Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 09:57:19 -0400 From: BREWER_CHARLES@ecomail.damneck.navy.mil To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2953$foo@default> Subject: Re: recycle soil
Hey guys, anyone else notice how much Cephalotus hates being
transplanted? Well I have and I have been taking mental notes on
the subject. I have seen that they respond better if some of their
old soil is included in the new pot. Infact, they tend to die if
I don't include at least some old soil. My friend, Tom Hayes, likes
to recycle his "used" soil into the new pots and I wonder if he and
anyone else out there have noticed any such pattern between plants
in 100% new soil and those with some old soil.
Dave Evans
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Hi Dave and all,
I also use recycle soil in almost all my plants. I usually dump the
used soil
in a pile outside allowing Mother Nature to freshen it up a bit before i
use it again. Before using it again, I usually throw in a few loads of
mulched up pine needles or sphagnum peat moss of both. I have been
doing this for a few year now.
With regards to Cephs, Tom Hayes, as usual, is on the mark. Cephs
don't like
their roots bare and will respond by drooping pitchers or even dying.
Never purchase a bear rooted ceph if all possible and never purchase it
during summer. Wait until fall or early summer. I grow a lot of cephs
from using cuttings and i have found a way to help me with transplanting
bare rooted plants. After removing newly rooted cephs from an aquarium,
I soak them in 15 drops per gallon of superthrive for about an hour
(Thanks to Phil Wilson in UK). After soaking, I wrap their roots with
live sphagnum moss, then plant them up in a pot and add water to the
moss. The moss absorbs the water which causes it to swell up around the
roots. I then place the plant under dim light in a cool place for about
a week. After about a week, I then move the plant to it's new location
and give it more light. This seems to soften the transplant shock
giving me about a 98% success rate with bare rooted plants. One last
note, when transplanting cephs, always ensure their pitchers are at
least half full of water, otherwise, their is a good chance that the
pitchers will dry out and die.
Going back to the idea of using used soil, I do add used soil to all my
new
soil. I allow the new soil for about two weeks before using it to pot
up plants. Sometimes the soil ages up to 6 months before I get around
to using all of it. I have never looked into the bacteria aspect of it
or weather there is something else going on with the soil that may make
a difference, but for me, this method works the best. One reason why I
get away with using recycle soil is that I do not sit my plants in
water, will not all of them anyways. I usually sit them directly on the
ground or around the greenhouse. I water from the top down allowing the
excess water to drain off. Plants that sit in water seems to have more
problems then out of water. How do I get away without the plant drying
out, I use large pots and mulch around the top of the pot with pine
mulch or sphagnum moss, water twice a day. We also get lots of rain and
out humidity is extremely high all summer long.
Probably the only plants that I change the soil every year or two are
VFTs.
They see to grow better and have less problems if their soil is changed
often.
If anyone else has additional information that they can add to using
recycle
soil, be it good or bad, send it in. This is something every one of us
can benefit from. the price of peat moss and sand is not getting
cheaper and by using recycle soil sure does help on the old wallet
especially if you have a big collection of plants.
Charles Brewer Va. Beach, Va.
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