Lining the tops of pots with live sphagnum

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leeaun

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I have just repotted some newly acquired roths and the older leaves are showing some signs of yellowing which I was told was normal as a consequence of the bare rooting process. I have read many previous posts about the benefits of live sphagnum on promoting root (but not top growth) and was wondering if anyone has tried incorporating some live sphagnum just on the top layer of the potting compost with the rest still conventional compost (bark+charcoal+coarse perlite)? I was thinking would that also help to improve the humidity at the root base to promote rooting too? There are loads of good sources of live sphag I can get in the UK and they are harvested to order.....any suggestions?
 
All my pots have live sphagnum on top ..just by spore dispersal...they seem to benefit from it...good roots are mostly influenced by air flow...you can kill roots very easily with sphagnum if packed too tightly or water too much. Sphagnum is a long term solution...to get immediate root growth ..you need higher humidity and less watering
 
I don't use slag in bark. I think the yellowing is normal and will settle once the plant starts to regrow. Your temps need to be rightvfor root growth (min temp 15 max 30) and keep a little dry until roots start
 
One little problem I noticed about using sphagnum is gnats.
I've always been told that gnats lay eggs in soil, but I've
found that gnats are equally happy laying eggs and hanging
around wet sphagnum.

leeaun, did you see my post about the Heaven Fresh HF710 humidifier?
 
Thanks for all the advice. I have already increased the humidity of the surrounding and was just wondering in the interim period of using a topping of sphag on the top (not packed but just put as a thin layer on top of my existing bark mix). The reason why I ask was that numerous threads have agreed that live sphag is especially useful in stimulating new growth of roots (albeit at the expense of top growth - which is something I am less concerned at the moment as the bare rooting of the plants seems to have really shocked the plants).
 
One little problem I noticed about using sphagnum is gnats.
I've always been told that gnats lay eggs in soil, but I've
found that gnats are equally happy laying eggs and hanging
around wet sphagnum.

leeaun, did you see my post about the Heaven Fresh HF710 humidifier?
Try adding some Pinguicula and Drosera to the collection, they'll get rid of those pretty well
I personally suggest D. capensis, maybe a red form
 
In the wild (Macchu Pichuu and so on) Phrags/Paphs live with lots of smaller plants going all the way to their bases. I am assuming some orchids are killed. Just google Paphs or Phrags and the word "in situ."

I would not go for sphagam moss. I would go for a tiny groundcover. This way you get more air through. Irish Moss gets way too tall and thick. There are other mosses. Why not look into Hemianthys Callitrichodes. (Dwarf baby-tears). This is a very small aquatic plant. I expect it would be happier with phrags than paphs. The plants allow more air through because they are not too thick. Why not look at other terrarium plant options?

And honestly, plants like paphs and phrags have a lot of green stuff growing on top of them. leaf litter, etc, which disintegrates, and they are not repotted.
 
In the wild (Macchu Pichuu and so on) Phrags/Paphs live with lots of smaller plants going all the way to their bases. I am assuming some orchids are killed. Just google Paphs or Phrags and the word "in situ."

I would not go for sphagam moss. I would go for a tiny groundcover. This way you get more air through. Irish Moss gets way too tall and thick. There are other mosses. Why not look into Hemianthys Callitrichodes. (Dwarf baby-tears). This is a very small aquatic plant. I expect it would be happier with phrags than paphs. The plants allow more air through because they are not too thick. Why not look at other terrarium plant options?

And honestly, plants like paphs and phrags have a lot of green stuff growing on top of them. leaf litter, etc, which disintegrates, and they are not repotted.

Thanks for the advice. I have loosely draped the top 1cm of the top with the live sphagnum and after 2 weeks the number of new roots coming out of the barerooted plants was surprising.....the rest of the pot is just with bark, large perlite and charcoal.
 

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