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2 New VFTs: "Red Pirahna" and "Gold Strike"

2 New VFTs: "Gold Strike" and "Red Pirahna"

2 New plants today. One was a gift from the seller I go through, he does that every so often:

Dionaea muscipula "Gold Strike":
goldstrike.jpg


Dionaea muscipula "Red Pirahna":
redpirahna.jpg


Both are about an inch wide. Gold Strike was supposed to go outside in my great big 10" pot, but it's too small for that. I've never seen the cultivar before, and the source I got it from didn't have a picture up. Apparently when grown in full sun, it turns orange and red.

Red Pirahna was the freebie, and I donno what to do with it. For now, it's staying inside next to the Gold Strike under the lamps until they get a bit bigger or until the nights stay above 50 degrees.
 
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Congrats on your new plants. Cute looking little guys! I too have both of these plants, but I haven't had the "Gold Strike" very long yet. They have similar growth characteristics, but it seems that the "Gold Strike" is a little less vigorous than the 'Red Piranha'.
 
It's kinda a bummer, I was hoping to put them out with their bigger brothers, but, at this size... no way! Fortunately I had just barely enough space to fit them under my grow lights.

I really need to find a nice square tray for the square 3.5" pots that I got from Andrew, if I could consolidate them into a single tray then I could squeeze a lot more plants under those lights.
 
most nursery centers sell "seedling trays" ( not the ones with the tiny little 1'' sq. trays. ) but their nice 1'x2' trays that are cheap and work really well for me and my 3'' square pots...

maybe you can find some?
 
Wow, a goldstrike! Those aren't very common.
 
Wow, a goldstrike! Those aren't very common.

I've never heard of them outside of the store I occasionally go through and mmlr38's blog posting. I think I also saw a single picture of one on Flickr once a while back when trying to find more information out about the cultivar.

My worry is the size -- I have no experience taking cuttings from VFTs and growing them, but wouldn't a cutting from a bigger VFT be, er, bigger? At least on the section that came from the cutting itself? I'm hoping it thrives so that I can get a few backup plants this year (maybe sending a few out to forumgoers / Andrew for the store / etc), but given it's size, I almost think it's destined to do a full year's worth of growing under the lights before it'll be ready to split. That's OK with me, it topped off the last bit of room on my plant rack nicely.

I did just discover a few pictures of it on http://www.humboldt.edu/~rrz7001/Dionaea.html -- including the one I posted earlier in this thread. Wow, he's speedy! :D

Oddly enough, the edges of the traps seem to be different in the various plants photographed there. Some are almost Dente-like, others are the really mutated jagged tooth style. I'm assuming the Jagged Tooth style is the correct version, as there seems to be more pictures of the cultivar with those type than the others.
 
most nursery centers sell "seedling trays" ( not the ones with the tiny little 1'' sq. trays. ) but their nice 1'x2' trays that are cheap and work really well for me and my 3'' square pots...

maybe you can find some?

Bingo!

flatrack.jpg


Perfect fit, 3 across. I really consolidated a huge amount of space there. :) I might even be able to keep the incoming B-52 VFT under the lights for a bit, and now have space to move the 3 I have outside inside if I decide to. The weather is great out but they are in shock due to the cold nights and all that. =/
 
Total non sequitor but I love the D. multifida extrema in that photo!
 
haha yeah those are the exact trays I was talking about I have a ton of those...

and edax flamma is right, that multifida is very nice
 
  • #10
Really? I thought it was growing a little slow. =/ The original pot it was in was a little bigger (4" square I think) but the soil was a good 1/4" away from each wall, I'm guessing it got squished a bit.

Since it has some U. bisquamata in it (I ordered from a certain Californian Nursery and apparently it's infamous for U. bisquamata guest plants) I didn't want to repot it, so I just slid the entire thing out of the pot, threw out the bottom half (which stunk of rotting peat moss) and slid it into a 3.5" pot, where it fit perfectly. :)

Well, mostly perfectly. It doesn't like to drain, the soil with the U. bisquamata in it really repels water, heh. A small hole poked in it with a screwdriver fixed THAT, though. :D


Back to the topic of VFTs, I might move these guys back in into a 3" pot:
3VFT.jpg


I need to take an updated photo, they've been outside about 3 weeks and haven't grown at all, and are turning black. In late March we had a few nights below freezing, but lately the lowest it's been has been 40F or so. I am worried they're not going to make it. Hoping it's just shock, however.
 
  • #11
it appears as though your media in the last picture is very dry. that'll kill vft's in a heartbeat.
 
  • #12
it appears as though your media in the last picture is very dry. that'll kill vft's in a heartbeat.

That's because that was right after I repotted them but before I put them out on the porch. :) Once I got them outside I poured about 2 gallons of RO Water through the pot -- they're about as soaked as I can get them nowadays.

Although I am worried about that, because the pot is 10", and the saucer at the bottom, while one of those deep 4" tall ones, isn't THAT deep...

It's a 1:1:1 LFS/Peat/Perlite mix, so it should suck up water just fine, I'd hope.


I have a B-52 incoming for that pot and that Gold Strike was also supposed to go in there, but that idea's flat out now due to it being so small. The plan is to make a big X, with the B-52 in the center and the other 4 VFTs on the edges, but..

Maybe some live LFS on top to help keep in water?
 
  • #13
shouldnt need the LFS if your watering appropriately, of course never hurts I suppose? I use LFS on top of my larger outdoor pots just so that I dont have peat splash onto everything, you wind up with leafs matted down into the peat and whatnot...

glad that was just a temporary dryness :) I was scared for it haha
 
  • #14
New pictures!

gs1.jpg

gs2.jpg

gs3.jpg


Looks like it has it's first new, characteristic, trap. Really like the green stripe, and the sawtooth teeth are growing on me. :)

Also, because EdaxFlamma mentioned it, D. multifida extrema:

Multi1.jpg

Multi2.jpg

Multi3.jpg


Wish it would grow faster. =/

Tracyii.jpg


Can't seem to kill this guy (D. Filiformis var Tracyii), although it was touch and go for a while. The VFTs and Cobra Lily are still outside, I probably should have brought them in.
 
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