Non-Prophet

Carnivorous Plants Update

With the days getting longer and the temperatures rising things have become decidedly Spring-like around the house. I've noticed that since the sun is once again hitting this particular carnivorous plant terrarium things have really started to take off. Here is a quick look at what is going on inside.

Firstly, here is a tropical pitcher plant or Nepenthes that is really loving life these days. It is weirdly sexual and just plain freaky.

These guys are Rainbow Plants, also known as Byblis. These little guys are awesome. They are extremely thin and fragile with the most beautiful tiny purple flowers. Delicate and deadly.

This Cobra Plant (aka Darlingtonia) is doing well after having a rough start. These guys must be shy or something because they all have their backs turned.

So remember that carnivorous plant cultivation is an inexpensive and fun hobby that, once established, doesn't really take any time or maintenance. It's like getting a cat that you can neglect and ignore for weeks or months at a time. CP's are also a sure-fire way to improve your "geek score," and the kids totally love them. :0)

Here is an overview picture of the tank, and if you want to see more pictures like the ones above, or to check out high resolution images here.

Venus Fly Trap Flower

Those of you who know me know that I am an avid cultivar of carnivorous plants. I recently started a new CP terrarium and aquired two new varieties of Dionaea muscipula, or Venus fly trap. Both have sent up flowering stalks and the first flowers have just opened up. Most CP enthusiasts say you should snip off the stalks when they appear as they can rob this plant of vital energy needed for growth. I say screw that! I like my venus fly trap flowers and I wouldn't miss them for the world.

Anyone have any experience making an amazonian biosphere? I'm considering raising poision arrow frogs.

here are a couple shots I took:

Beautiful Killer

If an insect ever evolved the brains to write a horror novel, the monster in that novel would probably be a sundew. Sundews are innocent-looking and pretty, with their delicate leaves sparkling with the promise of sweet nectar, but the foolish insect curious enough to give a sundew the slightest touch will suddenly find itself caught in a living nightmare. Doomed to a horrible death, the insect may struggle for a blessed few minutes or suffer for untold hours as it tries to break free of ensnaring, suffocating glue, grasping tentacles, and burning acids and enzymes; meanwhile, its precious bodily fluids are slowly sucked dry. Mother Nature hopefully had psychiatric care after she designed the sundews. - Peter D'Amato, "The Savage Garden"

My Drosera capensis sent up a stalk and has blossomed. Its pink flowers stand in stark contrast to its day job as a killing machine. Some small flies have either hatched in the terrarium or are being attracted by the lamps. They're getting taken out in large numbers.

Hungry Roommates

My carnivorous plant cultivation project is progressing very well. Both the Dionaea and the Drosera are thriving. Two days ago I did notice the first appearance of mold growing in the terrarium. It would best be described as electric green. I killed what I saw. After seeing that my starter plants liked the house that was built I placed an order for some more exotic and rare species from California Carnivores. They arrived today.

More on CP's

Three weeks after setting up my first carnivorous plant terrarium things are going surprisingly well. There is no sign of mold growing, and my starter plants are thriving.

My daughter is infatuated with the Dionaea (Venus flytrap) and when we released a couple of tiny crickets into the tank they were snapped up by morning. It's healthy and is growing new shoots rapidly.

The Drosera is set to take over the world. It's growing at a rapid rate and I may have to take a pair of scissors to it soon to keep it from growing too large.

After some research I've ordered some more exotic plants and they should be coming soon. Many online sites pointed me to the famous and reputable California Carnivores, a grower and seller of CP's. Note how useful I'm already finding Google Print.

I selected a Pinguicula (Butterwort) because they're cool and pretty easy to grow.

I also picked out a Nepenthes, commonly called the Tropical Pitcher Plant. This one might prove to be harder to keep alive. My soil conditions are not exactly right, and it likes warmer temperatures than the rest of what I'm growing. Even still, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Lastly, I picked the delicate Byblis or Rainbow Plant. These are so delicate that they are only available in seed form.

I'll post some pictures when they're here.

Free Time

With some free time on my hands at last, I found myself thinking about good ways to fill it. The answer was, as you probably guessed, "cultivate carnivorous plants."

After doing a bunch of research into just what these picky bastards of the plant kingdom want and need, I've assembled my first terrarium. I laid down a couple of inches of rock, followed by several more inches of a 50%-50% mix of horticulture grade sand and sphagnum peat moss. These guys hate nutrients of any kind and will only tolerate acidic soil and distilled water.

After doing some checking around my best option for lighting turned out to be two mini incandescent clip-on work light fixtures from Home Depot. I ditched the clips and spray painted them black so that they looked less like work lights. Incandescent lamps put 80% of their energy into generating invisible infra-red light and that would cook my plants. I opted for two 25W screw-in compact fluorescent lamps, generating 1200 lumens each. These have a combined output equivalence of a 150W incandescent, and they're cool. The 10,000 hour bulb life is also a plus.

So with my initial setup complete I plated a couple of starter plants to see what they thought of the place. One is a small Dionaea Miscipula (Venus flytrap). The other is some kind of a Drosera (sundew). I also planted some ferns in the back of the tank so that it didn't look so desolate.

With all of that in place I'm continuing my research. I've picked one of the more popular soil compositions so my options as far as where I go from here should be somewhat broad. I may just end up with an experiment in growing mold, we'll see. I'm interested in trying out a Sarracenia, and some of the more exotic Drosera look pretty amazing.

For anyone who thinks that they might be interested in this hobby, I'd say go for it. CP's are cool. Startup is inexpensive and once everything is set up maintenance is minimal. Check out, "The Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato for tons of useful information. The web also has a ton of resources. Plants start at under $5.

Are those good lookin' Home Depot work lights or what?

"Feeeeed meeee..."

Those little black spots are past prey.