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Post by sekler on Mar 28, 2013 9:09:32 GMT -5
Hello guys, I am stratifying some darlingtonia seeds for a second attempt as i lost my seedlings after a year and a few months of growth...bummer but when i will receive my no damp i will feel more confident this time. Anyway, i read a lot about darlingtonia and several mention that usually live sphagnum or lfs mixed with perlite is the best type of soil for these plants. I plan on getting a large and light colored (preferably white) container... I came across that site and they suggest a mix of peat moss, perlite and orchid bark for the plants. I wondered what you thought about it ? I always thiught that peat and bark are dark and that they will heat up a lot...but apparently the fast evaporation would help to dissipate the heat...my seeds are from the mountain variety. What do you think ? I guess it would be best to start my seeds on pure lfs until they are two years old or so ? Here is the website ! www.cobraplant.com/caresheets/darlingtonia
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Post by lloyd on Mar 28, 2013 13:07:49 GMT -5
I used to use LFS/perlite which worked well. You can always top dress with perlite for any mix which should be water retentive and very loose and well aerated. Keep the roots from over heating and use proper dormancy and you should do well.
If you have hot summers, go with sarrs unless you just have to have darl's.
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Post by dvg on Mar 28, 2013 13:31:36 GMT -5
There are many media recipes that will work for this species.
I like to add lava and pumice to my mix in order to keep the growing media looser and aerated.
dvg
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Post by sekler on Mar 28, 2013 22:24:09 GMT -5
Thanks guys ! Here in Quebec it can get pretty hot in summers...I'll start by getting my seedlings up and running first, I know that they are less demanding and hardier initially. Lloyd, I thought about a perlite top as well, the white attracts less heat, that would help a bit !
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Post by Maiden on Mar 31, 2013 0:41:53 GMT -5
hello sekler, im in quebec too (montreal) and i grow darling/heli/highland nep without any problem. with a normal fan and icepaks at night, everythings cool down Now i have a a/c just for my highland setup, but its not a 'must'. Even with the a/c, i let the temps reach 27 or 28 the day in summer, and 15-18 at night. My plants grow faster at this temps range.
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Post by sekler on Mar 31, 2013 16:32:06 GMT -5
Awesomeness ! Thanks for the tip, cooling down using frozen bottles was also what I planned to do ...glad to see it works !!
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Post by stevebooth on Apr 19, 2013 8:14:32 GMT -5
Hi sekler Substrate mix I use is thetandard 50/50% peat perlite mix and it seems to work well, if you are worried about the heat you could use the pot in a pot method,whereby you pot up you plant in a pot tehn place it in a larger pot and fill the annulus between with sphagnum or some other inert wicking material and stand it in a tray of water. The evaporative cooling effect of the wicking material keeops the inner pot cool. I have never had a problem with heat though, over here in the UK and in fact there are some growers who swear by growing them in cat litter trays (only about 100mm deep) full of pure spagnum, in a greenhouse without water trickling devices, ice bags or the like and the temperature in the greenhouse must be 30+ at times. But the plants are impressive although the method seeems to go against all the percieved wisdom.
Cheers Steve
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Post by dvg on Apr 19, 2013 16:02:52 GMT -5
Hi Steve. Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your insight here with regards to growing these plants. You are quite correct in stating that sometimes impressive results can be obtained by methods that can seem counter-intuitive. That can happen in some growing situations and environments, but i still remind myself and others that the onus falls upon the grower to be able to accurately read how plants are doing and to be able to adjust the conditions to better meet the plants, if the situation calls for it. Of course, most of this knowledge is gained through experience and experimentation, and your post here gives growers another option to maybe gets us all looking at this with fresh eyes. dvg
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