- Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:54 am
#63246
Don't use terrace water. Depending how close you live to the coast, you'll have the added problem of sea spray carrying salt, which would end up coating every surface. Depending on the material of your terrace, you'll have additional minerals and paint flaking off.
It's a lot easier just putting a bucket out when it rains. You can check the quality with a TDS meter, if you want. It should be less than 50 ppm. I got a tds meter from ebay for Rs. 750, but I imagine it should be fine.
Seeds: I've currently planted all the seeds I had, since they don't have an unlimited shelf life. VFTs and pitchers are very slow growing, so for a beginner, I'd recommend sundews, since they attain maturity in a year. Vaibhav sent me some Drosera capensis and spatulata seeds, so I can send you those. While you wait for the seeds, you can wash your media and keep it ready for immediate planting. The washing step takes a couple of days.
What you might want to try is pack your pots with the media and keep them outside in the rain for a couple of days to naturally leach out any minerals. Since it's pouring cats and dogs these days, it seems a sensible thing to do. If you can manage to get sphagnum moss, great. Don't use any other kind. The sort used for moneyplants will kill your CPs. I use coir and thermocol balls.