This year I tried a bunch of different mixtures to grow my "kids" in just to see what difference (if any) it made. As I posted before, I hibernate my Sarracenia in refrigerators by removing them from the soil, spraying with fungicide (SAFER brand since benomyl is gone), and sealing in a plastic bag with a little fresh sphagnum and distilled water. This wasn't a scientific experiment, but my subjective evaluation on the plants.

Media:

1)Peat Moss

2)Equal parts peat moss and perlite

3)Equal parts peat moss and sand

4)Equal parts peat moss, sand, and perlite.

5)Equal parts perlite and long-fiber sphagnum

6)Bottom of container filled with peat moss,top 6" of container filled with long-fiber sphagnum.

7)100% long fiber sphagnum

I have ~150 plants of every Sarracenia variety imaginable.

RESULTS: The plants grown in pure sphagnum and pots with 6" top layer of sphagnum were noticeably more robust and the rhizomes had made more massive growth over the summer. The worst was the peat moss/perlite mixture which seemed to actually stunt the plants a little.

I know it is expensive, but I will only be using long-fiber sphagnum moss in the future. A lot of my plants are rare ane expensive, and I figure they're worth it.

Like I said, this wasn't scientific, but the results were very obvious.

Side note: All are grown outside in 80% sun.

Side note 2: I grow a couple of dozen venus fly traps kind of as a side project. They seem to have no difference in their foliage depending on the substrate.

Happy Thanksgiving!