Cosmopolitan – Remarkable Raketeras
Meg Magazine – my very first feature!
The Keybie Cafe: Cuteness Overload Coming Your Way!
by When in Manila
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If you’ve tried searching for the right soil, potting mix or planting media for carnivorous plants, you’ll see a wide variety of suggestions. Coco peat, perlite, peat moss, sphagnum moss, and silica sand are just a few of the options in different guides.
However, it can be challenging to find the right planting media if you’re new to the hobby, especially in the Philippines.
Many local gardening shops aren’t familiar with carnivorous plants, leading to using the wrong media—which very likely kills your plant.
This guide aims to help you understand the kinds of planting media most local growers use and identify the kinds you shouldn’t ever use. Hopefully this lets you grow your bug-eating plant babies with peace of mind.
It will specifically cover the following:
• What kind of plant media to use
• Different kinds of plant media
• Coco peat
• Where I use it (pros, cons, and where to buy)
• Peat moss
• Where I use it (pros, cons, and where to buy)
• Sphagnum moss
• Where I use it (pros, cons, and where to buy)
• Additional planting media: perlite, silica sand and coco cubes
• What kind of pots are best to use?
• Can you mix these different media together?
• Planting media you shouldn’t use
• Are you ready to grow carnivorous plants?
Please note though: this is not an exhaustive guide on planting media. This is to help newbies understand the basics and allow them to experiment with what works for them based on my own experience and research. Everyone’s garden is different, and many factors are involved when it comes to getting the best results, including the kind of plant you’re growing.
Venus flytraps, pinguiculas, sundews, and nepenthes (pitcher plants) all have varying needs, and even different varieties of the same plant can have opposite needs (like Mexican vs. tropical pings). There is no universal “best media for carnivorous plants” or special formula. To really know what the best is, nothing can beat research and your own observation.
Carnivorous plants grow in nutrient-poor media. This is how they became carnivorous in the first place; they evolved to take their nutrition from the sun and bugs. Their natural environment is usually very wet and frequent rain or running bodies of water constantly wash nutrients away while keeping their media loose. Because of this evolution, minerals and stronger fertilizers will burn their roots, which are only meant to take in water and provide anchorage.
The media options I’ve listed below are commonly used, and honestly, they’re often used out of preference. They all have their own advantages and disadvantages. While some are better for specific kinds of carnivorous plants, you ultimately choose what to use based on the type of plant you have and what you have available.
Commonly used, coco peat or coco coir is different from peat moss. Coco peat is a more sustainable natural fiber created from coconut husks. Peat moss is created from dead fibrous material formed when mosses and other organic materials decompose in peat bogs.
There are also sustainability issues surrounding peat moss, which isn’t considered a renewable resource due to the long period of time it needs to break down into the final product.
I use coco peat mixed with perlite for my byblis, and for most of my sundew seed propagation tubs. This is because I can see seedlings better in coco peat, and it forms algae less easily.
Pros
• Easy to source
• Less susceptible to algae
• Affordable
Cons
• Usually needs heavy washing with low ppm water
• Dries out easily
• Builds up minerals faster
Where to buy
• Washed and ready to use coco peat
• Perlite
Sphagnum peat moss, or just peat moss, is a dark, broken-down version of sphagnum moss. It’s the decomposed version of sphagnum moss, with the acidity that carnivorous plants love but when with a faster tendency to build up more minerals over time. This can be easily addressed by flushing (or top watering) regularly and discarding the run off.
This is what most growers abroad use due to its affordability and accessibility. It’s much cheaper than sphagnum moss, and plants are given good growing conditions by getting repotted every year in fresh rounds of peat moss and perlite. A good mix recommended by growers like Sarracenia Northwest is 50/50 peat moss and perlite.
I like using peat moss for sundews and pitcher plants. It’s also good for community pots for either since it’s more affordable.
Pros
• Cheaper than sphagnum moss
• More acidic than coco peat
• Easy to repot plants in
• More water retention than coco peat
Cons
• A little more expensive than coco peat
• Can get messy when rained on
• Builds up minerals; requires regular flushing
Where to buy
• Peat moss
• Peat moss with perlite (25g)
Sphagnum moss comes in dry and live options, but hydrating dry sphagnum doesn’t bring it back to life. I use a lot of it myself, so I usually buy it by the sack.
