A Peat Sand Mixture – Soil for the 2017 Planting

A Peat Sand Mixture – Soil for the 2017 Planting

I must determine the soil composition for my 2017 planting. Carnivorous plants need a low nutrient soil. Potting soil will kill the plants. In the past I have used sphagnum moss with good results. This time I have acquired peat. Peat is sphagnum moss that has decomposed. For any experiment, test runs of small parts should be conducted to confirm the big project will go smoothly. The same I have done for the soil. I decided to use clear plastic cups rather than glass for this experiment. Due to a few failed errors, I understood it would be important to measure out quantity of soil parts before I mix them together in order to obtain a uniform soil for my experiment. I took a cup and marked a 3cm line to measure quantities. I will note, water mentioned in this experiment is either rain collected water or distilled water. Tap water may contain nutrients that are bad for carnivorous plants. With the measuring cup I measured 1 part peat, 1 part sand, and 1 part water.

 Above: cups with 3cm volume of peat, sand, and water.

 

Peat is dry and doesn’t mix with water on its own. In a trail I added peat to water. The peat floated on top of the water. Even after days the peat on top remains dry and did not diffuse through the water. In another trial I added water to peat. The water will wet some of the peat while it flowed and filled up the bottom of the cup. The water then lifts the dry peat. Again the top peat layer is dry and water and peat do not mix.

Cup with peat floating on water. Even after days the two may not mix.

The problem of mixing peat and water is known and has been reported by others (http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3200.html). After adding water and peat to the same cup, I mixed and stirred the contents. The peat eventually became wet. In a trial I let the cup sit for days. I observed that peat holds water very well. The top can become drier, yet underneath it is moist.

From discussions with other growers in the past years, books, and when searching online there is mention of a sand-peat mixture. My first purchase was play sand. This sand is very fine. When water is added to it, the water turns murky. This sand has a lot of contaminants, dirt, in it. This could be materials I don’t want for the sensitive carnivorous plants. I have used it after rinsing. A tip was told to me to use pool sand. Pool sand is much cleaner and the sand particles are larger. Pool sand is the type of sand I will use for my mixture even though some say it is still too fine (http://www.carnivorousplants.org/howto/SoilsWater/PeatSandPerlite.php). Pool sand is what I have available, is better than the play sand, and better than the no sand option.

After mixing water and peat, I then add the sand. I find the sand helps to wet the peat further. The sand particles break clumps of peat during mixing allowing the absorption of more water.

The 1 to 1 to 1 mixture of water to peat to sand has been suggested by others (http://icps.proboards.com/thread/7122/preparation-peat-moss-carnivorous-plants and http://www.carnivorousplants.org/howto/SoilsWater/PeatSandPerlite.php and http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3200.html). In trials the mixture looks good to me. What I mean by that is pure peat alone doesn’t look good, maybe just too mucky. Through the Portulaca weed growing experiment, I can confirm pure sand has no available nutrients for plants. Yet mixing the two, peat and sand, water can move about the soil better (http://www.carnivorousplants.org/howto/SoilsWater/PeatSandPerlite.php and http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3200.html). The modification I would suggest would be slightly less water. If too soggy I fear seedlings will not grow. If I go through this procedure, I may let the soil sit a few days to let the top moisture dry out slightly before I cover the top with plastic wrap.

To see what the soil will look like with plants, I replanted some of my stock of Leah Wilkerson seedlings into some sample cups. My experiment will use the 1 peat to 1 sand to 1 water parts for the soil.

Above: Cups with soil of parts 1 peat to 1 sand to 1 water with Sarracenia seedlings planted within them.

 

Above: Overhead view looking down into completed cups. Left: without clear wrap. Right: with clear wrap placed over the cup.

Citations

Rice, Barry. 2005 The carnivorous plant FAQ courtesy of the International Carnivorous Plant Society: Cultivation: Q: About peat. Available from http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq3200.html (accessed December 2016).

Brittnacher, John. No Date. ICPS How To: Soils-peat, sand, perlite. About peat. Available from http://www.carnivorousplants.org/howto/SoilsWater/PeatSandPerlite.php (accessed December 2016).

Southbaytraps. 2015. International Carnivorous Plant Society: Cultivation techniques: Preparation of peat moss for carnivorous plants. Available from http://icps.proboards.com/thread/7122/preparation-peat-moss-carnivorous-plants (accessed December 2016).