Burnt earth as media
 

The local CPers started a year ago with the use of burnt earth (aka burnt clay or burnt soil) with their Neps. This media is used in general gardening to increase drainage. Here is the thread on the local forum if anyone is keen to take a look. http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/...howtopic=11805
The change was wonderful for N. northiana, which responded exceedingly well. Then we decided to use it for N. campanulata and N. merrilliana as well. The results are amazing!
I have got no idea what is the pH is or the mineral content is(pretty high from the salt build-up). But well, it works.
N. northiana - arrived bareroot in June this year, now pitchering on the leaves formed here.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...orthiana-1.jpg
N. campanulata - arrived bareroot in June and July this year
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...ampanulata.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...mpanulata2.jpg
N. campanulata - these are plants grown in sphagnum moss and large pieces of orchid media (similar to pumice) under the same conditions as the ones above; I changed them into burnt earth yesterday
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...mpanulata1.jpg

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

cindy, your campanulata looks great!

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

That is very interesting Cindy. I have not seen burnt earth before. Is it hard like fired clay or does it absorb water. It looks from the photo's that it is not graded (i.e. from dirt to small rock sized).

Glad to hear that the plants are showing good signs for you.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

thx for sharing cindy...i have extra n.northiana to try. heheh. but our m`sian burnt earth looks a lil` different from yours. ours is of a finer texture i.e. smaller size but i` m game to try.

wish i had extra n.campunalata to try. rite now, as a single plant, it`s too precious. i echo hongrui`s sentiments......yours look fab.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

strath76,
Hmmm...I think it is fired clay....if it is clay which is burnt, heated at high temperatures.

Tarence and Hongrui,
Thanks. They are a surprise to me actually. In the 4th photo, the plants in LFS/orchid media looked like trash under the same conditions. Hopefully the plants won't mind being repotted...they did afterall produce basals after turning yellow and black. :1thumbup:

The burnt earth should be like pieces of brick. Red and hard. There are very fine powdery bit buts I find those useful for holding down smaller campanulata.

Phill Mann came to my place and he couldn't resist pointing out the amount of mineral build-up op top of the media. He even pointed to the salts found on the Cephs pots! I am going to carry all the pots into the bathroom and give them an overhead shower once my doctor okays me doing so. :laugh:

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

That's great, Cindy.
I never know burnt clay worked great for N. campanulata. Your northie and camp looked fantastic.
I used burnt clay too for my northiana but I added some limestone chips. But it doesn't looked that great, it should be due to I moved it around. How much sun does your northiana get?

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

TS,

My northiana plants are all over the place. In the study room next to tinted window, under T5 lights and at the balcony. I think it is just the season that they are happy with. All plants are pitchering, even for other growers with established plants.

The ones which are in shade pitchers as well as those that receive direct setting sun from 4pm onwards. The main difference is the leaf size and colour. More light, smaller but yellow leaves. I don't see a significant difference in pitcher size but I haven't really compared. When northiana pitchers, it is like wow! so I kinda forget to scrutinise the pitcher size. :laugh:

Tarence,
Soon there will no longer be a shortage of N. campanulata...hint, hint... ;)

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Oh oh Cindy, now you've got us all wondering if you seeded one out! :blush: I sure hope so!:wub:
I have to agree, your N. campanulatas look really happy! In Thailand, a lot of nurseries used to use burnt rice hull for potting up plants. I remember I have a big rice sack full stashed away in my nursery somewhere, I think I'll try some experiments! Thanks for the interesting topic with examples, as they say; "a picture is worth a thousand words"!

Shawn

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Shawn, I had hoped but it didn't happen. I had a male that flowered and I kept the pollen. The female flowered too but she is a puny 3" across so there was only 3 flowers produced. None took. :tongue:

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Cindy,

Thanks for the tip. I have repotted my campanulata today seeing the result of your plants.

My pitchering Northiana was also planted with mixed pebbles and burnt red soil.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

I imagine one big contribution with burned earth (if it is clay based) is that it will give the plants some Iron. A native plant enthusiast that I got to know and chatted with, told me that he has seen local nepenthes on Red Clay, the leaves and pitchers he said had really great coloration.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Iron in lateritic soil is in the Fe3+ state. Unless it is reduced to Fe2+ or organic acids leaches it out, there would be minimal contribution of iron to plants. I am aware of only graminaceous monocots possessing the Strategy II iron (Fe)-uptake system in which Fe is absorbed by roots as an Fe3+-phytosiderophore. Plus it takes a small amount of iron to color the soil red (else everyone would be mining their garden for iron) and upon baking (the burning process), the alumina becomes partially fused, thereby locking the iron away.

Therefore, it would be tempting to postulate that burnt soil works best because it is inert and undergoes minimal change (physically and chemically). Anecdoctal evidence suggests that it works. Personally, my sibuyanensis, sanguinea, hirsuta performs much more consistently in burnt soil. The only drawback is frequent watering.

