Correct degree of soil dampness- comments please.

curlingguy

curlingguy

Sprout
I mixed some peat and perlite 50/50. I then got it fully soaked and put it into two 16 oz cups. I weighed the cups and then dumped each one (separately) into a bowl, squeezed the soil by hand to remove as much water as I could, and returned the same soil to the cup it had come from. The water saturated soil was 314 grams and 327 grams. The "hand rung" soil was 220 and 227 grams. So in both case the "hand rung" soil was 70% of the water soaked soil. So now I just weigh my 16 oz cups of peat/perlite mix and keep them at 220 grams and that seems to be about right. If anyone has any thoughts on this (too dry/too damp) please post as this seems to be one issue that is not clearly explained.
 
Sib

Sib

Carnivorous Plant Addict
Heya CG

I feel like degree of dampness should be directly linked to specific growing conditions and thing grown in it.... over all I tun a more peat heavy program here but I'm green house growing in full sun with high wind?
 
curlingguy

curlingguy

Sprout
Let's cut to the chase.....people struggle with how damp to keep a venus flytrap. Let's assume it is growing under lights and not outside in full sun and ninety degree weather. How wet should the soil be? I'm saying for a 16 oz cup and, assuming you use 50/50 peat and perlite the sweet spot is 220 grams. Do you agree or think it should be lighter or heavier (drier or wetter)? Referencing by weight makes it clear how wet you are saying the soil should be.
 
Hal

Hal

Carnivorous Plant Addict
Staff member
I’ve found that light is as important as water for VFTs. I’ve roasted a few.

Hey Curlingguy! I remember your amazing Cephs fro OCPS
 
Chen

Chen

Carnivorous Plant Addict
If that "sweet spot" of 220g in wet weight of a 1:1 peat and perlite soil mixture works for you under your growing conditions then that's great. But as others have chimed in, there are other factors to consider like:
  • Plant mass, which affects how much water can be used up by the plants and is released back into the air through their leaves.
  • Temperatures (ambient air and soil), which affects how fast the soil can dry out.
  • Relative humidity levels, which is how much moisture the surrounding air can hold. The higher the humidity the slower the top layer of soil can dry out.
  • Air flow, which affects how fast the top layer of soil can dry out. I find it helps to have some air movement to aid in removal of excess moisture.
  • Water retention of the media being used. Perlite tends to retain water whereas Peat has this issue of initially being hydrophobic when dry then slowly becoming hydrophilic. How fast water can drain through the media should also be considered.
 
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