FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

title, heres the link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carnivorous-Pl ... 71&sr=8-18

No, that would not be good. It clearly states that it's enriched with nutrients, which is no good for carnivorous plants.

Combining the finest ingredients, including:

• Composted Fine Bark
• Premium Perlite
• Coco Coir
• Leca Expanded Clay Aggregate

These ingredients would be fine by themselves. However, these are listed further down:

Enriched With Nutrients

• Mealworm Frass: Has powerful nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium boosting capabilities. Enriched with beneficial microbes
• Neem: enriches the growing environment with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium & magnesium. As an added benefit, neem also acts as a natural deterrent against soil pests and pathogens
• Premium Seaweed Meal: packed with over 60 trace elements, providing a luxurious nutritional diet for your plants.
• Gypsum: provides additional calcium & sulfur, improving plant vitality and promoting optimal growth
• Insect Meal: source of amino acids, nitrogen, and phosphorus supporting a thriving soil biology
• Rock Phosphate: slow release of phosphorus over an extended period ensuring a steady supply of phosphorus to meet your plant' needs
• Basalt Rock Dust: supplying trace minerals and silica to your plants, these micronutrients play a critical role in enzyme and protein synthesis
• Humic & Fulvic Acids: stimulate microbial activity, improving soil health and promoting vigorous root growth

Seriously? Does the vendor not understand that these plants became carnivorous because their soil lacks nutrients?

it seems the only soil i can ever seem to find is crap or outrageously expensive

Unfortunately for you, where you live, that peat ban will have a big impact on carny plant growers. You'll either have to stock up when (if) you can find it, or look around for relatively inexpensive supplies.
Good luck.

might just have to find an alternative then

Like Mike said, those first ingredients would be "okay". It's the long, second section of ingredients that is the killer (literally). It seems if the company could see a niche for providing carnivorous plant growers with a suitable grow mix they could use this very same recipe, charge the same price (it appears it was affordable to a degree) but leave all the other stuff out. The deletion of the "other stuff" would bump their bottom line up a tad...win-win-win...cp growers get a grow mix, the seller gets new customers, and the seller actual profits more off of "less". Of course, cp growers aren't an exceptionally large group, but there will be a demand for a replacement for the banned peat-based mix over there. Someone definitely needs to point out the deadly problem with this mix to the seller or to Amazon...do it in a nice way and maybe they'll come up with a *true* carnivorous plant mix.

im not sure if theres a way to directly contact the seller, i dont use amazon very often

its weird because there are 17 ratings and none of them are under 4 stars? maybe bots? if only there was a way to check

surely if its listed as carnivore soil it should have been tested with them first??

Spunro wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 2:24 pmits weird because there are 17 ratings and none of them are under 4 stars? maybe bots? if only there was a way to check

Usually paid to do it, or fictitious names assumed by the seller to make it look all happy and perfect.

Spunro wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 2:24 pmsurely if its listed as carnivore soil it should have been tested with them first??

In a perfect world, yes. In a world where people strive to make a quick buck, see my response above.

debating whether or not i should test it on one plant and if it shows bad signs ill rinse and repot it ?

You could. But, based on decades of documented data, I predict it would end poorly for the plant.
If it's already ordered and can't be canceled, use it for regular houseplants.

yeah it arrived about a week or two ago, ill test it out when my pots arrive and if it goes bad ill just use the soil i already had/try out sphagnum

Spunro wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 2:12 pm might just have to find an alternative then

A couple possibilities for you:

• 50/50 mix of sphagnum moss and perlite/coarse sand. From what I've been told, sphagnum moss is fairly abundant in Scotland.

• 50/50 mix of coco coir (also called "coco peat") and perlite/coarse sand. Be sure to soak and rinse the coco product at least a couple times before use. The coconut husks often have salt on them, and this will be toxic to carnivorous plants.

This article is also worth a read:

Growing Carnivorous Plants Peat-Free
https://www.thecps.org.uk/growing-carni ... peat-free/

thanks, ill try and get some perlite maybe? not sure of a place to buy the pure stuff for relatively cheap though

As an inexpensive alternative to perlite, see if your can find sand/grit in this size:

( From the article Peat, Sand, Perlite -- https://www.carnivorousplants.org/grow/ ... ight/CPmix
Note: That ruler is in centimeters, not inches. )

I saw one carnivorous plant soil mix that mentioned "Cornish grit". The trick is to find grit that won't leach minerals into the soil. Silica sand is commonly used because it's composed of quartz, which is chemically inert. A simple test is to put a pinch of sand/grit in a bowl and add a thimble full of vinegar. If it starts to fizz, then it's reacting to the acid in the vinegar, and it's unsuitable.