artificialive: other medium

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other medium?
« Thread Started on May 16, 2007, 11:27am » Hi all,
Ive been thinking of other medium for CPs especially Neps. We usually use sphagnum moss and peat moss, but there in their natural habitat, they thrive well on soil. Perhaps other members know what soil is it?
Seeing Gracilis grow at Cheras that day, i believe that the soil there is laterite. However, some Neps also grow very well on clay.

p/s: Honestly, my pockets are burnt with holes to buy peat/ sphganum moss!
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #1 on May 16, 2007, 12:03pm » Naj,
I'm trying to grow one of the gracilis on normal soil I'm using for planting flowers and stuff.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #2 on May 16, 2007, 12:31pm » Ask KLtower. He grows most of his Nepenthes in soil that the plants grow in the wild... Choong, where are you? Need you expertise here.

I've seen other growers grow Nepethes in normal soil also but I've never tried it before.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #3 on May 16, 2007, 1:31pm » Normal soil? Kinda risky hehe. Well i've seen nurseries grow them in 100% polystyrene! XD Peat/moss is best so for best growth. Though I'm sure there are other things. Is cocopeat cheaper? Wash that stuff 3 times in tap water and 1 more time in rain/ro/distilled water and it should be safe.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #4 on May 16, 2007, 2:45pm »
Quote:Normal soil? Kinda risky hehe. Well i've seen nurseries grow them in 100% polystyrene! XD Peat/moss is best so for best growth. Though I'm sure there are other things. Is cocopeat cheaper? Wash that stuff 3 times in tap water and 1 more time in rain/ro/distilled water and it should be safe.

yeah, though u claim that peat/moss is the best, i think that mimicking their true natural habitat is the best. Im not saying that peat/moss is not the best, but they grow very well on soil in the forest..
Well, perhaps the analogy is like this. It is good to take supplementary pills of Vitamin A and C, but still, eating fruits to obtain the vitamins is still the best (im sorry, but im kinnda bit old fashioned)
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #5 on May 16, 2007, 3:28pm » Haha for that go to where they are thriving, take some soil, and run a ph and ppm test. I think that's what it's called?... And somehow test for the content of it~ Then maybe we can find out?
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #6 on May 17, 2007, 10:55am » Has anyone test the pH of the soil?
Well, according to this simple document found on the Internet, it is not good to use burnt soil for neps:
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J0924.pdf
Burnt soil contains more NPK!
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #7 on May 19, 2007, 9:44am »
Quote:Is cocopeat cheaper? Wash that stuff 3 times in tap water and 1 more time in rain/ro/distilled water and it should be safe.

Zak, is this cocopeat or coconut peat?

I am just worried whether washing 3 times with tap water and 1 one time with RO/distilled/rain water would wash away any desolved mineral salts in the media completely. Have you tried it before?

I know that it is dangerous to use coconut peat harvested from coconut trees that grows by the seaside as it contains mineral salts? However I've heard good reports on the use of coconut peat that were harvested from inland.

I have not heard anyone using coco peat for CPs before. I tried Tea peat before. Bad idea. Each time I water, the water that comes out from below the pot is brown like tea. I think it would be the same for coco peat. And the tea peat grows fungus. « Last Edit: May 19, 2007, 9:54am by David »Link to Post - Back to Top LoggedMy Wantlist zakhren
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #8 on May 19, 2007, 11:06pm » Cocopeat is coconut peat. It's just like normal peat just brown. The water doesnt seem to be coloured, but normal peat would come out blackish or brownish if you dont cover the drainage holes a bit too. I always put a small ammount of sphagnum moss at the bottom of pots to stop any loss of media. Besides, normal peat grows fungus too.

"I am just worried whether washing 3 times with tap water and 1 one time with RO/distilled/rain water would wash away any desolved mineral salts in the media completely."

Worried that it WOULD wash away? It's supposed to. I'm trying it with my nep seedlings and they are doing fine. Starting to grow the 2nd set of leaves.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #9 on May 20, 2007, 1:02pm » I know what coconut peat is and I have used it before. Just a caution to growers who want to use it. Perhaps the ones we bought were not contaminated with that much mineral salts or non at all. So it is ok. Just to be safe my advise it to wash more than 3-4 times to be sure rather than limit it to just 4 times.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #10 on May 20, 2007, 6:40pm » Yeah more never hurts. You could put the peat in a strainer and run water through it for a few minute too. Then wash it all off in ro water.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #11 on May 20, 2007, 7:38pm »
Quote:I know what coconut peat is and I have used it before. Just a caution to growers who want to use it. Perhaps the ones we bought were not contaminated with that much mineral salts or non at all. So it is ok. Just to be safe my advise it to wash more than 3-4 times to be sure rather than limit it to just 4 times.

