My carnivorous plants

[Benurmanii]

Decided I'm going to make a thread for just my carnivorous plants, but also be a thread for those who have questions about the plants I grow, or anything general about carnivorous plants others are wondering about.

Here are some quick, lazy pics of my indoor grow setups, plus some Nepenthes seedlings, Pinguicula cubensis, and G. lobata x flexuosa being propagated underwater via flower stalk.

 

[HybridReplicate]

Killer collection. What/how do you feed them? I secretly hope it involves releasing insects into the enclosure to be lured by the plants. Do you not keep flytraps or are they just over wintering?

I had a fascination with & kept carnivorous plants as a kid, but entirely forgot about these wonderful little creatures. I'm suddenly inspired to create a bog terrarium to grow a small variety. Any specific recommendation of plants that have similar requirements that could be grown together in an enclosure? Any experience with LED grow lights? I have a 600w MH grow light that' s sitting in storage but won't exactly need that unless I suffer a sudden proliferation of plants.

 

[Benurmanii]

Thanks! The only thing I feed my plants is liquid orchid fertilizer. The outdoor stuff (Venus Fly Traps, Sarracenia, temperate Drosera, and stuff that goes outdoors for part of the spring and/or summer), they all catch their own food. During the height of summer, my VFTs will only have a few traps open at time, because all the others are digesting prey.

I keep my VFTS outdoors year-round, I got some non-detailed pics I will post soon. Drosera (Sundews), I believe, are the best candidates for terrarium life; many of the readily available species in the US dont mind undrained media, and are not generally demanding. Of course, you can grow more stuff in terrarium if you don't plan to make it a planted terrarium. That light is super strong, and should support many varieties of different carnivorous plants, being that the vast majority have high light requirements.

 

[Benurmanii]

Here are the pics of the outdoor stuff. Pretty much everything pictured is currently dormant. All the stuff on the table is kept outdoors year round, except for one large pot that currently looks like just a bunch of moss. In there is P. chilensis, which is a cold temperate species of Pinguicula that I keep outdoors fall-spring. The box with a mesh lid is an enclosure I made to keep the hibernacula-forming cold temperate Pinguicula in, as the hibernacula and gemmae they produce are designed to be popped about and dispersed by rains. Of course, I want to keep them in their pots! All the cold temperate Pinguicula will be moved inside during the summer, as I can't seem to grow them well outside once it gets into the high 80s. Of course, I may have better success if I used a shade cloth during the heat, but I go full sun or go home

 

[Benurmanii]

The D. latifolia that was my profile pic last year is now flowering!

H. heterodoxa x minor

P. kondoi (a.k.a. reticulata)

D. spatulata x ultramafica (or perhaps the other way around)

B. filifolia x guehoi

D. multifida f. extrema can get pretty out of hand

P. lusitanica

 

[schmiggle]

Gorgeous as aways, and very impressive. I love your byblis--are you planning to collect seed (given that they're annual)?

 

[Benurmanii]

Gorgeous as aways, and very impressive. I love your byblis--are you planning to collect seed (given that they're annual)?

Thanks for the compliments!

I managed to kill off my B. liniflora before it lived a year, I believe this was due to a combination of things, too small of a pot with 20+ plants in it, way too low of temps (it would not produce seed because of this, even the last flower on my P. lusitanica plants failed to produce seed due to low temps), so I'll have to hope that the seeds of B. liniflora I got about 2 months ago germinate soon. Most of my Byblis are B. guehoi, and I do have multiple clones of those (need different clones to get seeds), but again, despite getting lots of pollen, no seeds were ever produced. So unless they all happen to somehow be the same clone, I will need to wait till late spring or summer to get seeds. Fortunately, I have sources for B. guehoi, so if I lose some before temps get warm, I can purchase some more and try again. The pictured Byblis hybrid never seems to really open its flowers, so I don't know if I'll attempt pollinating it.

Sorry for that rant, heheh, my troubles with my lack of Byblis seed has been one of my vices as grower.

 

[schmiggle]

No rant, all sensible. I read for certain annual sundews that if they don't dry out they can live to be at least biennial, not sure about byblis.

 

[Benurmanii]

No rant, all sensible. I read for certain annual sundews that if they don't dry out they can live to be at least biennial, not sure about byblis.

I think Byblis tend to stick well to their annual clocks, but I believe they can live a little longer than a year if kept warm and wet. Unfortunately for the liniflora, I have only recently set up a grow area that doesn't see nights below the low 60s during winter.

 

[Benurmanii]

Sorry for the second absence. End of the school term is always a bit busy. Anyways, here are a few photos I took over spring break, hope you enjoy them. I even got one of a Phiddipus audax that was hanging out by my temperate Pinguicula (they are too big to get caught, for the while at least).

 

[SDCPs]

Very nice! Is that a regia in the first pic?

 

[Benurmanii]

Very nice! Is that a regia in the first pic?

D. spiralis

 

[SDCPs]

WOW!

 

[schmiggle]

Lovely as always. Are the plants in the third picture Pinguicula?

 

[Benurmanii]

Lovely as always. Are the plants in the third picture Pinguicula?

Yep, P. longifolia, red form.

 

[PanzoN88]

Sorry for the second absence. End of the school term is always a bit busy. Anyways, here are a few photos I took over spring break, hope you enjoy them. I even got one of a Phiddipus audax that was hanging out by my temperate Pinguicula (they are too big to get caught, for the while at least).

Seeing these pictures is starting to make me consider trying my luck at working with carnivorous plants.

 

[Kodi]

I'm trying my hand at growing VFTs from seed. Any beginners tips?

 

[TheGhostOfAkina]

What got you into keeping these? I've always enjoyed these types of plants but don't have the ability to keep/take care of them

 

[schmiggle]

What got you into keeping these? I've always enjoyed these types of plants but don't have the ability to keep/take care of them

Are you sure? Some of them are remarkably easy. All it takes to grow, say, drosera capensis is some peat/sand soil, constant rain or distilled water to stand in and bright light. If you're growing sarracenia or temperate sundews, the only addition is winter dormancy.

 

[Benurmanii]

I'm trying my hand at growing VFTs from seed. Any beginners tips?

First and foremost, don't buy seeds from Amazon or Ebay, the majority of the time they are fake. When growing VFTs from seed, you should sow them on some sort of nutrients free acidic media, either a mix of peat with some sort of aggregate, such as sand or perlite, or just pure long fibered sphagnum moss. Make sure you have strong lighting.

What got you into keeping these? I've always enjoyed these types of plants but don't have the ability to keep/take care of them

I became interested in growing carnivorous plants when I found out nearly all of them are endangered!

Are you sure? Some of them are remarkably easy. All it takes to grow, say, drosera capensis is some peat/sand soil, constant rain or distilled water to stand in and bright light. If you're growing sarracenia or temperate sundews, the only addition is winter dormancy.

Don't forget temperate Pinguicula! (My favorite CPs). I think the main thing that prevents people from caring for CPs is lack of sufficient lighting, a lot of people don't have the money to put towards good fluorescent or LEDS lighting, and a lot of people live in places that don't have much natural lighting.