Nepenthes soil
Don (dngess01@vlsi.ct.louisville.edu)
Sat, 6 Mar 93 13:08:41 -0500
I've been growing Nepenthes for years in peat moss + perlite. 10% perlite
is too little. Try at least 1/3 perlite. The peat moss should be light brown
and fluffy. Hyponex sells what is supposed to be "peat moss" but it's some
wierd black stuff that stinks and gets too compact when wet - keep away from
it. This may be "sedge peat" that is sometimes sold as "peat moss" but is
toxic to CP. Peat moss (the real stuff) imported from Canada costs $9 for
4 cubic feet here, so that's pretty cheap. To make your soil, soak the peat
moss overnight. When you mix the moss with perlite, test the mixture by first
soaking it and then squeezing it. Only a little bit of water should be
released and the mixture should not compact but stay crumbly. Mixing with
orchid bark may be a good idea, but that's pretty expensive and breaks down
too quickly with constant moisture. Don't use barbeque charcoal or bark for
ground-cover mulch, these may have impurities that will kill your plants.