This can be more challenging to find if you’re new to the hobby due to how sphagnum moss is often mistaken for or considered synonymous with java moss (see pic below). They’re not the same, and java moss can’t even used for carnivorous plants (I think due to acidity). They’re used interchangeably in most gardening stores because they’re both used for orchids, and most stores aren’t familiar with carnivorous plants.
Sphagnum moss is grown in cool, shaded areas with higher than usual humidity, and is colored a light tan when dry. You can also buy live sphagnum moss to use as a nice topping for pitcher plants, though I don’t encourage using it for flytraps or sundews since the moss can easily overgrown these smaller plants.
I like using sphagnum (sometimes mixed with perlite) for my Venus flytraps and my sundews. This is because sundews can handle being overwatered, but they are in higher danger of drying out. Flytraps can get overwatered but are more sensitive to ppm levels.
Most growers also have great success using sphagnum moss to propagate leaf cuttings from sundews and pullings from Venus flytraps. You can learn about propagation in my flytrap guide.
Pros
• Retains water well
• Some washing might be necessary
• Can be grown in the right conditions if you start with live moss
Cons
• Much more expensive than coco peat
• More likely to form algae
• Often mistaken for java moss by gardening or online stores
Where to buy
• Live and dry sphagnum
• 5kg wholesale moss
These options are more amendments to media, added for better aeration or drainage for certain plants to encourage them to thrive better. These are also all optional—you don’t necessarily need to use them, but some growers have better growing results with them. It’s ultimately up to you.
Perlite is a white, highly porous, and light media addition that aerates other media like coco peat, sphagnum moss, and even gardening soil for regular plants. This helps keep media loose, draining and uncompacted.
Perlite is optional, but I personally prefer mixing it into my coco peat (and layering into sphagnum for venus flytraps) for aeration purposes. You can buy perlite here.
Silica sand is sometimes used for sundews (mixed with coco peat) or pinguiculas/butterworts (mixed with other rocky media like perlite, akadama, and coco peat.)
It’s fast-draining, compact and helps prevent overwatering for Mexican pings like Moranensis or Sethos in particular. They especially like rocky mixes.
You can buy silica sand here.
Coco cubes are often used for nepenthes/pitcher plants to maintain an airy mix. Most neps, especially highland neps or Truncatas, prefer a light mix that doesn’t get soggy. Chunky coco cubes ensure that their roots don’t rot by keeping the planting media from getting compacted.
I’m not sure if media mixes for other plants would benefit from coco cubes, but like with all media options in this list, always ensure that it’s washed with low ppm water to flush minerals out. You can buy coco cubes here, but it still needs to be washed to lower ppm.
Does the kind of pot you use for your plants matter? Yes! Personally, I use small net pots (like in this photo) for juvenile plants, or small sundews like D. Burmannii.
For my personal collection, I use these tall square plastic pots. This specific design has thinner plastic than other varieties, but it helps me save space since I can group my plants together. A tall pot also helps the roots of venus flytraps grow deep, which in turn helps the plant grow bigger. I transplant smaller plants into taller pots when they get bigger.
Some growers do, depending on their setup. The mixes vary on how much a certain carnivorous plant needs. Taking into consideration what each media option can give, you can experiment yourself.
Do you need more moisture? Try to incorporate sphagnum. Do you need a drier, more draining mix? Stick with coco peat, or even add rocky, non-absorbent amendments like silica sand, perlite, pumice, and other chunky media options (as long as they’re all thoroughly rinsed).
You can buy a 500g or 250g full potting set with perlite, sphagnum moss, and an optional TDS meter and pots from my supplier.
Some people line the bottom of their pots with sphagnum moss to keep peat moss or coco peat from leaking out when the pot is watered. I also do this, but keep in mind that keeping media constantly wet like this can build up bacteria. This will lead to your media potentially smelling like sewage, and adversely affecting your plants. You can mitigate this by letting your pots dry out and watering only when necessary.
Since carnivorous plants grow in nutrient-poor media, you unfortunately can’t use most media meant for regular plants. This means no garden soil, vermicast, or any potting mix with a fertilizer like Klassman and other pre-packaged gardening media.
However, there’s a way you can tell if your media is ok for sure, since some growers are able to use pre-packaged gardening media with enough washing. The best way to know if your media can be used—and the best tool you can get to help your carnivorous plant hobby—is a TDS meter.
TDS stands for Total Dissolved Salts, and a TDS meter measures ppm levels or parts per million. To put it simply, it tells you how much minerals are in your media or your water. As long as your level is below 50ppm, you’re ok! The lower, the better. Our aircon water is at a happy 3ppm, and I’ve been using it on top of collected rainwater. Some growers even found out that their water refilling stations have ppm levels below 15, giving them more options.
