joossa's Carnivorous Plants

[coolnweird]

Ah! I see. Very good starting selection!
Do you have an unheated garage or storage shed? You could try that. I have little experience with alternative methods for dormancy. I've read people multch them in a bigger container when it's too cold out. Pine needles.
From what I know, giving them some decent airflow and not letting them get too dry or moist is key. I keep mine on the drier side during dormancy to avoid fungal issues. That's why people pretreat for fungus if using the fridge method.

S. purpurea ssp. purpurea is very cold hardy since it grows in more northern latitudes.

Sorry!! Probably doesn't help... I know it can be tricky.

I do have an unheated crawl space but wackily the access to it is underneath our pantry, so for logistical reasons I don't get down there a lot. Next winter I'll likely tough it out and take a few trips down to check temperatures.

No worries, you've been really helpful and I really appreciate you taking the time!!

 

[Charliemum]

Wow those plants they are amazing seen stuff like that on TV but didn't even occur to me I could grow them myself...any idea if that would be possible in the uk or will I have to keep them indoors? You have started something joossa now off to research the crap out of this My steatoda grossa happens to be called Lady Flytrap aka Venus ( named by Ungoliant) its a sign be rude not to grow one now

 

[rock]

I love how people just gush over Latin names here DD

 

[coolnweird]

Wow those plants they are amazing seen stuff like that on TV but didn't even occur to me I could grow them myself...any idea if that would be possible in the uk or will I have to keep them indoors? You have started something joossa now off to research the crap out of this My steatoda grossa happens to be called Lady Flytrap aka Venus ( named by Ungoliant) its a sign be rude not to grow one now

They can be grown anywhere if you're willing to buy grow lights! I'm sure there are people in the UK growing them.

 

[Charliemum]

I have grow lights for a lemon tree I have so not a problem for that , been looking today I think I will definitely take the plunge and get some they are to cool not to atleast try

 

[joossa]

I have grow lights for a lemon tree I have so not a problem for that , been looking today I think I will definitely take the plunge and get some they are to cool not to atleast try

Go for it! There are so many types of carnivorous plants that do well in different conditions. Do your research and see what may work best for you and the growing conditions you can offer. Sarracenia are my favorite becuase there are so many species and hybrids and above all, are extremely easy to care for in my outdoor conditions. A good book is The Savage Garden. I think Barry Rice also has multiple relevant books on growing as well.

 

[Charliemum]

Ty hun I shall look for that book and the author any info is definitely appreciated I did start looking up sp I could grow outdoors here n the uk and sarrancenias were on that list along with drosera, pinguiciula, Darlingtonias californica, and nepenthes, so I have a good range to check out and start with I will definitely get sarrancenias through as you have recommended them thank you again.

 

[schmiggle]

Barry Rice also has an excellent website

 

[GBBFreak]

@joossa Great stuff here!

I've got a few carnivorous, too (no pic at hand). D. capensis: alba form, store-bought from last yr, really thrivin' now, and normal red form, which I've grown from seed (1 yr ago now so they kinda look like tiny adults). Also have VFTs, they produced seeds last yr and I'm growin' gen2. And some pitchers, Sarracenia purpurea maybe? But they're very short, so I dunno, perhaps it's some hybrid.
Wish I could get some Nepenthes (say, N. rajah ^^) but they're probably expensive and not the easiest to grow... Too bad. :/

Oh, I believe your spiders would hate you if they knew you're growin' such plants. Haha

 

[Europus Gigantus]

Ah! I see. Very good starting selection!
Do you have an unheated garage or storage shed? You could try that. I have little experience with alternative methods for dormancy. I've read people multch them in a bigger container when it's too cold out. Pine needles.
From what I know, giving them some decent airflow and not letting them get too dry or moist is key. I keep mine on the drier side during dormancy to avoid fungal issues. That's why people pretreat for fungus if using the fridge method.

S. purpurea ssp. purpurea is very cold hardy since it grows in more northern latitudes.

Sorry!! Probably doesn't help... I know it can be tricky.

This is so interesting. I will probably get scolded for not using Google or the search function here, but, would you know of any good books that you could recommend? That, and a Venus Flytrap plant would make a great Christmas present for someone I know. Someone who can't keep these carnivorous plants alive! It sounds like YOU the OP could write a good book, even if just for the photographs! Anyway, really cool garden, just fantastic. Thank you for letting us see them.

 

[joossa]

This is so interesting. I will probably get scolded for not using Google or the search function here, but, would you know of any good books that you could recommend? That, and a Venus Flytrap plant would make a great Christmas present for someone I know. Someone who can't keep these carnivorous plants alive! It sounds like YOU the OP could write a good book, even if just for the photographs! Anyway, really cool garden, just fantastic. Thank you for letting us see them.

Yes! The Savage Garden by Peter D'mato and Growing Carnivorous Plants by Barry Rice. Enjoy!

