Not following the vegetarian remark, unless it's a joke about beans. I've been a vegetarian for 40 years and I swear I'm gas-normal. :-) I've never apologized for living, either. We all leave a footprint. I appreciate the fact that Canada has sat on the peat industry, but there's a great deal of difference between putting it all back and restoring the habitat. There's a lot of controversy over whether or not it's even possible; the water table has been changed, the soil has become nutrient rich, and species may or may not have been destroyed. All this is a small matter compared to the real problem: peat bogs are the most efficient carbon sinks on the planet, period. Nothing else touches them. Now, more than ever, we need every inch of carbon sinks we can get. That's my #1 reason for avoiding it. My other reason for not wanting peat in my seed mix is that I hate it. It stays too wet, then dries out and becomes hydrophobic. It has no nutrient value (which is-actually- fine for seed-starting), is acidic (sometimes good, but not for everything) and retains any pathogens the living moss might have had. By me, it's a lousy soil addition. I always lose seedlings in peat.I'd much rather use clean coir. Coir, of course, isn't an innocent. You have to find a sustainably sourced product and then figure in the environmental impact of shipping across the globe. Upside is that it's very light and compact, so can be shipped efficiently. There is no perfect solution.

Thanks hottielover14, I have some tropical sundews, a Nepenthes sanguinea, a bunch of baby hybrid Sarracenias and a Sarracenia rubra to go with my Venus Flytraps. I have to grow them all indoors under those 4 40 watt shop light tubes right now. Drosera spatulata clump in 5 inch pot. Drosera adelae forest in 6 inch pot, the progeny that cloned from a single plant about 10 months ago. Drosera capensis, a sundew that gives the term carnivorous new meaning. This plant single handedly caught and ate 7 flies in one day. Drosera graminifolia or, the Brazilian Grass Sundew that gives mosquitos nightmares. Sarracenia hybrid seedlings about 6 months old. Recently repotted, they are suddenly putting on a growth spurt. Still a far cry from the foot or more adult size they will attain in about 4-5 years. Sarracenia rubra about a foot tall. Nepenthes sanguinea recently repotted in 8 inch pot. The roots are only 2-3 inches long, but the plant has grown from 3 inches across to about a foot across with 5 inch pitchers in about 8 months. It is loosing a few older pitchers at this time. Peat moss and perlite would be OK for your plants, however; Nepenthes would prefer a well drained mix of two parts perlite to one part peat, or one part each of peat, coconut husk, and orchid bark, like my sanguinea is growing in. They need very well drained medium that still maintains moisture without promoting stagnant conditions. Venus flytraps would prefer one part peat to one part perlite and damper conditions than the Nepenthes.

Mary, I have to admit I might have a small addiction to DQ's peanut buster parfaits (I'm trying to break it lol) and the lids they use for those are perfect size for the first pot up. So yes, all kinds of things out there you can use. Shirley: (1) While rooting, do you keep the cuttings in a closed container such as an aquarium for extra humidity or exposed to open air? open air, they in the summer are on my covered, screened patio, under a LED panel. In winter they are in my bedroom window. The idea behind high humidity is that when the leaves transpire, water escapes along with the O2, so in theory increasing the humidity helps slow down the water escaping, until the plant develops roots and can take up water again. In this, the stem is moist, I don't see a lot of shriveling. Don't forget though, I'm in coastal Florida, so in the summer my humidity is very high. In winter in the house, we do use heat, so the humidity drops. (2) How deep do you insert the cutting into the media? Do you place the stem deep enough for leaves to touch the media or higher to keep them from touching it? I guess ideally the base of the stem should be just at the water line. But I don't really pay too much attention to that. Sometimes the stem is all the way down to the bottom, sometimes the stem is an inch or more above the water line. I'm more worried about stability. So if the stem below the leaves isn't long enough for it to be stable in the cup, I'll cut the bottom set of leaves off to make it long enough. I don't worry about whether leaves touch. I dont' want to oversimplify and say I just plop them in, but really that is what I do, I just plop them in. Renee

It depends on the plants you intend to use. For bog plants a mix of peat moss and perlite is often a good choice. For cacti, the cacti mixes sold in stores works well. For most house plants, standard potting mix may be used. Vermiculite, bark chips, coconut husk chips, and some orchid mixes are also suitable. Do your research and feel free to experiment. Of course please let us all know what you've found worked for you! : )