Carnivorous plants
- Thread starter dragonfish
- Start date
Great thread!
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.
Thanks... yeah they do have droplets, but probably coz the pics were taken on my phone you can't really see them...
But yeah, i used to use the trick of keeping there tray soaked in water as well, but sometimes i'd forget to water it for a few days and it starts to look a little wonky, so i decided to do a daily spray instead of leaving a soaking tray...
Yup, some people even mix their own substrates using some types of dried moss, pearlite and some other material i can't remember which, so that it drains water well enough yet is very poor nutrient wise...
Thanks
You gotta understand the biology of these plants and where they come from. And also how they evolved to survive. Get more educated on it before attempting to own these plants.
There is such thing as soil, and soil-less substrate. They thrive in peat moss and perlite which is NOT a soil. Calcium, magnesium, iron, and other nutrients in your water would be too much for the plants. Do you use soft water in your tanks? Because that is required for these plants.
Carnivorous plants are some of my favorite. Currently have 12 nepenthes a mix of lowland and intermediate, a heliamphora, cephalotus and 2 drosera species. Getting some seeds shipped in and am going to try and grow some neps from seeds. Would also like to track down some bromeliads classed as carnivorous, brocchinia and catopsis.
Most of my CP's are grown in terrariums to maintain the higher humidity levels that they prefer.
Most of my CP's are grown in terrariums to maintain the higher humidity levels that they prefer.
Picked up that monstrosity recently. Its a Nepenthes alata. It has five plants in it, two adult cuttings and three younger clones that have split off. The larger pitchers are 6-7".
I found this thing at the grocery store, unlabled, for $12.99. Seemed like serendipity to me so I snatched it up!
