Anyone into Carnivorous Plants?

Redwood Ryan

Redwood Ryan

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Bought my first carnivorous plant today, the saddest looking Venus Fly Trap, from Lowes. It's a pitiful looking thing, like their mallsai. Before I flood Carnivorous plant forums, anyone here have any experience with these? I'm really curious as to how they work...
 
I've had a couple of those over the years, but they didn't last long...probably because I didn't really give them the conditions/attention they needed.

My favorites are pitcher plants. Some of those are incredibly beautiful. Some day (when I have time, LOL) I'd like to have a small collection. I did buy one of the tropical pitcher plants (nepenthes) last year in a moment of weakness, but my climate isn't really very good for it - they need pretty warm, humid conditions to really flourish.

Chris
 
coh said:
I've had a couple of those over the years, but they didn't last long...probably because I didn't really give them the conditions/attention they needed.

My favorites are pitcher plants. Some of those are incredibly beautiful. Some day (when I have time, LOL) I'd like to have a small collection. I did buy one of the tropical pitcher plants (nepenthes) last year in a moment of weakness, but my climate isn't really very good for it - they need pretty warm, humid conditions to really flourish.

Chris
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Thanks Chris. I'm hoping with my bright bright T5s that I'll be able to keep it happy. I've also got a Pitcher plant, but it's nothing spectacular. I've seen some incredible pictures of beautiful specimens, though.
 
I've had a venus fly trap on my window sill (east facing) for a year and a half now. It even flowered for me this spring.

They do like light. Mine gets a few hours every morning.
They need to be kept moist all the time, don't let it dry out. They live in swampy areas.
Also you MUST use distiled water. Everything I've read says the chemicals in tap water will kill them.
You don't need to fertilize, it can feed itself :D

They are pretty cool little plants good luck with it.
 
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Used to keep carnivorous plants for years before my family sprayed the deck they were on and unknowingly killed them (and a bunch of orchids too). Fly traps need slightly acid soil conditions, so a mix of one part peat to one part sand works well. Also, put one of those plastic trays you find in the garden section of lowes under the pot and keep about a half to one inch of water (distilled like mentioned before) to simulate bog conditions. Lastly, since they're North American plants, they do need somewhat of a cold dormancy period, but since you're in VA you can probably just keep it on your porch or in an unheated garage for the winter. I highly reccomend Peter D'amato's book if you're really interested in growing them - its like a bible for CP growers.
 
Nepenthes (alata x maxima)

I do a few Nepenthes in the light garden, they are not all warm & humid growers. Some like it cool and humid. They fall into 2 groups, lowland and highland Nepenthes. Hybrids between the 2 types are the best for growing in normal household temperatures.

They all want humidity. I have a friend with an entire greenhouse with nothing but Nepenthes. When he gives me a plant, it takes months to wean it off living in a constant 90% humidity and get it to toughen up and grow in 40-60% humidity. Majority will adapt to lower humidity, but it can take a while.

If you shop Nepenthes, majority of hybrids from the species maxima adapt really well to home growing conditions. Also alata hybrids are adaptable, and grow well, but unless the other parent was really colorful, alata hybrids can end up boring green. On my plant the intense color from the maxima totally took over. It really does look almost black around the peristome (the comb like edge to the pitcher opening)


I also have 3 Sarracenia leucophylla outside, they are allowed to stay out and freeze, once frozen, the pots go into a cooler, and get tucked in the shade to keep the frozen all winter. They are my only native pitcher plants. Well, actually native to the southeastern states. I have not picked up out only Illinois native pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurata.

Have not tried other CPs yet.
 

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Paradox said:
I've had a venus fly trap on my window sill (east facing) for a year and a half now. It even flowered for me this spring.

They do like light. Mine gets a few hours every morning.
They need to be kept moist all the time, don't let it dry out. They live in swampy areas.
Also you MUST use distiled water. Everything I've read says the chemicals in tap water will kill them.
You don't need to fertilize, it can feed itself :D

They are pretty cool little plants good luck with it.
Click to expand...

I have heard that fertilizing them will kill them.
 
Leo, I'm not sure which nepenthes I have, though the pitchers are mostly green. It suffered last winter indoors (very dry in the winter) and never managed to grow enough to produce new pitchers this summer...but it is still alive, somehow. I might try enclosing it in a plastic bag this winter to keep the humidity up.

Chris
 
Vance Wood said:
I have heard that fertilizing them will kill them.
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Could be. I've never fertilized mine. It flowered for me this spring and its always putting out new traps so it seems happy.


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Looks really healthy. Does it catch any insects? Or do you feed it?

