FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

It seems to drain well but yet retain some weight(moisture). I did not realize just how tedious it would be dividing and re-potting those four rescues!!! Of course, I tend to be picky about doing some things and can take much longer to do them than it takes other folks. I don't think there's any danger of me re-doing things right now.

I've got the transplants sitting out of direct sun for now, though plenty of indirect light getting to them. I figured I'd give them some recuperating time before easing them back into the sun. The rain hasn't got here, yet, but I'll probably move them under cover when it arrives. They were looking so-so before I transplanted them, I'm hoping they'll be looking better with more room and better growing mix. Now I need to find a pot that the minnow bucket will slip down into and they'll be set!

Wow. Looks like I'll be set on rainwater for a while. I managed to collect roughly 30 gallons yesterday evening and last night. Now to figure out how to store it. I definitely don't have enough milk jugs!! I've got two old 5-gallon buckets full, which I figure I'll just put a top on...bulk storage. I'm just a tad worried the old buckets may be a bit brittle for moving them with a load in them. We'll see... I've also got a 12-gallon cooler-full, plus a few more containers that will more than max out the milk jugs that I do have. Maybe I can come up with another bucket or two. It's a good problem to have, though.

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 2:54 pm Wow. Looks like I'll be set on rainwater for a while. I managed to collect roughly 30 gallons yesterday evening and last night. Now to figure out how to store it. I definitely don't have enough milk jugs!! I've got two old 5-gallon buckets full, which I figure I'll just put a top on...bulk storage. I'm just a tad worried the old buckets may be a bit brittle for moving them with a load in them. We'll see... I've also got a 12-gallon cooler-full, plus a few more containers that will more than max out the milk jugs that I do have. Maybe I can come up with another bucket or two. It's a good problem to have, though.

30 gallons of rainwater? You guys are lucky... I'm lucky if I can even catch a gallon with this CA rain...

Processed(?) the rainwater. I got probably 20 gallons put up now in jugs and buckets. That will last me a long time for my few little plants. There is still some in the kiddie pool I sat out in the yard. My CoCoRaHS rain gauge collected 1.52" of rain between late yesterday afternoon and last night. We just now got a downpour, looked like around 0.25", probably. They're predicting rain on through Thursday night with a slight chance Friday. I'm thinking about putting a few more buckets up if I can come up with the buckets.

I've got a spot where a roof valley dumps water off the roof and though it puts a lot of water in the buckets fast the water for some reason is dirtier than just coming off the edge of the roof. So, I simply decanted the buckets into the cooler, dumping out the last few inches to get rid of the bulk of the debris. Still, the water had debris in it so OCD-me had to concoct a filtration system. The system includes four layers of state-of-the-art NASA-inspired cotton filtration cloth...a t-shirt (2 layers) and an old and forgotten (until now!) pair of tighty-whities (2 layers).

With great pride I would like to introduce the "2022 Four-Stage Tighty-Whitie Rainwater Processing Station, Model TW" @2022 - Patent Pending)...

Sorry for not seeing this sooner! You'll definitely want to moisten the peat moss before hand. It is mission impossible to get it all moist if you do it after putting it in a pot with a plant. All of the water just goes to the bottom of the pot and sits there for an eternity.

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 9:31 am Sorry for not seeing this sooner! You'll definitely want to moisten the peat moss before hand. It is mission impossible to get it all moist if you do it after putting it in a pot with a plant. All of the water just goes to the bottom of the pot and sits there for an eternity.

I probably didn't make myself clear. I understand that peat moss is hydrophobic and needs moistening well before using. What I was wondering about is the measuring of the peat moss volume to use in the mix. Do you measure the peat part when it's moist or while it's still dry? It just seems that if I proportion out the ingredients while they're still dry that there isn't enough peat in the final product and it dries very quickly. Wetting the peat takes the "fluff" out of it....an amount of dry peat moss when dampened compresses to a smaller volume (or so it seems to me).

I don't think it matters very much, but I just do it when it's dry.

