FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello! I wanted to know, can I reuse sphagnum? I feel like it’s such a HUGE waste throwing away pounds upon pounds of sphagnum every year, can I like boil it and rinse it thoroughly with distilled water and use it again?? Thanks.

on average, plants should be repotted every three years, or when the soil rots. if it has not been 2-3 years and the soil still looks good, I would not repot it.
Boiling it is very interesting, I might do some experiments with that

Yes, absolutely! We reuse our sphagnum multiple times.

No need to boil and rinse. Just use it in the bottom of the pots and use fresh stuff on top.

crazy_carnivores wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2020 11:43 pm on average, plants should be repotted every three years, or when the soil rots. if it has not been 2-3 years and the soil still looks good, I would not repot it.
Boiling it is very interesting, I might do some experiments with that

FTS recommends changing the media every 6-12 months.

Matt wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2020 11:52 pm Yes, absolutely! We reuse our sphagnum multiple times.

No need to boil and rinse. Just use it in the bottom of the pots and use fresh stuff on top.

What about mineral build up?

Adrien wrote:What about mineral build up?

For us, that's never been an issue when using pure New Zealand LFS. We repot our flytraps every 10-14 months and use the old LFS in the bottom of the new pot, wrapping the rhizome in the new, clean NZLFS. Works great without any problems at all over the last 6-8 years or so.

Matt wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 12:06 am

Adrien wrote:What about mineral build up?

For us, that's never been an issue when using pure New Zealand LFS. We repot our flytraps every 10-14 months and use the old LFS in the bottom of the new pot, wrapping the rhizome in the new, clean NZLFS. Works great without any problems at all over the last 6-8 years or so.

That’s great!! Thank you

Adrien wrote:That’s great!! Thank you

No worries

I was talking to some people about repotting and reusing sphagnum and they brought up a good point. Why do they need to be repotted every year if it’s the same sphagnum being used? And not repot when the plant out grows it’s pot? I personally like one single large plant per pot cause it looks nice and neat but could you answer those questions?

Do I boil and rinse? Absolutely!. Like others have mentioned its better in the bottom of the pot with fresh on top. I also boil and rinse mineral media for pings.

I haven't changed my substrate in 2 years. I'm not sure if that qualifies as re-using it

I initially did repot every year but as the plants became more established and I got more plants as well, I could not keep up with the amount of materials I needed. So I moved to every 2 years or so, and the plants are continuing to grow fine.

I grow other types of plants as well, so when I take out the old spaghnum moss, I would either use it as something for the other plants (mix in with their soil) or I might toss small parts over to the compost pile.

I also recently read about using old moss at the bottom of the pot, which new one being added in to the upper layers of the pot. glad to see that Matt also did that, which lends credibility to what I read that it is a reasonable practice to do.

The cost and the amount of plants I have that require it have me growing the stuff now lol. So far it has been going pretty well but it'll be a little while before it's something I can rely on. For a while I'll need to supplement with some besgrow or something.

I've also been recycling moss by putting it in the bottom of pots, plugging holes etc. I agree, it's too expensive and it can still serve an absorbing function while having new moss to wrap around the root system.

Adrien wrote:Why do they need to be repotted every year if it’s the same sphagnum being used?

I typically don't reuse the old sphagnum around the rhizome, but rather in the bottom of the pot. I use fresh moss around the rhizome and it provides many benefits including antibacterial properties and better soil aeration. But even if you reuse the same moss over and over, the problem is that the moss becomes compacted over time, so a repot allows the same moss to regain some of its "airiness" so that it provides more suitable growing conditions for the flytraps.

Adrien wrote:And not repot when the plant out grows it’s pot?

Typically flytraps won't outgrow their pots. They tend to divide so much that they get too crowded to grow optimally. That's another reason that repotting annually is a good idea.