Carnivorous plants - Wild and cultivated! (Pic heavy)

[Hendre]

Hey all.

I am posting this here because they can go in fish tanks, but anyway. While busy at uni I have mostly moved away from aquaria and into the wild world of carnivorous plants, mostly Drosera, or sundews as they are commonly known. Generally rather easy to grow and quite attractive! Here is my current setup:

They all live in a peat mix, either 2:2:1 peat : silica sand : perlite or 1:1 sand : peat depending on the mix I had on hand at the time. A lot of them are still germinating from seed so not much to show yet. My favourite specimens so far are these Drosera capensis I collected while on field work:

The species is an easy grower and flowers often. I have other cuttings that I am busy propogating (Will detail on this later).

Cuttings rapidly produce wonderful plants, like this Drosera afra here:


I couldn't have been this busy just growing them, especially with the low numbers that I have. What else am I up to?

 

[Hendre]

I have spent a good deal of time this year traveling with an American Botanist to photograph, discover, and document wild carnivorous plants here in the Cape of South Africa, I have selected a few of my favourite photos that I sent for dropship printing:

This is a snapshot of the exploration, the most photogenic species if you will

It is hugely rewarding work as I have already discovered a potential new species and am introducing new forms to cultivation thanks to my permit. I will share more photos of this in future!

 

[Hendre]

If you want to grow them, here is some advice! This will not apply to all species, usually frequently cultivated ones
General conditions:

• Sundews like it wet and sunny in most instances
• Peat is crucial, you can also do peat free but need to feed intensely. Sphagnum is also great!
• Avoid fertilisers in media
• They need RO or rainwater without minerals
• They eat fish food!

You can also propogate them super easily through leaf cuttings!
1) Take the leaf and place it on wet sphagnum, new plantlets will sprout out! A sealed container helps!

Larger sprouts can be hardened into normal media and grown like normal sundews


Growing from seed is also straightforward!


That is all I have for now, check out https://www.carnivorousplants.org/ if you want to read further. Enjoy christmas y'all!

 

[Deadeye]

Very cool! I love carnivorous plants…I never had luck keeping them though. My lfs sells some, maybe I’ll give it a try again. I’ve always wanted to try sundew near my lizard cages to catch fruit flies.
You mentioned they can grow in aquariums. Probably a stupid question, but is that fully submerged or just out the top? I’m assuming the latter.
Merry Christmas!

 

[tlindsey]

I have spent a good deal of time this year traveling with an American Botanist to photograph, discover, and document wild carnivorous plants here in the Cape of South Africa, I have selected a few of my favourite photos that I sent for dropship printing:
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This is a snapshot of the exploration, the most photogenic species if you will

It is hugely rewarding work as I have already discovered a potential new species and am introducing new forms to cultivation thanks to my permit. I will share more photos of this in future!

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I never knew that parts of Africa had any carnivorous plant species. Thanks for sharing
It would be nice if you could add Venus Fly trap to your collection but I don't know if that will be permitted.

 

[FJB]

Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing and for the advise. I don’t have any but now I am tempted.

 

[jjohnwm]

Very cool...I love these things. Have only kept Venus flytraps, but we had both Pitcher Plants (a protected species) and Sundews growing near my cottage when I lived in Ontario. Amazing plants.

 

[aussieman57]

Really nice pics and write up. My wife has converted our back yard to all native plants which provide food & places for butterflies to lay eggs and caterpillars to eat. I don't think she would be happy if I planted some of these in the yard. Can they be kept indoors?

 

[Hendre]

Very cool! I love carnivorous plants…I never had luck keeping them though. My lfs sells some, maybe I’ll give it a try again. I’ve always wanted to try sundew near my lizard cages to catch fruit flies.
You mentioned they can grow in aquariums. Probably a stupid question, but is that fully submerged or just out the top? I’m assuming the latter.
Merry Christmas!

I use an aquarium as a little terrarium to germinate seeds or propogate the cuttings, I doubt they would enjoy the nitrogen and minerals of a regular aquarium. I keep 1-2" of water and put the pots in it

I never knew that parts of Africa had any carnivorous plant species. Thanks for sharing
It would be nice if you could add Venus Fly trap to your collection but I don't know if that will be permitted.

Africa has quite a lot! Mostly Drosera with some bladderworts (Utricularia) and corkscrew plants (Genlisea). Venus fly traps are common but I do not have much interest in them. I have academic interest in these for postgrad work, seeing as I'm almost done with my degree

Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing and for the advise. I don’t have any but now I am tempted.

It's a nifty group, there are some for everyone! Nepenthes pitcher plants are popular as they are more houseplant-like and are attractive.

Very cool...I love these things. Have only kept Venus flytraps, but we had both Pitcher Plants (a protected species) and Sundews growing near my cottage when I lived in Ontario. Amazing plants.

Very nice! It's awesome seeing them in the wild! Sarracenia are pretty

Really nice pics and write up. My wife has converted our back yard to all native plants which provide food & places for butterflies to lay eggs and caterpillars to eat. I don't think she would be happy if I planted some of these in the yard. Can they be kept indoors?

For sure! Check out nepenthes, can live in a windowsill. Drosera also look great under lights!

 

[jjohnwm]

Very nice! It's awesome seeing them in the wild! Sarracenia are pretty

Finding them in the field was always a cool experience. The Pitcher Plants were very local in specific small areas, and so uncommon that we became familiar with many tiny individual patches or even individual plants.

Sundews grew in great abundance only 20 meters or so from our back deck. They were so tiny that I never noticed them for the first couple of years we summered there! When I discovered them, I was ecstatic.

We also had considerable growth of aquatic Bladderworts in some quiet backwaters. I had this stuff in my fishtanks for years; always tried to observe the capture of Daphnia or copepods by the bladder traps...never saw it happen...