Carnivorous Plants

[Laserbeak]

Originally Posted by Andrew

That's probably a safer mix, IMO. Just be careful if the l sphagnum starts to grow too vigorously as it can smother low growing plants like VFTs and rosetted Drosera.

Oh the sphagnum is long dead. I made a mixture mostly out of the NZ sphagnum and perlite, but I did add a bit of the diatom paph mix too. I sowed the seeds for giant yellow pitcher plants in it, so let's see what happens!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Laserbeak

Yeah, we're a coastal city and the Atlantic Ocean keeps us warmer than you guys inland.

Which makes sense. I think part of my problem too, was I had a floor mate from Buffalo whilst in university.

[Subrosa]

Don't worry about sphagnum smothering Sundews. I got my all my Drosera rotundifolia in a bag of live sphagnum. I was picking them out for weeks after I spread the moss around.

[JungleMel]

Just an FYI, I'm not sure how it is around the rest of the country, but I ended up having to go to 2 different Lowe's the other day (1st one was out of what I needed) and both had just gotten in new shipments of those "Death Cube" carnivorous plants in the clear plasic boxes. If you want to try cp's for cheap you may want to check out your Lowe's. The larger ones are only $10, not sure about the smaller ones.

They had the usual Venus Fly Traps and Sarracenia purpurea, but I found one Nepenthes sanguinea. Took that one home the other day, it's an intermediate growing species, so I'll have to see how it'll do in Florida. Figured it would be better off with me than dying on a rack in Lowe's, and not a species I've tried before. I have seen Sundews and Cobra Lillies in those boxes in the past too.

[Skycat]

Originally Posted by JungleMel

Just an FYI, I'm not sure how it is around the rest of the country, but I ended up having to go to 2 different Lowe's the other day (1st one was out of what I needed) and both had just gotten in new shipments of those "Death Cube" carnivorous plants in the clear plasic boxes. If you want to try cp's for cheap you may want to check out your Lowe's. The larger ones are only $10, not sure about the smaller ones.

Smaller ones are $5. Those are what I usually get.

For $10, there are also those kits that have dormant bulbs of a flytrap and a Sarracenia rubra. I got one of those kits one time. They're really fun. Wouldn't mind getting another sometime (but I REALLY have to figure out a better dormancy plan before getting even more plants that will need it).

[Laserbeak]

How deep do the roots of carnivorous plants go? I've appropriated a large planter outside to use for them, and need to know how deep the soil needs to be. I'll fill in the bottom with styrofoam peanuts or just perlite or something. -- oh and I'm going to be putting in one of those plants that smell like stinking meat in the center. Thanks!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Dang it, I wish I had never read this thread. Now I want to try a venus fly trap. So just how cold can they get?

[Subrosa]

My VFTs went through last winter outdoors in a half barrel with flying colors. It was a reasonably cold winter, but of course not like this one. They saw temps as low as the high single digits last year, including a solid week where daytime highs were below freezing and lows were in the single digits/low teens. I was just cutting off the old pitchers from my Sarracenias today and when I looked at the VFTs. They looked ok although they haven't broken dormancy yet. I'm pretty confident they made it through this winter with temps in the low singles a couple of times. And remember that's above ground. In the ground and heavily mulched with pine needles they'd be even hardier.

[Subrosa]

Thought you might get a kick out of this! Here's a pic of my VFTs taken about a month ago:

[No-Pro-mwa]

Wow I can't believe there that hardy. I'm sure I would need to put them in the garage as it does get down to -20 at times here. But not that long. Man I could leave them out side for a long time before I had to take them in.

Now that would be great.