- Sun Dec 19, 2010 12:00 am
#79009
No worries Glenn. Yes, it's same plant that I brought to the meet a while back.
The soil should be very free draining and peat is generally not required. The plant grows in dry alkaline soils, not wet acid soils as many CP's do - I use a mix of 1/2 coarse sand, 1/4 perlite and 1/8 vermiculite with an addition of 1/8 peat (couldn't resist adding some peat to the mix - it just didn't look right!).
Use a tall ceramic or glazed pot - at least 12" high and put a 2" drainage layer of broken terracotta pots or coarse gravel in the bottom, top this with a couple of inches of sphagnum moss then add the rest of your potting soil to within an inch of the rim of the pot.
Remember that these plants cannot be successfully transplanted, so it's best to sow the seed in a small compostable or peat pot - a preformed Jiffy Pot is ideal, don't use the pellet type pots that expand. When the seedling gets 3-4" high, plant the seedling complete with pot into the compost in your glazed pot and top off with coarse sand to hide the compostable pot.
Watering is best carried out by immersing the glazed pot in a half bucket of water - this will wet the sphagnum in the bottom of the pot and keep the rest of the compost relatively dry. Watering once or twice a week is generally sufficient. Water from the top until the plant reaches 5-6" high and has established itself in the new pot, then begin to water from below.
WARNING! - under no circumstances must the seedling be allowed to dry out while it is getting established - if allowed to dry out it will not recover. This warning does not only apply to seedlings, established plants will also die if allowed to dry out.
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