Re: RE: drosera root length and compost longevity

dave evans (T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU)
Mon, 19 Feb 96 18:36 EST

> >dave morpeth
> I would also be interested to hear about people's experience with compost
> longevity.
> John Phillips Email: phillips@library.ucsf.edu

Hi,

I use alot of sphagnum peat moss in the soils my CP grow
in. In the bogs, 100% peat moss topped with sand where I have
VFT and Drosera. There is also a lot of Sphagnum growing in the
bogs. I beleive growing Sphagnum in the pots with or around
your plants will help your soil to last much longer. This works
good for: Sarracenia, most Drosera, many Utrics, Darlingtonia
and some Pings. I avoid using living Sphagnum as soil for
Nepenthes in terrariums as it tends to rot for some unknown reason.
The peat moss in the first bog is 3 years old, so I guess you
could keep some other soils that long also.
Adding fertilizer (or hard water, though it takes longer)
will cause the peat moss to decay => the bacteria and fungus
already present will benfit just much as the plants and merrily
digest the peat.

Dave Evans