A TDS meter also lets you know if your media has mineral buildup. For example, I check my water trays once in a while and find that the levels rise sometimes. In cases like that, I flush them by watering from the top with low ppm water until the levels lower. It’s much easier than eyeballing things.
I hope this guide helps, but please note again that this guide is not exhaustive. Even though I’ve been growing carnivorous plants for a while, I welcome new insights and experiences since I’m constantly learning too.
You can also message me on Facebook or Instagram. I post plant content every day about learnings, experiments, and just the regular progress of the plants in my collection.
If you haven’t seen them yet, I have guides on how to prepare for your first carnivorous plant and how to grow other carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps and Byblis in the Philippines. You can check here for all my guides.
You can also check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
I sell Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants, and more carnivorous plants in my online shop, all grown in my own little garden in Marikina. I also have pots, Maxsea fertilizer, and even some non-carnivorous plants available. For grow lights, shelves, and even water trays I use, you can check my Shopee affiliate link collection.
I ship nationwide, and customers can enjoy free shipping and a loyalty card.
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I’m sure you’ve heard of carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) or pitcher plant (Nepenthes), but you might not have heard of Byblis, the carnivorous rainbow plant.
This plant is known for its ability to catch mosquitoes and other small insects. It’s not as common as other carnivorous plants, but’s not a difficult plant to raise.
This guide will cover:
• What is Byblis?
• How to take care of Byblis
ㅤㅤ• Light
ㅤㅤ• Water
ㅤㅤ• Growing media
• Feeding Byblis
• Propagating Byblis
• Growing Byblis from seed
• Additional Byblis research
• Ready to grow Byblis?
Byblis is native to Australia, sometimes called the rainbow plant because of the way its sticky, sparkling mucilage-covered leaves and stem can look in the sun. It attracts mosquitos and fruit flies, which die after getting stuck in shimmery glue. They’re then digested by enzymes for nourishment. Byblis also grows pretty purple flowers that close in the evening and last for a few days.
The Latin name “Byblis” itself comes from Greek mythology: Byblis was a woman who fell in love with her twin brother Caunus. There are different versions of her story, but Byblis ultimately gets rejected. Her endless tears lead her to be transformed into a fountain, which sparkles—kind of like the plant’s sparkly goo.
The variety I raise the most of is called Byblis guehoi, one of the eight recognized kinds of Byblis. Though they look like sundews (drosera), which are another kind of carnivorous plant with similarly sticky leaves, Byblis are unique and more related to butterworts (pinguiculas).
Byblis plants are generally easy to raise, as long as some simple points are kept in mind. All you need is a lot of light, the right planting media, and lots of water.
Like most carnivorous plants (and plants in general), Byblis plants need sunlight. Direct sunlight is great, though for Philippine summer heat, it’s best to gauge it. I’ve had success keeping them in full sunlight, but on a water tray to keep their media wet.
If you notice the tips of your plant’s leaves turning yellow and then brown, it could be sunburn; try moving it to bright shade. Though they love light, it’s possible that the summer sun can be too hot. If your plant isn’t growing any taller after a week, it likely needs more light.
Most growers eliminate this problem by raising their plants with an indoor setup; they use regular grow lights positioned close to the plants to give them their sunny needs.
Byblis will grow leaves that are bushier and more flowers given enough sunlight, but they don’t change color like other carnivorous plants usually do.
If you’re going to keep your Byblis in full sun, make sure they’re standing in a water tray or cup of low ppm water (you can check the ppm levels of water using a TDS meter). The Philippine heat gets merciless and your rainbow plant may wither due to dehydration. This is actually the reason I keep their potting media wet; it’s safer for them to stay moist while they’re out in the sun. Otherwise, more mature plants will be fine without water for a day or two when the weather isn’t as sunny.
Make sure to change the water in trays to avoid mosquito larvae, since some smarter or luckier mosquitoes just won’t choose to land on the Byblis before laying eggs. If you keep the pots in cups though, you won’t have this problem. I’d still recommend changing the water once in a while to “flush” the potting media though.
Unlike other carnivorous plants, I discovered that Byblis guehoi can live for a time on regular tap water of up to 129ppm. However, this is only for emergencies. I would recommend using only low ppm water like rain, distilled, or reverse-osmosis water (RO water, which drips from your air conditioner or pools from the condensation of a cold drink) from the top to “flush” out potential mineral build-up. It’s best to do this as often as possible when you have this kind of water available.
