FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello my fellow growers,
Well guys I just ordered one D. Spatula and one D Capernis and was wondering how best to clean the LFSM, as well as if I should repot the plants as soon as they arive and how best to acclimate them to be grown outside. Or are they best grown inside?
I once read a great step by step guide on how to rinse medium using first tap water and then RO water on here but I can't seem to find it. Any thorough suggestions are welcome

If they are to be grown outside, I already have insulated 16oz Styrofoam cups ready, but are they wide enough? I've read that Droseras grow wide instead of deep. Any help is appreciated. Also I live in area 9a just to let you know. Happy Growing!!

You could probably grow those outside for most of the year but you'll have to protect them from cold temperatures <40F. It may be easier just to grow them indoors. D. capensis likes to do this so I'm really not sure how big of a pot it would prefer. Though to be fair my plant is doing just fine with all that sitting in the water tray.

Wow, that's some impressive roots, nimbulan!
Perhaps trimming some roots for root cuttings?
To clean my LFSM, I soak it in a bucket of rainwater for few days, then I wash it in another bucket of rainwater carefully. When you take it out of the buckets, make sure you squise all the water out!

That is an amazing plant you have there nimbulan. Anyways, what are the advantages of washing lfsm?

I discovered that mass when I cleaned the water tray recently, it was all hiding under algae. I never expected to find that since there was only a little nub of a root sticking out when I bought it last year. I'm really not sure what to do with it since I don't really need any more capensis plants (and there's actually 3 in the pot now.)

Why not sell it? It looks amazing!

Hey guys,
So I just finished setting up my medium to start soaking in distilled water: Since my plants are supposed to come on the 14th, should I just leave them there until then? Or might I get better results if say I rinse them again the day before? I'd really like to be able to use the tray method without getting yellow water every two days, like I did with my VFT. What are your guy's setups and what Droseras do you guys take care of?

just wring out the water from the sphagnum with your hands, it will start to rot if its left too long and dried sphagnum is usually ready to use even without rinsing.

I don't rinse my sphagnum either - the good quality stuff is generally already clean. In general, I don't really use long fiber sphagnum for Drosera in the first place. I don't grow D. spatulata, but I do have a few D. capensis that are doing well in the standard 1:1 peat/perlite.

Just as a note, it seems that you have Mosser Lee brand sphagnum. That brand has sphagnum that is basically partially decomposed, so it doesn't have the antimicrobial properties that high quality sphagnum has. It also tends to grow a lot of algae and has lots of grass and other crud in general.

For hardy plants like D. spatulata or D. capensis it shouldn't be an issue, but pickier plants won't like it at all.

As far as the yellow water goes, I'm not sure if it's actually harmful at all. I left my D. tomentosa in the same tray for a few weeks and the water turned a pretty dark yellow, but it didn't seem to mind.

The water in all my trays outside is quite yellow and a bit cloudy right now. I'm pretty sure its due to tree pollen and nothing to worry about.

I'd also second that LFS doesn't generally need to be rinsed. I'm sprouting some seeds right now at 100% humidity and there's not even a hint of mold in the pots I topped with LFS after a month. I am using high quality Spagmoss New Zealand LFS though. I use Mosser Lee to line the bottom of pots so the peat doesn't wash out as easily.

If the LFS is partially decomposed, that would explain where the collor comes from.
The only yellow watet I get is from peat I didn't rinse enough, not from LFS.
It's generally harmless and comes from Tannin leaching into the water, like you get from tea.

YaronR wrote:If the LFS is partially decomposed, that would explain where the collor comes from.
The only yellow watet I get is from peat I didn't rinse enough, not from LFS.
It's generally harmless and comes from Tannin leaching into the water, like you get from tea.

most likely this, all sphagnum and peat will leach tannins. even the bottoms of live sphagnum lets out tannis as it dies

I agree with Ras all peat and dead moss release tannins which incidentally are beneficial, sometimes washing isnt necessary, I've never washed dried moss, live moss nor peat and as far as I'm aware have not had any deleterious effects. So I wouldn't worry too much after all in the wild there is no one there to rinse the media for them and they seem to do OK.

Cheers
Steve

steve booth wrote:I agree with Ras all peat and dead moss release tannins which incidentally are beneficial, sometimes washing isnt necessary, I've never washed dried moss, live moss nor peat and as far as I'm aware have not had any deleterious effects. So I wouldn't worry too much after all in the wild there is no one there to rinse the media for them and they seem to do OK.

Cheers
Steve

I think the main concern with rinsing peat is that the peat that is generally available is harvested from quite deep in bogs where it is decomposing and releasing nutrients. It's not necessarily harmful to the plants but can encourage fungus growth.

They're here!!!





This is their current setup:
A south facing window that should get some direct sunlight in an hour or so....


So given that they just went through the mail, what do you guys think I should do with them? Replant? Do I try and acclimate them to the outside in their current pots? Let them rest in a windowsill for a good 2 weeks??? Should I trim the Capernesis? What about food, should I find them something to eat or wait? Thanks for all your help and happy griwing!!