Carnivorous plants

[hornet]

I was going to create a new thread for this but i think it would be easier to have all cp based discussion here, try and make the biggest thread in the whole of aps land lol. Anyway what mixes do you guys use? I have been using regular potting mix and the plants have been found but i unpotted one of my red leopard cuttings from last year and it had a fairly poor root system so going to pot it into probably either cocopeat/perlite or coco chips(orchid potting mix). What do you guys use, do you use different mixes for highland and lowland or same mix for both? I'm going to be getting a few highlanders which i will be growing in pure sphag in terracotta pots to keep the root systems cool. I was looking at a grow guide which says this area is suited to growing highland species so thought i would give it a shot, they should be fine as long as i keep the root system cool. Once this years cuttings are ready to pot up will experiment with a wide variety of mixes, see what works best

---------- Post added 18-Jan-11 at 07:59 AM ----------

If you didnt know you can store pollen quite easily so could do that next time you have a male in flower if no females are present, i think i may do that aswell and might offer it here in case someone wants to use it on their plants

 

[Radar]

Jumala: I normally do exactly that, I drive a hilux ute. On trips where I have the gf's company she has become quite tolerant of nursing plants the whole way home, otherwise I just hang them from the handbar and drive like a grandma.... :lol:

I definitely do not have the money or space to fulfill my wish list. We are in our own place now but the yard is small, I tend to grow mine 'around the house' anyway, as you'll see from the old photo's I've pulled from facebook. 2 of my previous houses have had large greenhouses, so I've had to cut my collection after moving away from both houses.

Kak1: That's a nice little lowii x campanulata, I love watching them develop from something this size. I've always wanted a rajah, I love the look of the pitchers, but I don't think I would be able to provide the right conditions.

Hornet: I too have one of those neph pots from bunnings, my pitchers appear to be showing alot more red above the waterline then yours though, but they are grown basically open to the world (and the bigger pitchers are the ones showing colour). The seedlings are absolutely powering along with our summer up here.

Photo time. These are terrible, terrible random old shots that I've pulled from one of my old online albums. Some plants are upstairs in an enclosed veranda (old Queenslander house) and some are downstairs in the downstairs bathroom window. These have all been re-potted and grown quite a bit since the photo's (about..2 years old?) Have some other photo's floating around here somewhere too.

 

[hornet]

Hornet: I too have one of those neph pots from bunnings, my pitchers appear to be showing alot more red above the waterline then yours though, but they are grown basically open to the world (and the bigger pitchers are the ones showing colour). The seedlings are absolutely powering along with our summer up here.

I have mine in the greenhouse, i prefer to have smaller plants protected which would explain lack of color but i might put it out in full sun to see how it colors up. Should separate them aswell, they probably wont grow as well all crowded like they are

 

[Radar]

Hornet, the smaller pot in the second photo is a couple of the seedlings separated out, I gave the rest away. This photo is more recent, but they are due for separation. If I had a close up you'd be able to see the colour a bit better. The large pot beside it has 2 plants, the smaller being a ..er..condom plant ...that had recently been shifted dramatically and lost all it's pitchers. You may be able to see the new ones coming through, they are a bit different in shape to the ones from bunnings, although Im useless with taxonomy so I can't really weigh in on whether it's a ventrata or not.

And yes, that is about as short as my grass gets during the wet season...

Edit: Just looked at those photo's and they are uselessly small on here. Just installed some new software and my techtarded brain is struggling almost as much as my 18th century laptop, lmfao.

 

[hornet]

I believe the bunnungs plants i got were ventricosa as they have named ventricosa in now and they appear identical to my plants i got previously

 

[Radar]

Cool, about time they started putting names on stuff, lol.

 

[hornet]

what mix are you using? Your plants look great, if you ever have any cuttings spare let me know

 

[Radar]

Nothing too scientific, I just get a 12L bag of dendrobium orchid mix, throw about 5 or 6 handfuls of vermiculite and 2 of perlite in, mix it all up and wet it before planting. I never stressed to much over ratio's, it just looks and feels right for what the plant needs, if that makes sense?

Something interesting to note, I know fertilizing your neps is supposed to reduce pitcher production, but I've found a little bit of seasol powerfeed run through the pot at the start of summer sends some of them bloody bonkers. The second last photo only had 4 pitchers a few weeks before that photo was taken, and it went nuts after a drink of that stuff, the new lowers got larger by 50% and it started producing uppers with proper tendrils, which it had never done before. Have a jar underneath, catch it, and run it through a few times to give the plant a good drink, then keep using the same stuff and do your other plants. Just make sure it is realllly dilute or you may burn the roots, it's pretty potent stuff.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Thanks for everyones suggestions, I have taken the first steps and made my purchases, they are not exactly what had been suggested but I think they are pretty close, I purchased some seeds- VFT "tall red", Drosera spatulata, Drosera stolonifera and Sarracenia vinosa.
I also purchased a Nep ventricossa and an unidentified VFT.
Just waiting for them all to arrive and looking forward to the challenge of growing from seed 

 

[kak1]

Hornet - I use two different mixes although I am looking at creating a few more to test.
I don't use potting mix only because Neps require plenty of loose area around their roots for air flow. Potting mix however does not offer this. On the other hand dendrobium orchid mix does.

The two main mixes I use are 100% pure long fibre sphagnum (do not cut it at all) and that is used for the majority of my plants. The other is a dendrobium orchid mix with some perlite thrown in. That mix is used for hardy common hybrids such as the N. miranda and any of my alata's. I have a huge bag of perlite out the back but it does not get used too much because I predominately use the LFS. If I come up to pick up some cuttings I could bring you a heap if required.

