FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I don’t want to order them until I have everything I need. I figured each of the pots I got from Home Depot could probably hold two, maybe 3 depending on how small they are. I have distilled water still from my VFT. But I’m wondering about the medium?

Most places say to use peat, perlite, and sand I think in 1:1:1, but I’ve also read other stuff like sphagnum and perlite 1:2 which seems a bit crazy because when I tried repotting my VFT in 1:1 peat/perlite it looked like I had way too much perlite. I added probably a half cup more peat, and it still looks like a lot.

If I should be using a type of sand, does anyone have recommendations for what kind to use? And the peat I got was a recommended brand, but it’s very fine like soil. Just not sure if I should get all different stuff for the pings?

I figured for now I’ll keep using grow lights for optimal lighting, but I only saw wattage listed in one place which said 40? If that’s right I’ll need to get one more Sansei light or a different one that starts at 40? Anyhow thanks in advance. I’m just trying to make sure I’m not extremely underprepared like I was with my VFT.

ICPS web site has very good info on pings, and all other CP's for that matter.
https://www.carnivorousplants.org/grow/ ... Pinguicula

firstly, know their species and their substrate 'in situ'
see here
http://pinguicula.org/
https://www.gluch.info/index.htm

andynorth wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 8:52 pm ICPS web site has very good info on pings, and all other CP's for that matter.
https://www.carnivorousplants.org/grow/ ... Pinguicula

So I’m looking at coarse sand, dolomitic or limestone being best. Any suggestions for where to get that with good quality and maybe brands to avoid or good brands?

jeff wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 8:48 am firstly, know their species and their substrate 'in situ'
see here
http://pinguicula.org/
https://www.gluch.info/index.htm

I feel dumb, but I don’t really see anything besides the cover pages? Not sure what I’m supposed to click on there. Using a phone not sure if that matters. Sorry for the silly question.

Jade wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 10:32 pm

jeff wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 8:48 am firstly, know their species and their substrate 'in situ'
see here
http://pinguicula.org/
https://www.gluch.info/index.htm

I have not looked using a phone so I am not certain. However, the search page should be at the bottom and then you can search for what it is you are looking for. Much easier to view if you have a computer.

A mix of peat and Turface MVP or straight Turface has worked well for me

Thanks Andy, I will try to get on one soon. Mine is broken unfortunately and I don’t really use it enough so I have put off fixing it.

Dragonseye - I hadn’t seen Turface before, but it looks like it’s being used by others too. They all still mentioned sand though so I thought it was needed? Atm I just have the peat and perlite. I saw somewhere selling a gallon bag of Turface for $12.99, guessing I’d need a couple or a few. I didn’t see any smaller bags at a glance than like a $50 that looked pretty big like maybe too big. I’m a super newbie with plants in general if it wasn’t obvious.

Nice thing with surface is that it’s not as fragile as perlite, and it also doesn’t try to float all the way to the top like perlite does. Do be careful with perlite that you don’t wind up getting some that has fertilizer already added. It can be hard to find perlite, at least in my area, that doesn’t have fertilizer already added to it. I think the one brand that I’ve seen around here is, something like Sta-light?

for http://pinguicula.org/ click on 'ON LINE'
for https://www.gluch.info/index.htm click on the British flag

I had never heard of Turface until reading this post. Is it good for all CP's or just pings?

I got a bag of Vigoro perlite, but when I tried to do 1:1 with my peat it ended up needing to be a lot more peat unfortunately. No matter how well I tried to mix it, it just looked like perlite. Is the Turface like a replacement for the perlite?

I have several different pings I’m looking at, will post below. I’m trying to narrow down to the 2-3 best ones for a complete plant beginner in general.

My plan is likely indoors with a grow lamp for now until I get my direct sunlight window opened up for the plants instead of the cat tree. I’m assuming that I use distilled water which I get gallons of. I read that the pots are pretty small especially in comparison to my VFT which needed to be pretty deep for the roots, so I’ll be buying some new pots too if there’s any suggestions there. I always forget stuff, so I’m trying to preplan so I don’t.

I’m also assuming that they can eat fish food of some sort? I feel like flakes would be better. I’d need to get that too as I had bought tiny pellets for my VFT, but pings look extremely tiny in comparison so I don’t want to over feed.

And if turface is a replacement for perlite, I don’t need silica sand or anything else? I’m posting the plants I’m currently looking at so maybe that will help people know what medium is better. Much like VFTs it seems like there’s a lot of conflicting info, and I’m not sure when I will get access to that computer to look at the site that was recommended.

Actually none of the pics will load for some reason so I’ll try to post them in the next one or edit to add the names here.
That last one is sold out right now so I’m not sure if I’m going to wait for it to come back for this order or not. It’s gorgeous, but I also don’t want to potentially miss getting a few other ones.

They also sell little bits of medium and stuff to add to it.

andynorth wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 2:32 pm I had never heard of Turface until reading this post. Is it good for all CP's or just pings?

I use a peat-Turface (sometimes peat-perlite-Turface) mix for Drosera and Utrics as well.

all these species are limestone plants.
'in situ' the majority are currently in a dormant period, (therefore without leaves with mucilage)
why not use rainwater
you can use this substrat
https://curiousplant.com/product/media- ... tting-mix/

jeff wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2024 8:51 am all these species are limestone plants.
'in situ' the majority are currently in a dormant period, (therefore without leaves with mucilage)
why not use rainwater
you can use this substrat
https://curiousplant.com/product/media- ... tting-mix/

Just that or that as top dressing? I would definitely grab a few quarts and just stick anything leftover in a sealed bag for later use. And I quite like how it would look as well. I just wasn’t sure if I should have some sort of peat mix below or if I needed something for underneath how much out of that would be the top part. I was actually going to buy some of the stuff sold on the site with the plants, but I wasn’t sure if I could use that for all of them.

This seems like a better option. I was actually wondering if I should get the heat pack for each plant too. It’s been pretty nice but I feel like I should just in case we get bad weather.

ETA- I ended up getting two for now with premixed soil. I got some regular small pots and one long plastic planter because I’d like to put them together, but the tray it came with isn’t great so I’d have to find a good rectangular one to put under it. Probably have to stick with the regular pots for now though because I have looked and can’t find anything for the planter.

Got these. Will post pics when they arrive and I pot them. I’m excited