FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Davin, those pots of moss are amazing. I'm pretty sure I have a different strain of sphagnum than you have, mine is either wet, green, and squishy or dried out and white. It never makes a firm clump like you show in those pics. Maybe I should look for some of that particular species and start over with a new crop. Here's what I'm working with:

I have been growing LFSM for a little over a year now and it is going fairly well. I am trying to locate some humidity domes for my 1010 trays so I can use them instead of my seedling trays. They do not seem to exist.
Any how, I am having a memory lapse and do not recall if I used peat that was a high TDS and low pH or low and low. I am currently rinsing my peat as it is over 700 PPM.
So is it best to use as low of a PPM as possible as with CP's? pH low, medium or high?

Thank you.

Hi Andy

Sphagnums prefer a wet acidic medium of PH 3.5 - 4.5 but will grow in higher PH levels, but the higher the PH number the less well it grows, bear in mind that a PH of 3.6 is about 1000 times more acidic than PH 6.6 so you can see its preferred range is quite small. It also makes its medium acidic by cation exchange so once growing it increases the Hydrogen ions in the surroundings, thereby acidifying it and creating its preferred growing conditions. This is of course why carnivorous plants love it.
Being nonvascular will absorb water and nutrients from whatever you put it on. If you use a rich medium the moss absorbs a lot of nutrients and turns to a slimy mush, so nutrient deficient medium is best.
Cheers
Steve

Thank you for the detailed reply.
I tested after washing several times and TDS is 18 and pH is 4.1.

Sounds great!!!!