I keep water containers full of rainwater and aircon water collected to keep costs low and try to avoid buying distilled water.
For growing media, I use thoroughly rinsed cocopeat mixed with perlite or sphagnum moss. Both share the property of being mineral-free while lacking any nutrients; these burn the roots of carnivorous plants, which adapted to nutrient-less soil by consuming insects.
If you’re not sure if you can use a certain media, check my carnivorous plant media guide, which also has links to where you can buy all kinds of planting media.
This also means that Byblis and other carnivorous plants do not need and should not be fertilized. The only fertilizer recommended at all is Maxsea, but even then, it has to be very heavily diluted (1/4 of a teaspoon to a gallon) and is only lightly misted on a carnivorous plant like Byblis every two weeks. You can check my Maxsea fertilizer guide for more details on how to use it.
Like most carnivorous plants, Byblis don’t really need to be fed. Just leave them outside and they’ll catch bugs on their own. However, for faster growth, you can use Maxsea fertilizer like I mentioned above, or even fish food like flakes, pellets, or blood worms. You can find details on how to do this here.
One plant can be cut as it grows longer to produce more. Byblis grow into long stems that eventually need support through sticks or frames because can’t support their own weight.
When I have time, I avoid this and trim off the top when they start falling over. Once they do fall over, they start growing in an upright direction. Sometimes I chop them up after they grow over 2 feet long.
A cutting should ideally be around 2-3 inches, with the first inch cut free of leaves before being planted. If your Byblis grows several inches like in the above photo, you can make several cuttings (cuttings don’t have to be just from the top.)
There are two ways to make cuttings: by rooting them in low ppm water first, or by planting them directly in carnivorous plant media.
For the second method, make sure to thoroughly soak the media and poke a hole into it first; don’t just stick the stem into it, or you may risk stressing the plant and causing it to die before it roots. Keep cuttings wet after planting to encourage rooting. If your cuttings have flowers, they’ll still bloom too. The more they eat, the faster they also grow.
Once cut, the main plant will begin growing offshoots from different parts of the stem, right above a leaf. Sometimes they grow multiple offshoots.
These offshoots can be made into new cuttings once they’re long enough, though it’s perfectly all right to simply let them grow out. You can have a bush’s worth of Byblis this way.
If you notice the base of your Byblis growing brown and wood-like, it’s a natural thing that happens over time. If you leave it alone, though, your Byblis has a chance of dying. It can easily be saved by cutting it where the weak brown and healthy green parts meet and planting the green part as if you were propagating cuttings.
The following links are the best propagation guides I’ve found and used, with pictures on how to make cuttings as well as how to save a woody Byblis:
Recently, I’ve been able to grow Byblis aquatica from seed too! Byblis seeds don’t germinate easily; they need to be exposed to smoke since their natural habitat exposes them to forest fires to stimulate growth.
You need to be able to expose the seeds to smoke, which I do by putting the pot of seeds into a bigger plastic box with a lid. I burn a paper ball on a plastic bottlecap, blow it out to make smoke, and put the bottlecap in the middle of the pot (where there are no seeds). Then just close the plastic box and let the smoke fill it up.
Research is key in raising carnivorous plants! Though growing conditions are slightly different in other parts of the world due to the weather, there’s still plenty to be learned from more experienced growers.
If you want to learn more about Byblis, the International Carnivorous Plant Society has a great video all about Byblis and how to grow it!
If you want to read up on Byblis or other carnivorous plants, I recommend these pages:
I really hope that this guide encourages you to try growing Byblis, or other carnivorous plants! As long as you follow their requirements, you’ll find that they’re pretty easy to grow. For more information on Byblis, check out my other Byblis guide featuring questions I get the most often from new hobbyists.
You can also message me on Facebook or Instagram. I post plant content every day about learnings, experiments, and just the regular progress of the plants in my collection.
If you haven’t seen them yet, I have guides on how to prepare for your first carnivorous plant and how to grow other carnivorous plants like Venus flytraps and Byblis in the Philippines. You can check here for all my guides.
You can also check what carnivorous plants and gardening items I have for sale in the links below!
I sell Venus flytraps, sundews, pitcher plants, and more carnivorous plants in my online shop, all grown in my own little garden in Marikina. I also have pots, Maxsea fertilizer, and even some non-carnivorous plants available. For grow lights, shelves, and even water trays I use, you can check my Shopee affiliate link collection.
