Darlingtonia. In a basket. Hey – why not? I recently planted this basket up in the greenhouse as a test run. Will it work? Let’s find out. It has been a little over a week and the plants in the basket are still alive and throwing out some new growth. Encouraging, yes. But I need to observe long term effects. I decided to test out how they’d grow suspended in the greenhouse, being inspired by growing these plants in unconventional manners. (See previous post: Darlingtonia on the Rocks.) So far, the Darlingtonia on pumice has been growing well; I figure might as well take it a step further to test out established plants.

Honestly, it’s pretty interesting to see them growing alongside the Nepenthes, air plants, aroids and other tropicals. The round basket I am using is from Orchidmate. I like the look of the round/cylindrical type. Very nice.

First I placed a small jar filled with kanuma at the core of the basket. This jar acts as a water reservoir and the kanuma prevents the media from sinking into the jar. Next I backfilled the basket with a mix of sphagnum moss, perlite, and kanuma. I did not measure exact ratios. Instead, I kept a feel for an airy mix that can hold water (thanks, sphagnum) while being well draining – allowing air movement to the root zone. Next I threw in a handful of Darlingtonia and finished the basket off with a top dressing of live Sphagnum moss.

I’ll post an occasional update on this in the future. I plan on growing this in greenhouse conditions for a while to see what kind of growth (or non-growth?) will happen. Looking forward to seeing that sphagnum fill in and runners dangling all over the place.