FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Well, this is something ive been thinking of for a while. this is almost a debate.so, i use just long fibered spaghnum moss from mosser lees to grow my plants in. however, it seems that everyone else grows with peat and some mixture of silica within it. my plants are totally fine ( i think a good amount of people have seenmy summer photos such as the leucophyllas) and grow well in this mixture. what are the reasons if you use peat or some other mixture than just lfsm that you use that mixture? have you ever used different mixes? what were the differences? i for one grow in lfsm because my plants seem to do okay in it, it holds water pretty well, and-heres the biggy-is really cheap and something that i am able to afford. also since there seems to be so much confusion about miracle grow and all that, i wish to avoid any of that. look forward to hearing. i feel this may be interesting!

The fact that it holds water,is the problem,too much water leads to root-rot,where-as wtih a mix of peat/perlite,the soil is airier which leads to less chance of root-rot,and better root growth

I agree with squirtoman.... LFS can be a good medium, but it's very touchy. You overwater, and it could rot the plant, you underwater, and your plant can dry out. Peat moss mixed with perlite or silica sand is a good medium because it allows adequate drainage so that the roots don't get trapped in water.

Also, if you use live stuff and have young plants the sphagnum can over-grow the plants without regular maintenance.

I had moss surrounding my plants (thin top layer) for a while, but i was finding i had to keep the compost far too wet to keep the moss in good growth.

i use just long fibered spaghnum moss from mosser lees to grow my plants in.

I think that was the name on the pack of lfsm that I was able to find at Lowe's during my failed search for some non-miracle grow peat -- I picked it up, and almost bought it, then decided against it.

But now after reading the coffee post, I'm starting to wonder if a medium of ground coffee and chopped up lsfm would be good.. I may try that, but first I either need to get these two very weak plants to live or get more VFTs ....

it depends what ur growing in it
vft, sundew ans sarracenia no, heliamphora and nepenthes yes