What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Feeding Time!

Didn't find another thread like this one so...

I thought this would be a great place to ask some questions about feeding and for people to use as a reference, all sites and info welcome :)

The questions are in several stages and involve several plants so put what you know or what works best for you. In order to do this easier I'm just going to combine the questions but please separate the answers according to plant

#1. What plants do you deem necessary to feed? (Drosera, Neps, Helis, etc...)
#2. How much do you feed them? (both quantity and where like: "I feed every leaf that has dew one fish pellet" or "I feed every pitcher 3 ants")
#3. How often do you feed your plants? (every week? month? etc...)
#4. Can you include pictures with the results of your feeding habits?

If you have personal questions that you would like to know than go ahead and post :) I want this to be a great learning thread that everyone new to the trade (like me) can use.

Thanks! Zach
 
Droso and helis really like to be fed, as well as pretty much any sundew and ping. For heli the best is orchid food though (without uric acid). You only need to feed Droso if its inside.
 
I hardly ever force feed my plants unless there is a bug in my room that is really ticking me off...then they usually go to the Neps since they have a harder time catching bugs just based on my observations.

The dews and pings have no trouble at all fending for themselves, especially this time of the year when the house is more open. Heck, my binata caught a flippin' mayfly while still in a terrarium.
 
i feed my dews, helis, and neps. The dews get fed about once every 2 weeks or so with freeze dried bloodworms, neps use coffee or blood worms and the helis i use blood worms about once a month
 
Carnivores that are grown outdoors should never have a problem catching their own prey.

If you're like me, and you grow the majority of your plants in terrariums then it is different.

I haven't really experimented with too many different food options but I have tried Salamander food (sort of like beta pellets) and I've noticed that the Drosera basically need them in order to continue healthy growth habits. I will crumble one nugget up into very small pieces and put just a few pieces on one leaf. Anymore than that and it will mold and kill the leaf. Something to be careful with is losing any stray bits of those pellets, because if they get lost in the medium, they will start to mold rapidly and can lead to a fungal situation.

I have fed the pellets to my Nepenthes and, to by honest, have not really noticed too much of a difference in growth. I'm of the opinion that the major contributing factors to Nepenthes growth are mostly Light and Humidity, not necessarily food, like Drosera.

Feeding my Heliamphora I noticed a pretty bad rot issue with the pellets. I don't think the Heliamphora quite broke it down it fast enough.

Other than that, even in the tank, Nepenthes and Heliamphora will catch whatever is in there, living in the moss. There are these very very small mite things that live in the moss and I have noticed that they can't stay out of the Neps, there will be a couple hundred in each pitcher, eventually. But they are so small they don't really contribute much, I'm sure.
 
Back
Top