FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So since I lost all but one little sundew after switching from Sphagnum to peat/perlite I am now scared of using it but I think seed starting in sphagnum might be a little difficult. I do have some coco coir discs that I am not using for anything, would they be good?

I use peat/perlite in the pot with 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of chopped sphagnum on top.

So since I lost all but one little sundew after switching from Sphagnum to peat/perlite I am now scared of using it but I think seed starting in sphagnum might be a little difficult. I do have some coco coir discs that I am not using for anything, would they be good?

I've always had trouble with sphagnum - which I assumed were too many nooks and crannies for the seeds to get lost in. Never really liked peat/perlite either - it's a never ending struggle against moss and algae build up. I've recently switched to a 1/4" of finely chopped top dressing over peat/perlite. The jury's still out but so far it's looking good.

If you're interested, this is the chopper that did it for me: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/chopp ... 56094.html

ok first I dont know why it posted twice lol and second OMG I never thought about chopping the sphagnum like that! I bet I could start them in that and then transplant into LFS once they germinate. I wonder if my little Ninja food chopper would do it. You don't think it would dull the blades do you?

I was actually thinking of putting some spagh in a food processor or blender to get it really finely chopped then rinse it well or maybe rinse first then dry and chop. I think if it’s really dry it should be ok in a blender.

You can also grab a handful of sphagnum and cut it up with a pair of scissors if you don't need much. If you need a lot, then it would get tiring.

OMG you guys are genius! Thank you!

I use a mini food processor that I repurposed for chopping moss.

evenwind wrote: ↑Fri Nov 11, 2022 9:04 pm I've always had trouble with sphagnum - which I assumed were too many nooks and crannies for the seeds to get lost in. Never really liked peat/perlite either - it's a never ending struggle against moss and algae build up. I've recently switched to a 1/4" of finely chopped top dressing over peat/perlite. The jury's still out but so far it's looking good.

If you're interested, this is the chopper that did it for me: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/chopp ... 56094.html

I've used chopped sphagnum on top of sphagnum so that the seedlings don't fall into the spaces between the moss. I just don't really like when the humic acid from the peat below goes into the sphagnum above.

Perfect! Thank you all for the ideas and help. I'm going to do the chopped sphagnum in my Ninja chopper and use that on top of the lfs. It's weird I used peat when I had cps before with no issue and I never washed it either but this last time just scared me. I lost all my VFTs and am back to square one.