Inorganic media for Nepenthes

[NepNut]

If I may add, one overlooked inorganic media that is often found in the natural habitat of neps is sand....

[bactrus]

Agree with Robert. Most lowlanders survive pretty well in just pure sand. So by adding some cocopeat and/or cocochips and/or laterite (which is found abundantly in Malaysia), should help water retention quality of the media.

Charcoal, delphiguy, is an excellent idea. Especially if you crush it into small chips. Has water retention qualities too. However, softwood charcoal and charcoal which are not cured properly should be avoided as it will encourage fungus growth. One point to note: charcoal production using primitive technology (like in Malaysia) is enviromentally damaging i.e. big carbon foot print.

Highlanders are beyond me be as I don't own any.

[jk]

I have been using something called "bark mulch" for a little while. It's bark that has been shredded into small pieces. I haven't been using it long , but so far the plants are healthy. I think it's made of bark from fir trees, so perhaps it would be difficult to find in many tropical and subtropical locations. However, any other plant material in small pieces that decompose slowly when wet would be possible candidates for Nepenthes medium.

[Jonathan]

Hi guys,

David, i think using flora sponge will be a great idea since it could retain a good admount of water... i'll be trying out 50%/50% flora sponge and caly pillet...as i am having a pretty hard time looking for my usual planting media here...
i will try it out on a N.tentacul
ata.

Regards
Jonathan

[arvin555]

Oh someone did mention about the species. I totally agree that there might be species that can take pure inorganic medium, while others might not like it. I am not too sure yet which ones will and which ones wont thrive in inorganic medium. Would be nice if that can be an offshoot of this experiment as well.

It's I think a bit related to Shawn's water rooting experiment.

TTFN
Arvin

[Ghan3sh]

I recently found a new type of clay substrate called Seramis (productname). I think it's like burnt earth but probably a different composition. The info on the website does sound promissing and as soon as i need to repot my neps ill be trying it out.

Here are some specs :
Its a mixture form different types of clay from Germany
Size of the pellets : 10% 0,5-2,0mm; 70% 2,0-4,0mm; 20% >4mm
Dryweight : 390g/liter
Wetweight : 800g/liter (waterretention >100% of the dryweight)
Amout of air when completely absorbed with water : about 50% (so enough air eventhou it holds a lot of water)
porous volume : >80%
pH : 6,2-7,3 (after 3 years still >5);
Salts (KCl) : <0,05g/100g
CaO : 0,1mg/100g
Na2O : 3mg/100g
Mg2+ : <5mg/100g
Cl- : <3mg/100g
F+ : 0,5mg/100g

So it seems to be a good candidate for neps. Ill keep you guys posted when i get a chance to test it out. For more info you can check the website : seramisuk.co.uk

[TranMinh]

I thinking to find some materials easy to find and of couse I can find it in my country .
I will do a experiment name grow nepenthes with out pot. I will grow nepenthes in net and potting media is coco chip with perlite hope this successful. I have saw some nepenthes in the wild, they grow in pure sand.

[Robert]

natural clay pellets comes free and easily available are excellent. These were tried with northiana, rafflesiana,campanulata, veitchii(L/L and intermediate).

northiana example...seeds grown since Jan,2007. Germinated in peat moss and later transfered to pur natural clay pellets.







Burnt clay works exceptionally well on northiana and campa., Probably after the burning process the increased presence of nitrates and other oxides of iron and manesium encourages plant growth. It is also widely used in agricultural farms or nurseries.

[bactrus]

Slightly off topic, just for information.

Just got back from a factory which sends palm fiber to China (this one made from Oil Palm bunch). They are selling the fiber at close to USD250 per tonne in one tonne bale. Cocochips may become very expensive later on as they are perfect substitude. China has unlimited demand for this product.

Maybe I can get some sample and distribute just to test it out. It is not chips, liken wool.

[David]

Ok, finally found some time from work and family to do this. I will be testing this media on my N. albomarginata x gracilis instead of my N. sp. viking. My N. sp. vikings aren't to healthy lately.

Anyhow here's the plant in its original media...


Taken it out of the pot. It was potted in a mix of coconut peat + coconut chips + sphagnum moss. I noticed the coconut chips has turned into a mush and its roots aren't growing into the sphagnum moss. It has been stagnant in growth for some time now. About a year the least. The second picture shows the amount of roots on the plant.





I did a mix of clay pellets + polysterine foam (those that can absorb water) + polysterine + silica sand. The silica sand is to add some weight in the pot so it does not get blown away in strong wind. Anyway, I was thinking since I have so much, why not dump it in. The polysterine foan was broken into smaller pieces.


polysterine foam...


Clay pellets...


Polysterine broken into small round pellets...


Black silica sand...


Below is a picture of the media mix...


Placed some stones at the bottom of the pot to prevent the media from flowing out...


Potted plant in the new inorganic media. I shall place it in my terrarium for a couple of days before placing it back in it's original location outside my apartment window where it gets direct evening sunlight. I will be placing it in a deeper water tray to make sure there is always water in the media. I may just place a thin layer of s. moss on top the media to lock in moisture. However, been thinking of somethings else that I can use besides s. moss.



I will report back in this thread in a few months time to give the results and my cultivation practice for this plant in its new inorganic media.