I too use terracotta pots for highlanders however orchid baskets are also suitable as they allow alot of air movement. As for the pollen I usually store it in the fridge and like yourself will offer it to other members If I don't have a female in flower. Let us know how your ventricosa progresses.

Geck82 - Sounds great. Make sure you stratify the Sarracenia seed before sowing. VFT are easy as to grow from seed but be patient as they can at times take a while to sprout. N. ventricosa are great plants and easy to grow. You best be careful or you'll catch the bug soon lol.

Rednut - I love to watch my plants grow from little plants that arrive in the mail to large flourishing plants producing uppers. Nothing excites me more than finding out what the uppers look like by growing them myself as photos don't always show the true colouration etc.

My most exciting moment at present is watching the formation of a pitcher that is growing on my lowii x ampullaria x mira. The shape and colouration should be brilliant. How big is your lowii x campanulata? Rajah are a nice plant and hopefully one day you will have one. I am expecting an hamata soon.

Thanks for posting your photos. Please keep us updated on your latest editions from EP. The condom plant or N. ventricosa is quite nice and easy to grow. Wouldn't want to use one as a condom though lol.

-----------------

Now on the topic of FERTILIZING. Never once did I think such a controversial subject would be discussed on this forum and you should be ashamed Rednut lmao. Well seriously this has been a hotly contested debate and something I am working on right now. I am devising a number of mediums for my use that will allow for the plants to be fertilized and then flushed just as easily the next day. LFS breaks down or goes slimy when fertilizer is added. I only use it on my common plants to see how I go. So far everything has worked well.

Some use coffee for fertilizing however I use seasol at less than a quarter of the reccomended rate on a fortnightly to monthly basis. When used properly large leaves and pitchers are produced. The day after fertilizing I flush the pot with straight RO water to prevent root burning etc. If too much fertilizer is used the plant may not cope and keel over and die or not grow any pitchers.

Some species apparently do not do to well with fertilizers at certain ages such as N. sibuyanensis which is said to dislike fertilizing when young. Thanks for sharing your fertilizing guide.

 

[Jumala]

Kak - I would be interested to see the discussion link for the eddy cross like mine - thanks Like I said ..... according to the label that was on it at the nursery it was an eddy x burb but we all know how misleading they can be at times. Fingers crossed it was right. The raff was a plant that I lost when someone was housesitting for me - before I set up my hydro system.

My plants are in pure spag moss (long strands) however I do have a couple in coco chips (these are the ones from pritch).

Fertilizing ....... well a trick I was told to getting big pitchers (on the species that naturally have large pitchers to begin with lol) was to add a couple of drops of MILK into the pitchers can't say I've tried it because it just sounded WAY to weird to me!!!
My recirculating water is a tad green (oops) as can be seen from the photos so there is definately a nutrient bloom going on in there. In the tank there are some pots of cryptocorynes and a water lily. Obviously the water lily isn't exactly happy with the water flow constantly bashing it every day hence the no leaves at the waters surface. I haven't put any fertilizer in the water for the aquatic plants for fear of what it might do to the neps! I will have to admit though to giving the big ones the occasional grasshopper that I catch eating plants in the greenhouse lol

For the RO water, are people buying it or making it themselves? I'm curious because I have a system myself from having marine tanks. I have considered draining my sump tank and filling it with RO water but have to admit I just haven't gotten around to doing it

 

[hornet]

Fertilising seems ok depending on what you use, i have been hitting mine with orchid ferts which seems to have greatly reduced pitcher production, mainly on red leopard, i have heard though that organic ferts, as rednut said seasol, are normally great, worm tea, fish emulsion, seaweed emulsion etc etc so i will be trying that aswell when i have cuttings to experiment on.

 

[Jumala]

An interesting observation on fertilizing VFT in Cindy's book is that she noted it created deformed teeth! She applied a weak solution of diluted orchid fertilizer onto the underside of several traps using a cotton bud. The newest traps produced had deformed teeth - they were abnormally curved over!

 

[hornet]

My cephalotus arrived in the post today, its only a tiny plant but there are already a few wee little pitchers on it, cant wait till it gets some more size on it, post pics soon

---------- Post added 19-Jan-11 at 11:12 AM ----------

 

[Jumala]

Wow that is a wee little plant that's for sure Will be interesting to see the pitchers develop. Congrats on your new addition *jealous*

 

[hornet]

at first i thought it had tiny baby pitchers on it but after doing research they are what develops into the pitchers so lets hope they get big enough to see lol

 

[Jumala]

well the glass of water experiment starts today ... I took a piece of Black Dragon and put some slits in the bottom section about 15mm long. This is how it was shown in the book ...... we will see ....

 

[chrisso81]

Hey guys, I have been reading this thread with great interest but also a degree of sadness. None of these beauties could be kept in Melbourne could they? I have a shadehouse for orchids that houses all my dendrobiums, cymbidiums and dockrillia, but these are all species that can handle the colder climate. That said, I have seen a stunning pitcher plant in a local nursery, but its wholesale only (closed to the public) so I can't just go in and bug them about how they keep it. Venus flytraps are good and all, but when you compare them to some of the Neps you guys are keeping they pale in comparison!

 

[hornet]

you have a huge choice down there, mainly in sundews, butterworts, bladder worts and sarracenia's but i'm sure there would be a few highlanders that you could grow down your way, i have a few mates in melb who grow cp's so will see what they grow

 

[chrisso81]

Cheers hornet, if you could sus that out it would be greatly appreciated! I have no qualms about moving them inside over winter if that 's what is required! The missus would be right into that compared to the frogs, huntsmans, stick insects, snakes and everything else I keep inside!