFN
Arvin

Database for Species Cultivation
 

I just checked the link from arvin. That's a good way to do it. Kinda like a survey. I think we can use the poll feature on the forum to do this. Just post it on the forum and allow it to be on the forum indefinally so that members can return and resubmit their poll again and again.

However, I can't create the option for coments at the end of the poll. Do we really need the coments section. I feel that that will complicate the database as we have to interpret the coments for the report. Just my suggestion.

Do you all want to have a database on the cultivation info of the various species or a database on the media for each species. I think we should go for the cultivation info for the various psecies as the media would have been covered there.

Re: Database for Species Cultivation
 

David, that all sounds good! We can always start a "comments" thread in a new category called something like 'species database comments', where people who want to delve deeper (or with too much time on their hands!) can see all the comments. What do you think about a question where we can note germination times for various species? It might get screwed up by the varying ages of the seed to begin with but perhaps we could say "only add the data if the seed is less than 2 months old when planted". Maybe I'm asking too much of this! Sorry. Oh yeah, we are just 'brainstorming' still! Question still stands!

Re: Database for Species Cultivation
 

Yes, we can have a species database comments. Good idea Shawn. I also think it's good to include germination times. It will be a lot of work at the beginning setting this up, but once it is done and after some time when members input their data, the information will be very valuable.

I will create a new Category called "Species Database" or something like that (Any suggestion?) and each thread inside will be a survey/poll for the different species or genus. I think I will include other species of CPs as well.

What I need from everyone is the questionnaire / info that you want to be included in the survey/poll. After I get all that questions, I'll work on the forum category and boards. However, give me some time to set it up. :)

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Here are some of the factors that I think should be included in the survey questions:

General cultivation:
Light preferance

Air circulation

Tolerance of humidity fluctuations/ humidity preferance

pitcher formation success rate

special pitchering requirements

how well the plant adapts/ acclimates / how forgiving of mistakes it is

Soil Mixture:

I'm not quite sure how we could do this, with all the different soil mixes that are used. I wonder if it would be possible to have all the soil ingredients listed, and have a box next to each listing where people can type in a percent value of how much of their soil mix is made up of that ingredient. The poll would have to limit the total of all of the boxes to 100, of coarse. Also if the total of all the percentages does not add up to 100, we could have the poll generate an 'other' percentage.

Maybe we could include general soil mix questions as well, about pH, drainage, and soil humidity

Germination and seedling care:
Light preferance

Air circulation

Humidity

Drainage

germination rate

germination time

pesticides/ fungicides used

Transplanting /seedling spacing

Time between germination and flowering of seedlings

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Good! I agree with marigoldsfail.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Great work, Marigoldsfail21! :1thumbup:

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Ok, under all these categories, I need data so that members can select an answer.

Perhaps something like this... ?

General cultivation:

Light preferance

- 20%
- 30%
- 40%
- 50%
- 60%
- 70%
- 80%
- 90%
- 100%

Air circulation

- 10%
- 20%
- 30%
- 40%
- 50%
- 60%
- 70%
- 80%
- 90%
- 100%

Tolerance of humidity fluctuations/ humidity preferance

- bad
- moderate
- good
- excellent

pitcher formation success rate

- bad
- moderate
- good
- excellent

special pitchering requirements

- sunlight 10%
- sunlight 20%
- sunlight 30%
- sunlight 40%
- sunlight 50%
- sunlight 60%
- sunlight 70%
- sunlight 80%
- sunlight 90%
- sunlight 100%

- humidity 10%
- humidity 20%
- humidity 30%
- humidity 40%
- humidity 50%
- humidity 60%
- humidity 70%
- humidity 80%
- humidity 90%
- humidity 100%

- media kept on the dry side
- media allowed to dry out inbetween waterings
- media is kept wet all the time
- media is kept soggy

- infrequent use of fertilisers
- frequent use of fertilisers
- Never use fertiliers
- infrequent feeding with insects
- frequent feeding with insects
- never feed

how well the plant adapts/ acclimates / how forgiving of mistakes it is

- bad
- moderate
- good
- excellent



Germination and seedling care:

Light preferance

- bright indirect light
- sunlight 10%
- sunlight 20%
- sunlight 30%
- sunlight 40%
- sunlight 50%
- sunlight 60%
- sunlight 70%
- sunlight 80%
- sunlight 90%
- sunlight 100%

Air circulation

- bad
- moderate
- good
- excellent

Humidity

- humidity 10%
- humidity 20%
- humidity 30%
- humidity 40%
- humidity 50%
- humidity 60%
- humidity 70%
- humidity 80%
- humidity 90%
- humidity 100%

Drainage

- bad
- moderate
- good
- excellent

germination rate

- Nil
- 10%
- 20%
- 30%
- 40%
- 50%
- 60%
- 70%
- 80%
- 90%
- 100%

germination time

- 1 week
- 2 weeks
- 3 weeks
- 4 weeks
- 5 weeks
- 6 weeks
- 7 weeks
- 8 weeks
- 9 weeks
- over 10 weeks

pesticides/ fungicides used

* This is a tough one. Anybody has suggestion? Maybe don'e put this as a poll. Let members post?

