How to grow carnivorous plant?

Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:16 pm

I have just bought a carnivorous plant and am not sure on how to look after it. It's in a really small plastic pot and has some small, dry brown patches on the ends of the leaves.

Any ideas what soil I should put it in or how often to water it? I'm a beginner with these plants and I think it's this type (in the linked photo) http://home.att.net/~calisi/purpurea.jpg.
Thanks.

Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:25 pm

A better link with a better photo: http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/acc_num/199800089.html and http://www.katharsis-online.de/CP-galle ... allery.htm

Mine has red veins.

Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:23 am

Hello,

I think you have a pitcher plant, I have one as well as a venus flytrap. Mine are still in the small plastic pots they came in and have grown well. I keep them on a windowsill that gets afternoon sun and they sit in saucers topped up with rainwater. Apparently, they don't like tap or even mineral water although I have used some in dry weather. I am about to transplant them into a container together so we shall see!

Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:22 am

Sweyn,

I had a pitcher plant for a while. I had it potted in a small terrarium made from a goldfish bowl, the very small type that might hold one fish. The bowl was covered with glass to enclose it and keep the humidity up. I kept it on a windowsill that got morning sun.

It did well until I got ambitious and tried to make a larger terrarium, for some reason that I never discovered it died off. If you do a google search on terrariums I'm sure you'll find out quite a bit on their construction.

Norm

Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:19 pm

Thanks, that's a good idea. I've got it on a west-facing window, still in its very small, plastic pot.

I used filtered water on it, is that okay? We don't get rain very often here, so I'm wondering how I could collect rainwater. I have a de-humidifier machine. Would the water from that be okay to use on it?

Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:30 pm

Sweyn,

I have a de-humidifier machine. Would the water from that be okay to use on it?

I don't see why this would not work. Keep in mind that if you do construct a terrarium that, once it is established, there is very little need to water it.

Norm

Sun Apr 29, 2007 8:19 pm

www.Carnivorous-Plants.co.uk

Try having a look at this website for more advice.

Fri May 04, 2007 1:14 pm

tiggs&oscar wrote:www.Carnivorous-Plants.co.uk

Try having a look at this website for more advice.

Thanks. That's got usefull information.

Fri May 04, 2007 8:44 pm

You're welcome Sweyn and if anyone knows why I have flies who die near my carnie's instead of inside them I'd love to know! :roll:

Tue May 08, 2007 11:38 am

tiggs&oscar wrote:You're welcome Sweyn and if anyone knows why I have flies who die near my carnie's instead of inside them I'd love to know!

I noticed that. It happens to mine as well. If they haven't died by chemicals like fly spray, they seem to be okay to feed to the plants.

I don't get rain very often here. How would I collect rainwater for my plant?

Tue May 08, 2007 8:28 pm

I don't use flyspray so I will try feeding them to my pitcher plant, it doesn't work on the venus as it needs the movement to close.
I just assumed I had very depressed flies!

As I've said I have used mineral water on mine when rainwater is short which, surprisingly, does happen in Scotland sometimes! My neighbour has a water butt attached to the downpipe from the gutters and that is increasingly popular here. Today, my watering can was a third full of rainwater from the last few days so when you do get rain use every container you can. I've also heard that distilled water from garden centres is a good substitute.

TO

Tue May 08, 2007 8:31 pm

Lost in translation. A water "container" is what I was talking about as the word we call them obviously has a different meaning in the US as I see it has been edited!! They are barrels in all sizes and materials.

TO

Fri May 11, 2007 2:00 pm

From the websites that I've found, they all seem to say that mineral water is not good for it. Although yesterday, I managed to get some rainwater in a small plastic box. It wasn't much, but it was enough to sprinkle into the leaves.

The box was really usefull for collecting rain in, because the corners meant that I could pour it straight into my watering can, without spilling it.

Fri May 11, 2007 9:38 pm

Hi Sweyn

Depending on the kind of house you live in, is it possible to hook up a water barrell to a gutter pipe from the roof?

TO

Tue May 15, 2007 1:24 pm

No, the pipes go down the side of the house, to the driveway shared with a neighbour. But I found that putting 2 Tupperware boxes on a garden chair helps. I put one of the boxes under a drainpipe anyway, but it filled up with yellow, mucky water.

The boxes on the chair work better as they get just enough rainwater between them. And the corners on the boxes make it much easier to pour into my watering can, without spilling it

Wed May 30, 2007 11:25 pm

My plants are having a growth spurt right now, my venus flytrap has flowered and despite finding out too late I shouldn't have let it flower ( it is a 30cm stem with delicate white flowers on the end) the plant is ok.

My pitcher plant has sent out plenty of new leaves and I have been keeping both in saucers constantly wet with rainwater and also dripping some into the pitcher funnels. Today, I got two dead flies from a spider web and popped one into a pitcher funnel where it should dissolve and the other onto the flytrap. After jiggling the fly gently the flytrap snapped on it so thanks Sweyn as you were right about feeding them with dead flies.

I'm raising tomato plants inside this year so I will keep the carnies next to them along with a potted marigold to divert the insects!

TO