FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I've tried both recipes this season and honestly.... I am prob going to use LFSM for all of my flytraps, sundews, and sarracenias this winter. I am just really hating all the perlite that floats to the top which sometimes covers new growth.

Any inputs guys? Please and thank!

I have never experienced the phenomenon of floating perlite myself, though I do get weird orange stuff growing on it until it gets rained on for a while. Have you noticed any differences in growth between the two soils?

Try putting mulch on top to soften the rain drops, and have drain holes halfway to the top to drain excess water

Sent from my phone, so sorry for mistakes.

never tried peat alone, but in general i like using lfsm for everything including cephalotus. everything seems to grow well in it

I think it really depends on what plant you're growing. My D. capensis love a peat based mix, but my D. burkeana grow far faster in Sphagnum. S. purpurea and S. psittacina are happy in pure peat, but leucophylla isn't. Cephalotus can sometimes suffer root rot in pure LFS because it never dries out, so most people recommend a sand/peat mixture heavier on the sand. I don't really use perlite, it's dusty, annoying to handle/water, and can leach minerals into the soil (usually shown by yellowish discoloration). For most of my CPs, I use a sand/peat mix in various ratios, since most of my plants like it better and it's cheaper.

Keep in mind that if you grow your plants in LFSM outside that there is a chance for the moss to get clustered in Alge, green slim, that has been a problem that I had experience using LFSM outside. I have also experienced, depending on how much I water the soil, LFSM tends to become TOO Soggy for VFT's.

If floating perlite is the problem the easiest way to handle it is to turn the pot upside down quickly and the loose perlite falls out..

For VFTs, I use 50/50 sand peat or pure LFSM.

One down side with pure LFSM is that it makes weeding tougher. Pulling weeds from sand/peat is easy. But weed roots really tangle into the LFSM, so I end up removing LFSM with the weeds.

I'm a peat moss/perlite man.