Question
QUESTION: due to a relatively cool and rainy SD spring, my north american pitchers have had a slow start. but i'm worried that the spag peat moss i bought at a green house may not be completely fertilzer free. of course they said it was, but my 'guys' aren't showing the explosive growth that i was hoping for.  what are some symptoms that i should look for in the plants?  my rubra's are growing pitchers and last for 2+ weeks, and then a few are browning up a little, other plants just dont seem to be growing robust pitchers?  anything i should look for in particular?  where should i look for alternative peat moss for my pots?   thanks again!

ANSWER: Hi Darren,

Don't worry about the slow start.  We've also had a relatively cold, wet spring.  Our plants are about a month behind schedule.  Because of the higher amount of rain that we had, we're also not sure if we're going to have seeds since we depend on insects to pollinate our flowers.  That's just the nature of growing plants outdoors.  We're at the mercy of the weather.

If you purchased your peat moss in large compressed bales, then you can be certain that it doesn't contain any contaminants since they package the peat moss at the site of harvest.  If you purchased your peat moss in small, loose bags, then you should be a bit more suspicious.  This type of peat moss is packaged in the same facility that they package fertilizer and compost.  Most gardeners are not at all concerned about contaminants, but for us carnivorous plant growers, contaminants are a serious concern.  So while the package says it's 100% peat moss, it could still contain contaminants from other products that the manufacturer packages.  Growers who used Schultz?have expressed a lot concern about the purity of the peat moss.

See if you can get a hold of large bales of peat moss.  (Lowe's and Home Depot carry it.)  Otherwise, you can get your soil mix from us.

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i purchased a large bale from ACE hardware, and asked the entire dept if there was any fertilizers or contaminates and they advised me that it was packaged without fertilizers. I'm glad u mentioned the schultz(c) brand, i purchased some of that before but didnt use much of it because it was a little spendy.   so do u think i should just chalk the plants lackluster look to a cooler and rainy spring and hope for the best?  i even moved them into 12 inch pots for their roots to maximize all the space, lets hope they come through.

Answer
The peat moss you have should be fine.  As long as it's a compressed bale, you can be assured it was packaged at the site of harvest.  Your plants are most likely having a slow start because of your cooler spring.  Even for us our plants are slow coming out of dormancy because of the excess rain and cloudy days we've had.

If you have a greenhouse, you can bring your plants in there to force them out of dormancy and to extend their growing season.  We have too many plants to make this feasible for us.