Pretty much any Youtube video I see uses dry peat. It just seem (to me) to make a very dry mix. But, I'm a rank newbie who's probably torturing his plants in the footsteps of Buffalo Bill, anyhow!!!

It seems the flytraps grow on at upper levels of the sphagnum moss and the others are either in the muck or saturated soil...is that about right? I think I'll go with wetting the peat before mixing with the perlite at a 50:50 ratio.

I do need a larger container for the water. I've got roughly a dozen gallon jugs filled and three 6.5 gallon buckets. I've got some large plastic sterilite totes, probably 20-something gallons each. I'm thinking about setting one of those up...seal the vent holes under the handles.

I have a question regarding storing rainwater. I've seen mention of using "fresh" rainwater. I've only got a few small plants so I won't be using a tremendous amount of water, the bulk of it that I've used so far has been in washing peat moss. How long will fairly clean rainwater store and be ok for carnivorous plants? If it looks clear....use it? If it gets hazy...dump it?

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:18 pm It seems the flytraps grow on at upper levels of the sphagnum moss and the others are either in the muck or saturated soil...is that about right? I think I'll go with wetting the peat before mixing with the perlite at a 50:50 ratio.

I do need a larger container for the water. I've got roughly a dozen gallon jugs filled and three 6.5 gallon buckets. I've got some large plastic sterilite totes, probably 20-something gallons each. I'm thinking about setting one of those up...seal the vent holes under the handles.

I have a question regarding storing rainwater. I've seen mention of using "fresh" rainwater. I've only got a few small plants so I won't be using a tremendous amount of water, the bulk of it that I've used so far has been in washing peat moss. How long will fairly clean rainwater store and be ok for carnivorous plants? If it looks clear....use it? If it gets hazy...dump it?

I'm not sure what you mean by "It seems the flytraps grow on at upper levels of the sphagnum moss". Are you talking about in nature?

I've stored rainwater for a few months without any problems with algae or junk growing. Assuming you do get stuff growing, or the water getting murky, I'd dump it. I guess you could boil it, and get rid of any bacteria/algae. From what I can tell, your area gets plenty of rain, so water shouldn't be a problem.

thepitchergrower wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 7:33 pm

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:18 pm It seems the flytraps grow on at upper levels of the sphagnum moss and the others are either in the muck or saturated soil...is that about right? I think I'll go with wetting the peat before mixing with the perlite at a 50:50 ratio.

I do need a larger container for the water. I've got roughly a dozen gallon jugs filled and three 6.5 gallon buckets. I've got some large plastic sterilite totes, probably 20-something gallons each. I'm thinking about setting one of those up...seal the vent holes under the handles.

I have a question regarding storing rainwater. I've seen mention of using "fresh" rainwater. I've only got a few small plants so I won't be using a tremendous amount of water, the bulk of it that I've used so far has been in washing peat moss. How long will fairly clean rainwater store and be ok for carnivorous plants? If it looks clear....use it? If it gets hazy...dump it?

I'm not sure what you mean by "It seems the flytraps grow on at upper levels of the sphagnum moss". Are you talking about in nature?

I've stored rainwater for a few months without any problems with algae or junk growing. Assuming you do get stuff growing, or the water getting murky, I'd dump it. I guess you could boil it, and get rid of any bacteria/algae. From what I can tell, your area gets plenty of rain, so water shouldn't be a problem.

I think he means they grow on top of sphagnum mounds or just drier areas where as some sarrs, pinguicula, and drosera grow in sphagnum "pits" or divots where it is very wet and sometimes waterlogged.

Flytraps growing in the upper levels of the sphagnum moss...yes, in nature.

I filtered most of the water through four layers of cotton cloth but one five-gallon can wasn't filtered (but pretty clean, anyhow). I'll watch the water and see how it goes with it. Depends on the hurricane season as to have much rain we usually get in late July and August...it can get dry during that time if no storms come in.

Sundews69 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 7:40 pm I think he means they grow on top of sphagnum mounds or just drier areas where as some sarrs, pinguicula, and drosera grow in sphagnum "pits" or divots where it is very wet and sometimes waterlogged.

Thanks for saying it the way I couldn't!