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  compost secrets
From: Robert Woodman <R.Woodman at lion.rbgkew.org.uk> on 1998.05.27 at 13:11:36(2193)
Dear All
As a new member to Aroid-L newsgroup I thought I'd better introduce
myself. My name is Robert Woodman and I work at the Royal Botanic
Gardens ,Kew, London in the Tropical Nursery. I am responsible for
growing many different plant collections in the nursery but my main
responsibility is the development of the Aroid collection.
I've been working in this section for a little over a year and a half and
have slowly found my feet when it comes to tropical plants. My previous
experences have been with hardy plants of the UK and 3 years in the
Alpine nursery also at Kew. So as you can imagine it's a whole new ball
game for me.
This is one of the reasons I'm writing, I'm hoping to find out what
compost mixes have worked for you and any cultivation techniques used so
that we can improve on what we are already doing. We have played around
with different mixes for sometime but due to a conservation policy
banning the use of peat products at Kew the alternatives haven't produced
the same results as before. If anyone out there is willing to part with
their secrets of compost mixes it will be greatfully appreciated.
Happy growing.

Robert Woodman

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From: TimothyA7 at aol.com on 1998.05.28 at 20:29:09(2203)
Robert,
Here in South Florida we have had great success with coir ( coconut )
products. It is available in 'peat' form. Granular like shredded fiber is
availeable,sizes of 'chunks' and long fibers. In one of these forms along with
plastic packing peanuts we can find a medium for any species. I'm sure you
have other amendments that can also be used with the coir to achieve the
needed ' compost'.
Tim Anderson
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From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 1998.05.28 at 21:48:17(2205)
Dear Robert,
Welcome to the group. Re: your querry, there was an article published ( or
maybe several!) in the back issues of Aroideana on various "soil" mixes used
by Aroid growers. Do you have access to these articles? There should be a
complete set at Kew, if not, let me know and I will do a search for you in
my set.
A question--why is peat (of any and all kinds?) now persona non grata at
Kew???
Good growing.
Cheers,
Julius
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