 

[joossa]

Spring has sprung! And with that, my hungry plants are coming out of dormancy.

 

[Charliemum]

Spring has sprung! And with that, my hungry plants are coming out of dormancy.

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I have to ask what are the little tape numbers for?

 

[joossa]

I have to ask what are the little tape numbers for?

Oh! They are ID tags on the pitcher plant flowers. Over the last 5 or so weeks, the pitcher plants have flowered and I manually cross-pollinationed them to create hybrids. I use a Qtip to collect pollen from one flower from one plant and use it to fertilize the flower of a different plant. Each hybrid cross I made has an ID in a spreadsheet denoting the father (pollen parent) and the mother parent and each flower is tagged with the cross ID.

After being pollinated, the flowers spend all of spring, summer, and a little bit of fall growing and ripening the seed. In fall, I harvest and keep the seed in labeled envelopes or baggies with the ID numbers so I know exactly which parents the seed came from. I can then grow the seed out or trade or sell it with other growers letting them know the exact parents of the hybrid seeds.

During the time the flowers are receptive, I actually have to bag the flowers with light net bags. This keeps bees out of the flowers and prevents the bees from fertilizing them. If I don't bag them, bees will go flower to flower and fertilization and seed production will happen, but I won't know the parents for the seed. It's a free for all, haha. So controlled hand pollinating requires you to bag the flowers for a few days as they open and as they are receptive to being pollinated. You pollinate by hand, knowing exactly what plant the pollen came from. No playing "Who's the father!?" later on, haha.

Oh, and the plants bloom before growing their carnivorous pitchers (in most cases). They don't want to eat their pollinators before they have a chance to pollinate their flowers!

Check it out:

 

[Charliemum]

Oh! They are ID tags on the pitcher plant flowers. Over the last 5 or so weeks, the pitcher plants have flowered and I manually cross-pollinationed them to create hybrids. I use a Qtip to collect pollen from one flower from one plant and use it to fertilize the flower of a different plant. Each hybrid cross I made has an ID in a spreadsheet denoting the father (pollen parent) and the mother parent and each flower is tagged with the cross ID.

After being pollinated, the flowers spend all of spring, summer, and a little bit of fall growing and ripening the seed. In fall, I harvest and keep the seed in labeled envelopes or baggies with the ID numbers so I know exactly which parents the seed came from. I can then grow the seed out or trade or sell it with other growers letting them know the exact parents of the hybrid seeds.

During the time the flowers are receptive, I actually have to bag the flowers with light net bags. This keeps bees out of the flowers and prevents the bees from fertilizing them. If I don't bag them, bees will go flower to flower and fertilization and seed production will happen, but I won't know the parents for the seed. It's a free for all, haha. So controlled hand pollinating requires you to bag the flowers for a few days as they open and as they are receptive to being pollinated. You pollinate by hand, knowing exactly what plant the pollen came from. No playing "Who's the father!?" later on, haha.

Oh, and the plants bloom before growing their carnivorous pitchers (in most cases). They don't want to eat their pollinators before they have a chance to pollinate their flowers!

Check it out:
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That's pretty cool and I get it, I have to do the same with tomatoe plants not so I know who the pollination plant is but because I grow them in my living room window and there are no pollinators so to get the tomatoes I have to do it myself with a q tip I have tried growing them in my garden but the plants always get blight so I just keep them on my window where I start them off now not that I did this year, I am hoping to move soon so I didn't want to have to cart huge tomatoe plants with me Those flowers are stunning btw I didn't realise they flowered I always thought the pitchers were the flowers , learn something new every day

 

[joossa]

That's pretty cool and I get it, I have to do the same with tomatoe plants not so I know who the pollination plant is but because I grow them in my living room window and there are no pollinators so to get the tomatoes I have to do it myself with a q tip I have tried growing them in my garden but the plants always get blight so I just keep them on my window where I start them off now not that I did this year, I am hoping to move soon so I didn't want to have to cart huge tomatoe plants with me Those flowers are stunning btw I didn't realise they flowered I always thought the pitchers were the flowers , learn something new every day

Nice! Good luck with them. If you end up moving, hopefully you can have better luck with them outside. They sure do like full blast sun and lots of heat.

 

[Charliemum]

There is a radiator under where I usually grow them so I have np with heat and the window gets sun for a good 5 hours a day so I usually doo well getting 9ft plants that bend where the ceiling starts and more tomatoes then I can use , my mum is always happy to take the extra though she loves tomatoes, unfortunately my next place is a flat and does have a garden but it's a communal garden and you have to get written permission off everyone that lives in the block to grow or tbh do anything in the garden so I will probably just get alot of house plants instead, I was actually hoping to start with moss's and hopefully a few carnivorous plants I am partial to the sundews and Venus fly traps , I even have a steatoda called lady fly trap aka Venus