Re: Darlingtonia

John Taylor [The Banshee] (rphjt@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU)
Wed, 21 Jul 93 09:42:07 +0000

>> My Darlingtonia are in a similiar mix: 80% perlite/20% peat with
>> sphagnum top dressing.
>
>For my Darlingtonia, I use pure Sphagnum moss--the kind they sell for
>Orchids: Dried New Zealand sphagnum moss. They seem to love it. All
>of my Darlingtonia are doing very well. That medium is very expensive
>though. A small bag is about $9.00. Interestingly enough, the moss
>seems to be coming back alive it is very green and healthy in some of
>my older Darlingtonias.

I use similar techniques - off-the-shelf sphagnum moss (left as long
fibres) and grown in a large polystyrene box that is used to ship
tomatoes and the like. These are great because they cost nothing (you
pick one up from the local fruit & veg shop to carry home your F&V) and
have drainage holes built in. All it takes is to remove the label and
trim off the "castlated" bits around the top and you have a simple
mini-bog. Our moss also grows back sometimes - as do some of the plants
growing in the moss before it was collected (ferns, sedges?, etc).

>Does anyone know if this kind moss is an acceptable substitute for live
>sphagnum? Since live Sphagnum moss is extremely hard to get a hold of,
>what do most of you use for a substitute? Or where do you get your
>live sphagnum?

I normally ignore the "live" bit and use plain-old long fibre sphag. The only
live sphag I have was grown from green tips of sphag from the various pots
and it seems to take a very long time to get any useful amount to use for
potting with...

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| John Taylor [The Banshee] | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| rphjt@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au | Department of Applied Physics |
| MOKING IS A HEALTH HAZARD. | Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA |
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