I ship nationwide, and customers can enjoy free shipping and a loyalty card.
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On February 22, Japan celebrates its annual Cat Day, also called Nyan Nyan Nyan Day for a rather cute reason: the Japanese word for the number 2 is ni, which, if you added a certain syllable, becomes the Japanese word for meow, which is nyan (think Nyan Cat!). With this logic, the string of two’s in Feb 22 becomes the English equivalent of meow meow meow!
While Japan definitely does love its cats, so does most of the world (including me, though I do love dogs better).
Whether you’re a bonafide cat lover or a simple cat appreciator though, we’ve put together a list of cat-themed items too cute not to tug on your purr-sonal tastes.
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They’re soft, they’re plushy, and if what you want is a squishy, kitty hug, they’re ready to keep you company. Buy one here.
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It’s happening!
One Punch Man Season 2!!
Illustrator Murata Yusuke (the artist behind the revamped art of One Punch Man) announched that a second season for One Punch Man is underway! He also adds that it’s possible that the series will air around November or December 2016 (Would make an awesome Christmas present, yes?), if the storyline goes well.
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Maybe it’s the cynic in all of us, or the emerging power of the Anti-Valentine (don’t quote me on that), that caused this interesting twist to occur. When and how exactly Valentine’s mixing with the undead started to make sense though, I don’t know.
In the context of ‘Til Death do us part, maybe there is some rationale into this eclectic mix. It is, after all, a truth universally acknowledged that both Pride and Prejudice and the zombie apocalypse (separately and together, maybe) are two of the most beloved concepts to have come out of the 20th and 21st centuries, respectively.
Who wouldn’t want more brains?
In Pride, Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ), ironically, Elizabeth and Darcy find love in each other–with a dash of death in the form of zombies, of course.
After Ozine Fest Anime Figure Special and Christmas Toycon, I realized something. Something that came up quite often in both cons. Something that pleasantly surprised me at first. Something that then escalated into producing surprisingly violent reactions.
That something—is the subject of Undertale keybies.
Specifically: why the Keybie Café doesn’t have any.
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There’s just something about cats. We’ve covered cat items, cat cafes, cat apps—well. Not cat apps.
I’ll say it again: I’m a dog lover, through and through, but while my heart goes out to wagging tails and wet kisses, the allure of soft, purring cats gets me once in a while. One excellent example is the cat app of utter cuteness that is Neko Atsume.
I can’t. Stop. Playing it. I mean, look at this adorable art style!!
All these adorable kitties!!
I may not watch as much anime as I once did (I went through my own weaboo phase, believe it), but I can name a few titles that don’t fail to make me feel like a high schooler again. Yu Yu Hakusho, Gensoumaden Saiyuki–these are a few of the titles I grew up with, and are so good that I can rewatch them now and feel nothing but happiness that I was able to watch them at all in a time where dial-up internet was the only thing available.
The age of anime CDs and DVDs. The struggle was real.
I’d happily rewatch those titles, and even reread their manga counterparts (which I’ve come to prefer doing, since manga offers a whole new dimension for story character portrayal), but you can only do so much with going through the same storylines more than thrice.
So imagine my utter glee when one of my most fondly remembered, absolute favorite anime titles is coming back–with a sequel!!
Natsuki Takaya, Fruits Basket’s mangaka, will be launching the Fruits Basket another sequel manga on the free “HanaLaLa online” website this September 4.
Image source: Anime News Network
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It started with toys with feelings, then moved onto bugs with feelings, then monsters, fish, cars, rats, robots, dogs, and even scotland with feelings–and now, we have feelings with feelings.
Pixar’s always been able to bring out the feels while delivering good jokes and amazing animation. The stories their movies tell onscreen are entertaining for children and grown-ups alike, and if the buzz about Inside Out hasn’t already given us enough hints, Inside Out’s just as awesome as we all thought it would be since the preview was released.
I personally love Disgust, and my brother has a soft spot for Sadness, but there’s something to love about all the little voices helping us all get through life.
Want a little Joy in your collection? Maybe a cute bit of Sadness? These Inside Out keybies are ready for your collections in our online store!
How are you feeling?
We also have a mini-keybie set with all 5 of the little voices in your head all together!
United we–Riley!
That said, did you know that there are scenes from the movie that were apparently not included in the final cut?
When in Manila shares several clips that weren’t in the movie–
Such as Riley’s first date!
