Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts

[schmiggle]

Possibly related to the 'ease' of false vivipary in CP- Drosera and Pinguicula are especially amenable to very simple/basic cloning methods. Simply pull leaves from Pinguicula and set on moist medium. Drosera do quite well from cuttings from just about any part of the plant. Supposedly root cuttings give good results also. Haven't read up on what methods work well with Dionaea, apparently it's rather easy also.

Most plants actually are. It's one of the easiest ways to propagate most leafy succulents. Plant development is generally quite flexible; a major limitation is usually the availability of water in a cut leaf, which is why it works so well for succulents. For some cacti fragmentation is a primary means of reproduction.

I've seen the VFT study. Very cool and very elegant work. Stylidium is thought to do something similar.

 

[Thekla]

Hi guys,

I'm late to the party but I planted my first Drosera seeds about a month ago... and they have germinated!



I have absolutely no idea yet of what they are exactly as I got a mix of seeds...
One of them is looking very peculiar (if it's even one of the seeds germinating or something else entirely):



I've never been a plant person but with having them grow quite well in my vivariums I became a lot more interested. And seeing those pesky fungus gnats circling my vivs I set my eyes on these beautiful carnivores to maybe help me control these little annoying buggers.

 

[Arthroverts]

Finally got the grow tent up! Hopefully the large Nepenthes that didn't fit in my small 3 gallon grow tank and have been languishing in this light and humidity deprived winter will start to put on some size...


Top rack devoted to CPs (at least for now), with the lower ones for the various other terrarium plants I have. Might try and put some of my roach bins in here too for the warmth once I get it dialed in.


It still looks, I dunno, empty...

In related news, I just put my Sarracenia by the window for its dormancy, to be soon followed by the VFT in the picture. It was a decent 2019 year in terms of growing, and the collection continues to grow whenever I'm not spending money on invertebrates, ha ha. Probably going to try and add some more Nepenthes to the mix, along with some Drosera and Pinguicula here in the new year, but who knows what I might find?

Tips, tricks, suggestions, have-to-have plant species, etc. are all welcome.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[aphono]

Nice set up and collection. That's a fine looking Pinguicula, it shouldn't be so shy in the group pic!

Recommend Drosera capensis. Super easy, not so tiny you have to put your face in there to see them yet doesn't really take up so much space either. The dew adds visual appeal also. I'm surprised by how much I've become a fan of these. Been on a collecting spree with so far: typical, alba, wide leaf and Hercules x self- the seller said there was no visual difference between these and the Hercules parent. Hope to pick up a Big Pink to round out the capensis collection.

As for Nepenthes- how about 'Suki'? Seems to be a super easy hybrid and does well in the whole range of growing conditions. Haven't read much on their eventual size, they seem to be a moderate size and might fit in there pretty well?

I recently learned Pinguicula are amenable to growing on moist bark and boulders that wick up water- semi epiphytic if you will. When I learned about that, my first thought was trying them on wall mounted cork flats or large pieces/rounds. The tricky part would be keeping these consistently moist though. Anyways, an idea if you wanted to try putting up a little board or a cork bark piece leaning in there..? Or little baskets/pots hanging off the posts.

Some of the Sarracenia that's been outdoors since late summer just started to grow those odd looking growth that's more like a blade rather than a leaf. No idea if that's a normal part of their growth cycle or??

 

[Arthroverts]

That's only because its your Pinguicula and you have to satiate your desire to get it with photos until I deliver it !
(for anybody totally lost, @aphono and I are not complete strangers talking online...)

Anywho, I'd like to get some Drosera, but, I dunno, capensis seems kinda plain to me, although I do like the "alba" and "red" varieties. I prefer the species with larger leaves such as D. "Floating", cocciaculis, adelae, spatulata, hamiltonii, etc. Might also like to try out some Australian species like D. broomensis.

N. "Suki" is on my list already , as is N. "Song of Melancholy" x [(lowii x veitchii) x boschiana]-white, N. ventricosa "Denver" x spectabilis "Giant" (incredible striped peristome with red speckled pitchers), and I just discovered N. adrianii x maxima, though from what I hear it is actually spathulata x maxima.

It has been suggested to me before to make a sort CP bark piece, with Nepenthes vining over it and Drosera growing in little pockets with pings sprouting out here and there. Definitely something I'd like to do, though a suitably sized piece of cork bark can be expensive, ha ha. We'll see.
I believe @woodie has actually made something similar with Pinguicula growing on a clay back wall of a vivarium.