Transplanting /seedling spacing

- Trasplant into individual pots 1 week after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 2 weeks after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 3 weeks after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 4 weeks after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 5 weeks after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 1 month after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 2 months after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 3 months after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots 4 months after germination
- Trasplant into individual pots after 5 months from germination


Time between germination and flowering of seedlings

Drosera:
- 1 week
- 2 weeks
- 3 weeks
- 4 weeks
- 5 weeks
- 6 weeks
- 7 weeks
- 8 weeks
- 9 weeks
- above 10 weeks

Nepenthes

- within half year
- within one year
- within one-and-a-half years
- within two years
- within two-and-a-alf years
- within three years
- within three-and-a-half years
- within four years
- within four-and-a-half years
- within five years

etc... etc...

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

That looks good David. I think though, that the light prferance options shouldn't be in percentages, since most people won't have the equipment to measure it. For the fungicides/pesticides i was thinking we could list different types of fungicide, like soap based or neem oil based etc. We could also include options for how much is applied, or how often.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

So how should I measure light? I think if they do not have a light meter etc to measure the light intensity, perhaps a rough estimate in % would do or if they are using a shade cloth for their plants they would know how many percetage shade their shade cloth provide. Any suggestions? Help...

I need help for members to list for me all the insecticide/fungicide that they use so I can include in the survey.

Also can I have a list of all the fertiliser that have been used on Nepenthes?

Also I need a list of all the media that are used to grow Neps. Off my head I can think of...
- chooped up sphagnum moss
- long sphagnum moss
- sphagnum peat moss
- coconut fibre
- coconut peat
- coconut cubes
- burnt clay
- clay pellets
- laterite soil
- vermiculite
- perlite
- sand
- tree bark
- fern tree fibre
- florafoam
- osmunda fibre
- pumice
- lava rock

Please add on to the list

I've already done up the categories and boards for this. Just need info for the questions and answers.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Maybe we could do something like this:

Outdoors:

Full sun
Part shade
Medium shade
Full shade


Indoors:

Lots of direct sun
A little direct sun
Bright, indirect light
Medium light


Green house/shadecloth:

10% shadecloth
20% shadecloth
30% shadecloth
40% shadecloth
50% shadecloth
60% shadecloth
70% shadecloth
80% shadecloth
90% shadecloth
100% shadecloth


We could also try to match up equivilant values, like:

Full sun = 0% shadecloth, and
Part shade = Lots of direct sun = 50% shadecloth, etc.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Good idea. I'll do that.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

David, I was looking at the light levels and I can't find something that can fit because the plants grow at a balcony. The direction the area faces affects the light level throughout the day. Can we include the NSEW directions too?

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

I think I will split it into a few categories...

Outdoors growing
Full sun
Part shade
Medium shade
Full shade

Greenhouse/shadecloth
10% shadecloth
20% shadecloth
etc...

Windowsill growing / Indoors
Full sun
Part shade
Medium shade
Full shade
North facing window
South facing window
East facing window
West facing window

Balcony growing
Full sun
Part shade
Medium shade
Full shade
Facing North
Facing South
Facing East
Facing West

Terrarium / Grow Chamber / Artificial Lights

*I'll list the types of lighting and the light intensity


I will also include number of hours the plants are exposed to light for each category.

Just a thought... Looking at this, do we need to make it so detailed? I'm just wondering because, lets say if species A needs 50% direct sunlight 5 hours a day to do well, wouldn't it be same if it is grown in different environment? It would still need 50% direct sunlight 5 hours a day to do well.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

On the other hand, perhaps if we lay it out like that, then info seekers will not need to figure out how to provide the environment in a particular growing method.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

We need to decide how detailed we want the info to be. Too little, the info become useless. But if there are too many factors involved, it becomes too complex and overwhelming. We are only at N. alata and I find myself staring very hard at my plant wondering which options I should click.

Instead of having a poll of what works, shall we have what doesn't work? For example, even N. ampullaria does produce pitchers for me during the year end when the light level drops too low. Or in direct sunlight for more than 5 hours, the species doesn't do as well.

We can expect that even newbies know that a good level of light and humidity are required for Nepenthes growing. But perhaps a certain species does better in more light or less light. We can start with the usual ones giving problems first and move on from there.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Good thought Cindy. Will think about it and see how to incorporate into the limited options I have with the polls

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

If only there was some way we could simplify the results so that we could have many different choices in the poll, yet be able to understand what the data means. I think we might just to have to find someone who owns a light meter, or a similar device, so we can determine the average lux(or lumen or footcandles) amount that each of the different "light environments" usually gets. Then maybe we would be able to find an average that we could then convert back into into the closest matching condition for each of the different sections.

Of course I'm just dreaming/wishing here...

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

For now can everyone give me suggestions on the questions/answers that you think should be in the survey so that I can compile them. Only after I compiled everything will I figure out how to go about doing it. I need the questions and answers to be in the survey... as suggested by Cindy, what works and doesn't work.

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Marigold, you are not dreaming. I do own a light meter. :laugh:

Anyway, if you own a digital camera, you can use that to gauge the amount of light present.

http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/...wtopic=5829&hl

Re: Nepenthes, and the Quest for the Perfect Soil
 

Yaahhh!!! :2thumbup: Thank you Cindy!!