Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 11/19/2011

Question
Hi my name is Matt and I have another question about nepenthes. I have been growing these plants for almost 4 months now and I have grown them in pure long fiber sphagnum with some orchid bark chips mixed in. Another grower told me that lfs is the best choice since it retains alot of moisture which will help with extra humidity. But in alot of pictures online and even at a nursery I went to, I have seen most nepenthes potted in just regular peat moss like the one used for venus flytraps, and not lfs. So for you guys at cobraplant.com what do you guys use and what will be best for my nepenthes plants , which are a n clipeata x eymae and n sanguinea.



         Thanks for your help - Matt

Answer
Hi Matt,

Ahh, the quest for the perfect Nepenthes mix.  Unfortunately/fortunately it doesn't exist.  You'll find as many different Nepenthes soil mixes as there are Nepenthes growers.  The reason for this is that they will grow well in a variety of soil media.  I heard one grower say one time that he figured some Nepenthes would grow on a wet brick if other conditions were fine.  Because of this, you need to think conceptually instead of in absolute terms with Nepenthes media.

Nepenthes like mixes that are open, drain well, yet hold moisture, and are low nutrient.  Using long-fiber sphagnum with material like bark or lava rock to open it up some works great.  Peat mixes with other ingredients to give it rapid drain work well.  I've even grown some in pure vermiculite, something Adrian Slack recommended back in the day if you have to use hard water.  It has the same property; drains well, but holds water too.  If you go to this forum you can talk with other growers and see what they use and why:  http://lhnn.proboards.com/index.cgi?  

Often what people use has to do with what is readily available in their area, and how they are growing their plants.  For instance, if you have a plant in a greenhouse that gets very frequent overhead watering, you want a mix that drains very rapidly.  If you have a plant in a house that will be watered a little less frequent, you may want something that doesn't dry out as fast.

We do a full section on this subject in our volume #3 DVD.  http://www.cobraplant.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=38&products_id=

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.cobraplant.com