Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 14:29:25 +1300 (NZDT) From: "davin@biopcs.gen.nz" <biopcs@central.co.nz> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg578$foo@default> Subject: Re: Re: rooting nepenthes
> > > usually Sphagnum moss is great for rooting them, though not
> > > good for cultivation of established plants...
> >
> > Dave, I've always used sphagnum mixed with a generous amount
> > of perlite to grow Nepenthes. The plants do very well in
> > this mix.
>
> Err, *living* Sphagnum is not good to grow Nepenthes in. Sorry I
> didn't include this bit, but I was very tired at the time.
> Nepenthes are only found rarely growing in the stuff which shows
> they are not very compatible. Some Sphagnum can be grow near by
> on the soil surface, if you keep the soil wet enough, but it will
> often get moldy in Nepenthes conditions as Sphagnum grows in bogs
> (at least the types of the moss I have) and Nepenthes don't. So
> if you're cultivating them together, you'll have either happy
> Sphagnum or happy Nepenthes. Dried long fiber Sphagnum does work
> well in Nepenthes mixes, though. Ditto for Heliamphora. Living
> Sphagnum will suffer in conditions Heli's really like, but the
> dried long fiber stuff is can be mixed into the soil with very
> good results.
I actually disagree with this remark. Its not personal but I'll explain
why. I'm actually using pure sphagnum for most of my Neps and Helies and
provided I change it once a year I have no problems. Otherwise I've found
it does decompose far too much. One thing I think which is probably to my
advance is that all my plants are grown in tanks with extremely high
humidity with the pots sitting on a sand base and I only water the sand
and not the plants as a rule. I'm using pure tap water and generally this
could be a problem with sphagnum but it never comes into contact and the
humidity is high and the plants are basically watered via condensation.
Also provided I weed every couple of months and prune to get rid of any
dead growth I have no problems. The sphagnum can be a bit quick growing
but I'm now using quite a think sphagnum and have gotten rid of as much of
the finer species as possible. The Helis just love it with a plant of
ionasii that was dying back to now having 4 growing point with 3 / 4 new
pitchers 25mm tall in about 6 weeks. The growth is excellent so they've
got to be happy - I had been afraid I was going to loose this particular
plant - not too worried now though.
> It works like this: If the pitcher is filled with water and the
> plant is kept in 95-100% humidity, the soil can even become nearly
> dried out for days without the cutting suffering stress. If you
> want to keep filling them with water, I suppose you could leave
> them in drier conditions. But why? :-Q (the last two sentenses
> are NOT serious)
This is why I just water the sand. When I can see water sitting just above
the sand level I know there is enought in there. I prefer if just below
the sand as I'm trying to have as larger surface area to aid evaporation.
> water into the pitchers there is no way the plant can dry out
> unless you don't check for a month or so. I suppose, after
> cutting off large sections of the leaves, the auxin production
> goes down a lot, so then rooting hormones may then become benefical.
> were you put it matters so long as the light is strong enough,
> also the longer the day it gets, the faster it roots).
Another option to the plastic bag is definitely the tank. Its a larger
environment which you can generally keep more balanced with temperatures
and humidity.
Just my opinion
Catch Ye Later
Davin George
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jan 02 2001 - 17:30:59 PST