I used only coconut peat for my rafflesiana too, so far it grow very well, and the new develop pitchers is bigger. But coconut peat invite a lot of very tiny white color bugs, but it didnt harm the plant.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #12 on May 20, 2007, 7:53pm » Yes and cocopeat is loved by ants. If ants get to the cocopeat they would try to move in.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #13 on May 21, 2007, 2:12am » A couple of my Nepenthes are in almsot pure peat-cant be quite that bad compared to free draining mediums, as the mixta x maxima thats in it is growing about 5 upper pitchers and is growing a new lowland pitchers on all its smaller growths!
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #14 on May 21, 2007, 2:03pm » Where can I get some of this cocopeat? what do the nursery people call them?
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #15 on May 21, 2007, 2:39pm » It's actually coconut husk and tree trunk that has been cut into small tiny pieces. You'll see it in almost most nurseries. Hmm, what you call it ahh. I've never asked for it before. It is usually outside where you can see. i'll just pick it up and pay. If you say coconut peat I doubt the nursey guys woould know.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #16 on May 21, 2007, 2:47pm » Neopith is the most popular brand. Pet shops also sell it sometimes. It's sold as dried cubes. Don't let the size fool you. It can get 3-4 times bigger than the size of the cube when it starts soaking up water.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #17 on May 22, 2007, 4:33pm »
Quote:Neopith is the most popular brand. Pet shops also sell it sometimes. It's sold as dried cubes. Don't let the size fool you. It can get 3-4 times bigger than the size of the cube when it starts soaking up water.

I used to use neopith but the nurseries here don't sell it anymore. I think it's from Thailand ?

Also i found that neps will grow on any kind of medium but ensure it's well drain.


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Re: other medium?
« Reply #18 on May 22, 2007, 7:22pm » The nursery near sunway pyramid sells neopith. And my local aquarium shop has it too for some reason. He deals with terrariums and other animals so maybe it's for one of them.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #19 on May 22, 2007, 7:43pm »
Quote:

Also i found that neps will grow on any kind of medium but ensure it's well drain.



Well drain is easier to achieve, but nutrient free is some what challenging
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #20 on Aug 14, 2007, 12:55pm » Hi all,
some pics to share.

Heres a pot of gracilis, which i use black gardening soil + sand as the medium. I grow it since it was a cutting. Now it has produce pitchers.



Heres another pot of gracilis, using yelow soil + sand. The plant looks happy to me. heheh



This is the same batch of gracilis i planted using normal soil, but this one is potted on LFS in a thumb pot. Like to see the black roots. heheh


This is a trichocarpa cutting i try to root using burnt soil + sand. It has started to grow new leaves but i think they are too young to produce pitchers yet.



Well, ill be trying to experiment more species to be potted using normal soil. Dont wanna spend much buying LFS and peat moss! (hope so. wish me luck! )
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #21 on Aug 14, 2007, 1:32pm » they look okay Naj but the only way to tell for sure is if they continuously pitcher....all da best ! keep us updated.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #22 on Aug 14, 2007, 3:24pm » Hi Tarence,
thanks for the response. Just fyi, both of the pots of the gracilis (pic 1 and pic 2) have pitchers on each of the new leaves well, will monitor the growth in 3-4 months to see any side effects.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #23 on Sept 13, 2007, 1:55pm » artificialive, in all your case you are using sand-black gardening soil + sand , yelow soil + sand, burnt soil + sand. sand allow for well drain medium and it will work, nothing to worry.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #24 on Sept 20, 2007, 3:01am » Hi Robert,
Thanks for ur insights
what about the soil that i use? dont burnt soil, black soil etc contains nutriens?
From my observation, it seems that neps can tolerate with these soils. What do u think?
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #25 on Sept 20, 2007, 9:00am » Heh, heh, answer your question to Robert. Robert's travelling at the moment. He will be back this weekend from Bario (hopefully he has nice nepeenthes pictures to show us).

Among all the carnivorous plants species, nepenthes are more tollerant to slight nutrients in their media. I think it is more applicable for lowlanders too. I am surprise that the black soil you use goes well with the nep. I guess it also depends on where the soil comes from and if fertilisers have been added in it.

But I think it works because you added sand in the media. That dilutes the content of black soil in the media and helps water to flow more freely allowing air to the roots and washing off access nutrients. Just my theory.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #26 on Sept 20, 2007, 11:31am » i believe neps can tolerate media with nutrients, as in the wild there should be a layer of humus on the surface of the soil in which they grow in. this is perhaps why we can fertilise our neps and not other CPs.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #27 on Sept 20, 2007, 5:18pm » If Neps are grown in black soil, heavy flushing is required. This is done naturally for people who grow their plants outdoors and when the rain comes. When some of the nutrients are washed off by the rain, the Neps get the "idea" that the soil is becoming low in nutrients. Therefore they continue pitchering, if not produce even larger pitchers.

Neps that are sheltered from rain should not be planted directly in such high nutrient soil unless they are hose watered thoroughly once every 4-6 days.
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Re: other medium?
« Reply #28 on Sept 27, 2007, 11:34pm »
Quote:Hi Robert,
Thanks for ur insights
what about the soil that i use? dont burnt soil, black soil etc contains nutriens?
From my observation, it seems that neps can tolerate with these soils. What do u think?

David and cindy had provide the answer you want. If you use burnt soil make sure the pot is flush with water everyday.
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