The baking leaves a certain amount of hydroxides (from oxides) of group I and II elements. They are water soluble to slightly soluble. For me, I always wash and soak the soil to allow these salts (as well as any mobile phosphates & sulphates) to be leached out. Else there will be salt built-up. It is noticeable either on the surface (capillary draw followed by evaporation), or at the bottom of the pot (from leaching through watering and then evaporation). I also sieve burnt soil to get a minimal size. Prevents clogging and makes the soil open. Messy, but if you have an area to work with, gives you inert, almost salt free (you can test the conductivity) media.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Great explanation Poweramps! Thanks for the input.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Thanks, Poweramp for your input. That reminds me to flush my pots more often because I do get quite a bit of mineral build-up.

The following N. campanulata is doing well and pitchering at my balcony in LFS. Currently, the crazy weather is welcomed by this species...very bright one moment then followed by the rain. Not trying to contradict my own thread about the use of burnt earth but just want to highlight that N. campanulata is able to do well in LFS and perlite too when weather conditions are favourable.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...nulata_lfs.jpg

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Most welcomed. Lovely specimen, Cindy.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Thanks for the explanation Poweramps!

Okay, I take it that the same or at least similar explanation is the reason why people don't use Clay pots for potting CPs? Because it really does have Mineral buildup? Wonder if I soak the clay pots in slightly acidic water (say acetic acid) might that dissolve the minerals and allow them to be flushed before using? Just so we are still on topic, might this thing work with burned earth too?

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

I use clay pots and it seems ok. Pots are clay that had been fired to 'fuse' the particles. There are still salts, but washing and soaking should do it. They can behave like ion exchangers, so my bet would be a few rounds of washing. Small quantities of salt can slowly exchange with the soil but that might be useful to the plant. Acetic acid is a weaker acid than the acid that formed the conjugate base phosphate and sulphate salt. So it might be difficult to displace say MgSO4 to Mg(CH3COO)2, though I have never tried it. I just wash and soak and wash and soak until i feel that the pot is ok. Not very scientific :blush:

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Already started soaking clay pots now, will try on some droseras first, I am almost sure that nepenthes (most) will take clay pots that are not soaked. VFTs, I'll use plastic for now, though I am more interested in using clay pots for VFTs because of the cooling effect of clay pots to the medium, specially during full sun.

TTFN
Arvin

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

I think someone did a good study and publish a paper on the evaporative cooling of porous clay pots vs glazed pots. What was interesting is the fact that porous pots have higher thermal conductivity when wet. When evaporative cooling cannot work, the thermal conductivity results in the pot content being hotter than a non-porous pot (think of wet towel to hold a hot pot vs a dry towel).

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Thanks to Cindy, since reading about Cindy's success with red earth, I have replaced my only remaining campanulata with red earth and it has enjoyed a growth spurt since. First pitcher is coming up soon.

I have bad experience of growing campanulata in sphagnum because another plant grown in pure sphagnum died while this plant grown in a mixture of sphagnum + perlite survived but I found it likes the red earth much more.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Great growing Isaac! :1thumbup:

I have got very good success with LFS/perlite for N. campanulata but I find that during less than ideal conditions i.e. hot and dry season, the species doesn't do as well as when it is potted in burnt earth. The minerals available does give the species an edge over grown in LFS.

This is the largest pitcher I got from N. campanulata in LFS/perlite.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...nulata_BEM.jpg

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

:biggrin: Wow…ur N. campanulatas really look very happy and green…:1thumbup:
Unimagined that burnt earth also can use in plant neps…
We mostly use burnt earth to plant desert roses…:tongue:

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

yeah.. malaysian burnt earth is finer. i use burnt earth on my bonsai...

anyway, its sad to say that i dont have any campanulata to try on..

cindy, when's the next campanulata order?!

please tell me im keen on buying some =)

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wow cindy! its awesome that you can grow these campanulata pitcher more than the average length of 5cm..

do u mist it daily?

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i think it grows pretty well because in the wild, campanulata i only found on tall cliffs that are not too moist but the substrate of those cliffs are similar to that of burnt earth.

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I sieved the burn earth to get the desirable size that I wanted. Most of the burnt earth is too fine/powdery, it might get compacted after some time.

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How do they pack in KL and elsewhere? in Kuching they packed differently - a fine one and coarse one. I choose the later though i still sieve out the unwanted finer particles.

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Malowie, how do I include you for the BE mass order...you being in M'sia? ;)

I don't sieve 'cos I am lazy. So far, the plants are not unhappy with the finer particles. It probably works because I am careful with my watering...if outdoors, the soil tends to compact with heavy top watering or rain. In fact, some of the pieces of burnt earth is so big (2" across) that I have to use a hammer to break them up.

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Robert, I don't bother about the finer particles, using natural mountain red soil, my campanulata just produced the first pitcher at my home few days ago. Size about 3cm, being the first pitcher, I'm very happy. 2nd pitcher is coming up really fast, let's see how big this is.

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i thought u were in malaysia.. but theres something called mail service right..

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As far as I know, they don't grade it over here. A bag contain golf ball size clay to powderly clay..... :thumbdown:

malowie,
Since Cindy is in Singapore, she'll need documents like CITES to export the plant and send it to you. You can try Fauzi at 4ze plant for BE's selection, I think he ordered some campanulatas for his next shipment. Hope this help.

Re: Burnt earth as media
 

Isaac, this was the alternative to burnt earth, readily available by the country roadside. After a heavy downpour the finer particles being washed away by rain leaving behind the bigger granules.