Carnivorous plants

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
dragonfish said:
Nice setup Homer. If mine survives I'd like to expand the collection.
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Thanks, and i find it seems to be easier to grow this way (at least for me personally), since i can control the amount of light it gets, where as by the window, it really depended on mother nature...

KellyFrancis said:
You're a model to us all, Homer! :clap:
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Hahahaha... thanks Kelly ;)

dragonfish said:
Would that be plastic or runway?

Sent from my SGH-T679 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
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I'm going to go with option A. Plastic for $100... since i'm definitely not fit enough to be a runway model ;)
 
I have grown Venus Fly traps and Pitcher plants before. Their growing medium has to be nutrient-less. Use a mixture of peat moss and perlite. Water with distilled water or rain water. However, if your tap is low in minerals you can mix it with distilled. Keep their growing medium wet at all times. Pretty much all carnivorous plants like lots of light/sun. They grow better outdoors and can handle a wide range of temps. Tropical varieties can't handle the cold like North American varieties. Try to know what species yours is. Don't try to force feed them either, chances are they will catch their own bugs. Trying to force feed them can actually kill them. That is pretty much it for general care.
 
petspoiler said:
I tried a few. they had excruciating deaths.
I'm pretty sure they do need high humidity., and something called a Green Thumb. even during my best green years they croaked. First, their little traps always turned brown after 'eating' :-/
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Going brown and dying after eating is normal. Supposedly after a trap closes 3 times it dies. That is another reason why not to mess with the traps and try to force feed them. These plants are well adapted to survive in poor soils and little nutrients. They catch bugs, but don't necessarily need them to thrive.
 
Great thread! :D

I love carnivorous plants. I've kept several cultivars of VFT, several species of Sarracenia, Nepenthes rafflesiana and several species of Drosera. I don't have any pictures in front of me unfortunately.

My favorite VFT was the one that got me kicked off on this spiel, a $2.99 Walmart special. It was fairly unhealthy and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it to thrive. Eventually I discovered a website that sold plants and a specieal "carnivorous plant soil", so I decided to give it a try. I bought a whole bunch of drosera, pitchers and dirt and potted it all up. That walmart VFT exploded! It kept cloning itself until I had a solid bush of mouthy leaves about 12" across and 8" high.

To care for the plants, I would put their pot in a watering try. I never allowed the watering tray to go dry. I used distilled water that I bought from the store, I went through about a gallon a week. I kept the plants in the most brightly lit, sunny window I could find in the house. They always thrived and had great color.

I miss having carnivorous plants, I'd like to have some again. I really want another VFT and another Nepenthes. I always liked the taste of the nectar on the Sarracenia, it was very sweet. If you got enough, it would make your tongue slightly tingly.

I'll look around and see if I can dig up some pics of my old plants.

Homer, yours look really nice! Do your Drosera have droplets? I don't see any in the pics.
 
I know right :D There are probably enough nutrients in there but not too many and there are always insects around :)
 
Chub_by said:
As if there are more nutrients than in soil...
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Generally your fish water is very high in nutrients, it's why aquaponics works so well for growing vegetables.
 
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