I believe that is natural for Sarracenia to put out those kind of weird winter leaves after the growing season is over, though someone with more experience should correct/clear me on that.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[pannaking22]

In a crazy twist, I found a Nepenthes at the local Lowes tucked away in the back of the indoor plant section. Didn't buy it (yet) since I'm not sure I can provide what it needs. The windows of my apartment face the wrong way, so light becomes a big issue. I've got some Sarracenia that are weathering it like champs though, so maybe it's doable? I don't know how I'd go about providing supplemental lighting since I don't have a ton of space, but I could probably rig something up.

 

[woodie]

Have seen some N. ventricosa at Lowes lately. Here is the final initial planting of Mexican gypsum cliff terrarium with Selaginella lepidophylla, Pinguicula nivalis and some Mamillaria sp. cacti from same region

 

[woodie]

 

[woodie]

The pings and Selaginella are in their dormant state for the dry winter. In March will resume watering and they will open up and turn green

 

[Arthroverts]

@pannaking22, I've found that my Nepenthes hybrids are the toughest CPs I've raised, surviving drying out, poor lighting, bad ventilation, etc. Naturally they will eventually succumb to it but they've outlived my Drosera and a Sarracenia that were being kept under the same conditions (this was during the aforementioned terrarium crash which I've since told myself not to let happen again). Granted these are all pretty easily raised hybrids of tough species, but still.
I have a Lowes Nepenthes (third largest and closest to the front plant in the photo), and it grew from the size of the smallest Nepenthes to the size it is now in a matter of a few months, all the while pitchering like crazy.

@woodie, as always you never cease to amaze with your setups...

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[schmiggle]

I don't know how I'd go about providing supplemental lighting since I don't have a ton of space, but I could probably rig something up.

I use very bright LED bulbs in normal lamp settings. It seems to work fine.

 

[woodie]

On a note about the Nepenthes, I have found that most intermediates and highlanders will grow well in bright conditions with household temps and humidity. As long as the substrate stays moist I get pitchering only get pitcher burn when they dry out. Pretty resilient. Lowlanders however seem to really do best with the higher humidity and temps.
A good site to check would be to google search "Nepenthes around the house", That guy has grown hundreds of types with no special conditions.

 

[Sunset]

Th

Hello all, I am looking for some fellow carnivorous plant enthusiasts to get help and advice from in the future, as well as to share some online resources that I have found invaluable in my carnivorous plant journey so that those just starting out have a collection of info to look through (because people use Arachnoboards for everything, not just arachnids ).
While my collection remains small (2 small Nepenthes hybrids, 1 small Sarracenia hybrid, 1 Dionaea muscipula "Red Dragon"; I lost both of my small Drosera and and my other Sarracenia after a terrarium failure), I hope to expand it further soon! My dream is to one day pollinate my own Nepenthes and get seeds to plant; I'm a long way off from that though. What are your carnivorous plant goals?

Some online resources I've found to be invaluable:
https://www.carnivorousplants.co.uk/
This site has awesome calculators to figure out optimal temperatures for Nepenthes hybrids, interviews with experienced hobbyists and growers, as well as offering interactive guides for Sarracenia, Nepenthes, Dionaea, the chest freezer method for ultra highland Nepenthes, and how to create a Raspberry Pi terrarium controller.

https://www.youtube.com/user/PredatoryPlants/videos
Predatory Plants official YouTube channel, which provides various helpful tutorials, mostly for Nepenthes, but also for other genera. Interesting info on hybrids as well. At their main website they have small care guides and sell a wide variety of plants as well.

https://www.californiacarnivores.com/apps/help-center
This site has care sheets and info on a lot of the more obscure carnivorous plant genera, such as Byblis and Darlingtonia. They also sell carnivorous plants.

https://www.carnivorousplants.org/
Huge amount of information on everything carnivorous plant related from hobbyists around the world. Propagation, conservation, care, soil, lighting, water, feeding, and anything and everything carnivorous plant related can be found here.

https://carnivorousplantnursery.com/
Many articles about plant husbandry and conservation. They also sell a wide variety of plants.

And that'll do it for now. If you have some sites or blogs that have helped you in your carnivorous plant journey, please share them!

Thanks,

Arthroverts

theres a lot of groups on facebook