Regarding fertilizer, here's a paragraph from the Carnivorous Plant Nursery (http://www.carnivorousplantnursery.com):

As a general rule, do not feed or fertilize your carnivorous plants. Grown under the conditions outlined in this flyer, your plants will be able to collect enough insects on their own to do well. Most carnivorous plants only need an insect or two a month in order to flourish. Of course, it is fine to demonstrate the unique trapping capabilities of these plants by using a fly carefully placed with tweezers. Never use raw meat or cheese, as large pieces will kill the traps. Freeze-dried insects from a pet shop, or a culture of wingless fruit flies provide an excellent source of nutrition. Carnivorous plants grown with no insect supplemental feedings will not flourish. Be careful and do not overdo it. Grow the plants in such a way that they have natural access to insect prey.
Some experienced growers have had success with the use of fertilizers. I do not recommend this for beginners. It is too easy to over fertilize and burn out a CP. In general any fertilizers that are used are diluted considerably. A 1/10 dilution is not uncommon. Most fertilization is with foliage spray varieties.
 
It caught a couple of spiders, a couple of small beetles and one or two other things this summer.

I have this plant at my office, on the window sill above my desk.

Good to know you can give them the freeze dried insects. I wouldn't think those would work too well.
 
I have a Venus Flytrap (from a box store like yours) that I've been keeping for a few years now. And here are some observations I've made about Flytraps:

They grow best when damp, not wet. I use small grain bonsai soil with 50% composted pine bark and water along with my bonsai.
They grow best with rain water irrigation. My tap water is ok, but leaves plant yellowish.
They like to be fertilized with organics like fish pellets or diluted emulsion.
They require dormancy. They are native to coastal North Carolina (southern). I let mine get several good frosts, then put it in the unheated garage with my deciduous bonsai.
The more insects your plant captures, the uglier it will be, as larger insects cause capture leaf to die.

I don't claim to be an expert, these are just my observations. My plant is growing well enough that in 2 growing seasons, it has divided twice, despite my numerous mistakes the first season.
 
Thanks all! Great comments and tips so far.

I think one of the things that surprised me the most was the fact that they aren't tropical. I thought they grew in some tropical foggy forest, but nope, right down in the Carolinas. I tried feeding mine a mealworm, but after seeing the plant struggle I removed the worm, I realized it was too big.

I noticed that a few of the traps have some sort of burn look to them, almost like half the trap died off. What I'm wondering is if those traps will ever recover, or if I should just remove them?

And when it comes to dormancy, how do I give one of these a dormant period? What is the minimum temperature it needs to go dormant, and how cold can it tolerate?
 
The traps have so many triggers (6 I think) then they die. There also may be a time limit. If the trap doesn't catch it gets replaced. They replace them by growing new ones from the center of the plant.

Mine is in the same pot/medium that I got it in. It is in peat moss and I water it 2x a week to keep it moist. They grow in peat bogs in the SE U.S.

The window sill its on gets pretty cool in the winter and it seems to stop growing then.
 
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Paradox said:
The traps have so many triggers (6 I think) then they die. There also may be a time limit. If the trap doesn't catch it gets replaced. They replace them by growing new ones from the center of the plant.

Mine is in the same pot/medium that I got it in. It is in peat moss and I water it 2x a week to keep it moist. They grow in peat bogs in the SE U.S.

The window sill its on gets pretty cool in the winter and it seems to stop growing then.
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Ah okay thank you. I'm wondering if I should just set this one on a windowsill for the winter instead of leaving it under lights. Hmm.

And this may be a dumb question, but are there any varieties of Fly Trap that get somewhat large? Not "Little Shop of Horrors" large, but just bigger than typical traps.
 
Redwood Ryan said:
Ah okay thank you. I'm wondering if I should just set this one on a windowsill for the winter instead of leaving it under lights. Hmm.

And this may be a dumb question, but are there any varieties of Fly Trap that get somewhat large? Not "Little Shop of Horrors" large, but just bigger than typical traps.
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According to the wiki, there are many varieties. How they vary, in terms of size or otherwise, I have no idea.
As far as I know, there aren't any large enough to eat anything other than small-medium insects. The way I see them packaged most of the time, I'm not sure how you would tell variety.
That would probably be a good question for a carnivorous plant forum.
 
I did join a Carnivorous plant forum, but that was a week ago and my account has yet to be activated by the admin, so I may have to find a new one.

I'm really looking into growing more kinds of plants under lights. I've got 22 T5 bulbs that are just waiting to make something bloom, or hunger for a bug.
 
I remember going to a dentist back in the mid 80's. This dentist had a very large carnivorous plant! I remember it being so big that it was able to eat a grown man the dentist fed it, of course he had to chop the body.....


:D

That may have been a movie, had a fun time in the 70's and get confused at times...


ed
 
coh said:
Leo, I'm not sure which nepenthes I have, though the pitchers are mostly green. It suffered last winter indoors (very dry in the winter) and never managed to grow enough to produce new pitchers this summer...but it is still alive, somehow. I might try enclosing it in a plastic bag this winter to keep the humidity up.

Chris
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I would recommend against a closed bag. They need a little air movement. A gold fish bowl, with the top open, or 1/2 open, or an aquarium with 1/2 or 2/3 of the top covered would be good. Damp moss for the bottom. This was a suggestions from "my Nepenthe guy".
 
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