Carnivorous Plants

[Outcast]

Anyone have experience with them?

I have recently decided to try Venus flytraps again and have set up somewhat of a mini-bog on my porch... right now I have 1 plant, waiting on 5 more to come in the mail, and have a few seeds sewn so hopefully I can get some from seed. I want to get various varieties in order to cross pollinate, in order to try to get my own varieties.

 

[AbsoluteApril]

do you have specific questions? I've had some before and my bestfriend has kept a variety for years, I'd be happy to ask her for info if she can help you out.
they are really cool.

They have some huge pitcher plants at the Berkely Botanical Garden, monsters!

 

[Focal]

Don't use tap water! I learned that one last year the hard way

 

[Outcast]

Just wanted to discuss them with someone, learn from their experiences and stuff, I had one when I was a child, and it died shortly after it flowered. This is my first time trying them again. I hope to get some Sarracenia, Darlingtonia, Cephalotus, and Heliamphora in the future, when I get my larger bog set up.

 

[Outcast]

Yeah I only used distilled. I think I killed my first VFT because I used tap water.

 

[WebSlave]

Connie and I are going to be setting up a small artificial bog and planting some insectivorous plants pretty shortly. We bought a DVD that looks pretty helpful in setting them up properly -> http://www.amazon.com/Grow-Carnivor...2&sr=8-1&keywords=grow+carnivorous+plants+DVD

The only thing we are worried about is the baby green anoles getting caught up in them. I'm sure the first time Connie sees a baby anole in a venus fly trap the entire garden will have a "Roundup event".

 

[Outcast]

Rich, I believe that most vertibrates that are small enough to get caught by VFT's are also strong enough to escape a majority of the time. Though I don't know about baby anoles.

Also, have you ever seen a group of Pitchers in the wild? I had the pleasure of seeing some on the Eglin AFB "wildlife reserve" while out Herping, back in 2006. I wish I still had the pictures of those. They were awesome.

I have also seen wild sundews near one of my cousin's ponds in Louisiana. I really hope that he still lives there next time I go visit, because I would love to get a specimen for my collection.

 

[WebSlave]

Actually there is a place due West of my home where there are FIELDS of pitcher plants. I know I've seen sundews quite commonly while out snake hunting years ago, but darn if I can remember exactly where. They were actually quite common along roadways in some areas. You would notice them by the red wash over the ground that was caused by the coloration of those sundews. These are the pad type, as I don't remember seeing the thread shaped sundews around here, anywhere. Up in New Jersey the thread type used to be very common in the bog areas up there.

I've read that there are supposed to be areas up here in north Florida where venus flytraps have become established, but I've never seen them myself. Of course, it's the kind of thing where I might have walked right past them but didn't even notice them while looking for herps instead.

 

[AbsoluteApril]

asked my friend if she had any advise to offer, this was her response:
"These are a type of plant I haven't had too much luck with. I have a Sarracenia, but it's not doing well. You might suggest he get a copy of "Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato. It's very through, and the guy that wrote it has a wonderful nursery devoted to carnivores. It's in CA, north of the SF bay. I might also suggest he find out if he should have let his flower--I know venus fly traps will die once they flower, and it might be the same with these.

Sorry I don't have more advice. I'm focusing on Nepenthes and Drosera."

 

[Outcast]

Thanks April.
I will actually look into that book. I have heard many good things about it.

I am actually in the proces of learning how to clone my VFT. If I am successful it would be awesome..LOL.

 

[WebSlave]

--I know venus fly traps will die once they flower, and it might be the same with these.

Hmm, that's interesting to know. How old do flytraps have to be before they will flower? I've wondered why I will see people selling flytraps a few years old, so now this has got me wondering if they are just trying to dump them before they flower and die.

 

[Outcast]

Hmm, that's interesting to know. How old do flytraps have to be before they will flower? I've wondered why I will see people selling flytraps a few years old, so now this has got me wondering if they are just trying to dump them before they flower and die.

From my understanding, you can keep them from flowering by cutting the flower stalk off from the plant. You can also use some rooting hormone on the cut end to the stalk and create a clone of the plant. I am actually trying to clone one of the ones that I have from Lowes Hardware, via leaf pullings. I found a youtube video on how to do it.

 

[WebSlave]

Connie and I mixed up a batch of perlite and peat moss today, and found some tubs at Home Depot to set up a little colony of insectivorous plants.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/202086...toreId=10051&N=5yc1v&R=202086173#.UWxSKHwnB8E

We dug out a hole in the ground so the lip of the tub sits pretty much flush with the ground. The hole is lined with horticultural fabric to try to keep grass and other plants from invading the tub through the drainage holes.

I'm not sure I did this right, but I drilled drainage holes two inches from the top so rainwater won't fill them to the brim. But I'm not sure if the holes are low enough. Not having ever looked at the root systems of sundews or flytraps, I don't know what depth the water level actually should be. I'm guessing the root systems should be rather shallow based on where they are found natively, but wouldn't be the first time that my logic would fail me.

So I'm going to order a few sundews and fly traps and just see how they do in that thing. Should get PLENTY of sun where we put it, and hopefully we'll get enough rain that we don't have to use our drinking stock of distilled water too much. Certainly we have enough bugs around here to get those plants fat and sassy. Heck, I could feed them the dead mosquitoes caught in the mosquito magnets for decades just from the batch I caught over the last several days.

 

[Outcast]

They are fun. I just noticed that one of my "Red Dragons" is flowering, and a leaf pulling that I did with one of the VFT's from Lowes is actually starting to get leaves on it. So far it seems as though I am doing things right. I may go ahead and let the red dragon flower, I have 6 more and can always do leaf pullings. I really want to self pollinate it and get some seeds to start. This way I will know that they are fresh seeds, instead of the crappy ones from Hobby Lobby.

 

[WebSlave]

If you ever find that video you mentioned concerning "leaf pullings", could you point me to it?

Are there any of the online sellers of insectivorous plants that you would recommend or I should avoid?

 

[Outcast]

http://www.flytrapcare.com/ <are the only people I have current experience with. I ordered a set of 5 of the "red dragon" VFT, they sent 7. They were so healthy that one of them is actually flowering, and they are quite young plants. They also have a forum attached to their store page. http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/

And, here is the thread with the video that I saw about leaf pullings. http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/cloning-flytraps-at-home-t18171.html

 

[WebSlave]

Checking out some videos about these plants....

 

[WebSlave]

Here's a few videos that show some propagation techniques for flytraps.

 

[LauraB]

I've been raising different carnivors for a few years now, so can highly recommend Jeff and Jacob at Sarracenia Northwest (www.cobraplant.com) as a source for quality plants and info. I was so thrilled with what I received and learned from them back I made them a "mascot" that went into one of their first E-books and their website. Spike, the flytrap, lol.

The Savage Garden is also valuable.

I don't raise my plants in a bog setting. All mine are in same-species tubs/containers as I've found it's easier to meet their individual needs that way. I always use long fiber sphagnum moss as well. And yes, absolutely distilled water. I haven't taken photos of mine for a long time, but here are a few.

 

[LauraB]

And yes, even though I love when my sarracenia flower, I always cut the early flower stalks off them and the flytraps to conserve the plants energy for foliage growth.

Here's an example of sarracenia flowers, though. Really cool.

Oh, and Spike, the former, likely retired mascot of Jacob and Jeff, lol.