🌿 What are the 2 parts of a good substrate for nepenthes? - The right texture you need for the roots

What is the best substrate for nepenthes? Is my nepenthes substrate to compact?
Should you change the substrate of your nepenthes?
Because if you just got your plant from a nursery you probably should, to prevent roots from suffocating or to be poisoned.
Or maybe you did the last repotting more than 4 years ago and now it’s due time.

In this video, I will show you the different types of substrate you can use and how much to mix them.

One of the important things to keep your plants for many years is to have the correct substrate.

The problem is, when you buy a plant from a nursery it's often in pure peat and that's not good.
If this has happened to you before, you searched the internet and found that there are many, many ways to create this substrate and that can be confusing.

0:00 What are the 2 parts of a good substrate for nepenthes?

That's why I would like to split this video into two parts.

3:30 Part 1: The ingredients:
3:39 - Dried Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss (LFS)
3:51 - Peat Moss
4:05 - Perlite
4:17 - Coco Husk Chips
4:53 - Orchid Bark
5:03 - Vermiculite
5:17 - Silica Sand
5:37 - Activated Charcoal
6:01 - Akadama
6:03 - Kanuma
6:52 - Aquarium Gravel

8:55 Part 2: The density recipe.

To buy Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss:

To buy Perlite:

(This 4 links are not affiliate so I don't get anything when you click.)

#windowsillnepenthes

Why this channel?
I plan to show you how other nepenthes growers from around the world grow their plants on their windowsill.
If you are interested and want to show us your plants, contact me so that I can arrange an interview.
(All you need is a recent smartphone and a good WiFi, I'll take care of the software).

This project interest you? - Subscribe to this channel:

Want to support my channel? - Buy me a coffee!

Happy growing everyone!
R.

[WindowsillNepenthes]

3:30 Part 1: The ingredients.
8:55 Part 2: The density recipe.

What substrate do you use? Share your recipe!

[joshuamohle]

I was happy that I had a Carnivorous plants nursery 15 minutes away from my house. When I got my pitchers I saw they had sphagnum moss wrapped around their roots but in my carnivorous pots I have sphagnum moss and perlite on top of orchid bark for my pitchers and my flytraps are the moss mixture on top of peat moss with perlite. Which I've learned from others in my part of the world that sphagnum moss helps protect the plants roots from the sun.

[leobolander]

I use a 50/50 mix of sphagnum moss and perlite and it have worked really well, have had no issues with that.

[BlaisZeroni]

I would be so curious if you tested a self watering system and what mix would work well for that. I have a chronic illnes and repotting/watering/misting, things like that if they can be easier it will help me a lot. I can have a flare and be out for a week or two, and always super stress on my neps instead of focus on healing.
Self watering pots would help me a lot!

[sarrakitty]

The mix I use is sphagnum, orchid bark, perlite and charcoal. Sphagnum and orchid bark are the main ingredients and a bit less of the other two. I don't really measure precisely but I'd say maybe 1.5-2 parts each of the bark and sphagnum and part each of the perlite and charcoal. My nepenthes are growing well in it!

[badangnaive]

i only used sphagnum moss and coco chunks but thanks to your video I'll find some perlite or pet moss

[Raoulkeraudren]

Merci, merci Rémi pour tout ce savoir, cette expérience que tu partages. 🙏

Thank you, thank you Rémi for all this knowledge, this experience that you share.
I have a preference for garden center hybrids, very strong, and yet spectacular.
And from my humble and small experience (over more than ten years anyway, but on three plants in all), I now have some clues that make me say that the lowlands do not have quite the same substrate requirements as the highlands.
It seems that the lowlands appreciate a slightly more peaty substrate - heather soil can also be a resource. While highlands (or hybrids with highlands as parents) do better in the famous sphagnum moss/perlite mix.

And it makes sense actually: the lowlands are more on the forest floor, while the highlands are 'a priori' more epiphytic or are found on the sides of mountains and volcanoes.
Do you have an opinion on this feeling I have?

Avec mes admiratifs encouragements,
Erwan, depuis la France.

[sabrinaevelyncheung]

Hi Remy, love your videos and I've been following for a while, keep it up! ❤ But I just wanted to ask, how long do you rinse/wash the coco husk chips for? Should I soak it for a few days or thorough rinsing a couple of times is enough? 😮

[spirittheassassin]

This video helped me a lot. I rescued a small nepenthes on a clearance sale. I don't really have any experience with them. I am more of a cactus grower.

[Fullblown]

I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind:

1. Do you need to sterilize the long fibered sphagnum moss or orchid bark before you use it?
2. Does coco chips/fiber need to be thorougly rinsed before use because of the salt content?
3. Would pumice be a better alternative to perlite?

Thank you.

[plantguy]

Aquarium gravel leeches minerals. Was going to use it for a terrarium as a drainage layer but tested it with my TDS meter after it was in rainwater. The mineral count was too high.

[TheVeggieNerd]

The one question I did not have answered by this video: am I supposed to wash my substrates at all? I watched your coco core video and saw the washing process. Also, can I wash the substrate with just normal tap water? That seems risky.... but I purchase my water right now and it seems wasteful to rinse with distilled water.

[ThomasYng]

I tried to use LFS, peat moss, coco peat, coco chips, perlite, pumice, diatomite, and rice husk for nepenthes and flytrap in the past 6 years, they are all OK. Though I found coco peat + perlite + rice husk is the cheapest recipe.

[a_sleepy_mosskin]

If you use sphagnum peat moss, what kind of soil mix do you recommend with it?

[carmineavventurecarnivore]

Hi! What kind of substrate do you recommend for a Mediterranean climate (very muggy summer, 30-35 degrees and very humid winter near 5-10 degrees)? I keep my Nepenthes inside the house in the winter, outside in the summer.
Thank you very much!

[aoifegalvin]

Can I use Coconut fibre soil instead of sphagnum moss ? The mix would then be coconut fibre soil, perlite and coco husk.

[tequilahowell]

I would love to buy a plant-plants from you

[BlaisZeroni]

When I repot my nepenthes, how can I expect my plants to react? How long before they recover and are back to normal?

Why do nurseries put the plants in pure peat? Seems it kills a lot of carnivores for new growers and scares them away.

[mattiamedieval]

I use sponges actually ! I put 2/3 cm on the bottom of the pot and then fill it with the rest of the media .

[leondk]

Is this a good mix?
30 % Light Spagnum, 20 % Cocodirt, 20 % fir needles, 10 % bark, 10 % washed sand, 10 % grow clay.

Thats a mix my only seller in my country use. I have some long fibre sphagnum and perlite I would mix in too.