TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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For bugweed, pinguiculaman, ....
Trial and error, and error, and error, and error, and then more error. In 1964 a book was written by Lynn and Gray Poole on the subject of carnivorous plants and growing them. Mostly geared to terrarium growing, and fairly well written for its day. The water question was the key, and away I went. If only we knew about hibernacula in those days. Threw away several d. rotundifolias because they "died" on me. Little did I know..........................
jimscott
Tropical Fish Enthusiast
When I think of all those plants that die in the garden centers (nowadays) and the people whp try once and give up right away, with all the information (internet, Savage Garden, ...) it's amazing anybody growing them 2-4 decades ago has gotten through the trial and much error.
I was given a VFT kit when I was like 12 and killed the plant within weeks. I killed another when I was 17, 30, and 40, without knowing anything about tap water, air circulation, dormancy, open tray, etc... I thought they all had to be done in a terrarrium for humidity sake. If I hadn't stumbled upon this discussion forum, while just trying to get genus and species name of what turned out to be D. spatulata, I would never have known.
I was given a VFT kit when I was like 12 and killed the plant within weeks. I killed another when I was 17, 30, and 40, without knowing anything about tap water, air circulation, dormancy, open tray, etc... I thought they all had to be done in a terrarrium for humidity sake. If I hadn't stumbled upon this discussion forum, while just trying to get genus and species name of what turned out to be D. spatulata, I would never have known.
When I was about 13 I got a vft. I put a bug in every trap, gave it well water and made the traps close over and over. Needless to say, It had a quick death.
When I was about 26 I tried again. It came with intsructions. Plenty of sunlight and distilled water. I wanted to make sure this one survived, so I babied it. I didn't want the hot sun to burn the plant or I didnt want it to get too hot so I kept it inside, on top of a window AC unit. There was a window there that let a little bit of sunlight in.
Even though the instructions said distilled water only, I decided that my well water didn't have the chemicals that tap water had, so it would be fine. Needless to say, this one died just as fast as the first one.
Now for the embarrassing part. Both times I unsussessfully grew vft's I lived in southeastern NC. Right in the middle of the range of vft's. All I had to do was just put them outside and leave them alone and they would have been happy.
When I was about 26 I tried again. It came with intsructions. Plenty of sunlight and distilled water. I wanted to make sure this one survived, so I babied it. I didn't want the hot sun to burn the plant or I didnt want it to get too hot so I kept it inside, on top of a window AC unit. There was a window there that let a little bit of sunlight in.
Even though the instructions said distilled water only, I decided that my well water didn't have the chemicals that tap water had, so it would be fine. Needless to say, this one died just as fast as the first one.
Now for the embarrassing part. Both times I unsussessfully grew vft's I lived in southeastern NC. Right in the middle of the range of vft's. All I had to do was just put them outside and leave them alone and they would have been happy.
PlantAKiss
Moderator Schmoderator Fluorescent fluorite, Engl
Stories, huh?? How's this? Growing sarracenia flava for the first time, all alone, no ther CP'ers anywhere that I knew of. This was a s. flava var. maxima specimen, and was a beautiful yellow green, heavy on the yellow. No other color except the red growing point. One late spring I noticed a strange looking leaf taking shape. It looked like two separate leaves that were "glued" together. As it came up, I noticed one was indeed fused to the other. I had never ever seen this before. When it matured, both leaves expanded, and the hoods opened. Two separate leaves, two separate hoods joined together like "Siamese" leaves. In spite of the fact they were joined at the hip to shoulder, they functioned like any other leaf and caught insects, lived their life, and died back. I have never seen that again in any collection, including my own. THAT was cool!!!
Well, while we're on the topic of embarassing past failures....
When I was 9 or 10yo, my parents bought a VFT for me. I sat it on a windowsill and watered it like "any other plant." I asked my aunt what I should feed it (she was considered by my family to be God's gift to horticulture). She told me: Raw hamburger or chicken dipped in olive oil.
Needless to say, between baking under the scorching sun of the southern windowsill, irregular watering schedule with tap water, and being fed oil-dipped hamburger piences, the poor thing died what I'm sure was an agonizing death......the earthly equivalent of a plant "hell."
When I was 9 or 10yo, my parents bought a VFT for me. I sat it on a windowsill and watered it like "any other plant." I asked my aunt what I should feed it (she was considered by my family to be God's gift to horticulture). She told me: Raw hamburger or chicken dipped in olive oil.
Needless to say, between baking under the scorching sun of the southern windowsill, irregular watering schedule with tap water, and being fed oil-dipped hamburger piences, the poor thing died what I'm sure was an agonizing death......the earthly equivalent of a plant "hell."
VERY similar. However, there were two very distinct leaves, not just one with a distinction in the pitcher top, but two leaves fused bottom to top, two distinct columns to the hood, and two distinct leaves. Bending the tops back and looking straight down from above, it was a near perfect figure 8 with the last 3/8 inches left unjoined. It was perfect, and double topped with very separate and distinct hoods, and double tubed as well.
I have tried VFTs for a looooong time... And come to find out I was not killing them... they were going dormant. HA.. (well, most the time...) Anyway- I do happen to have documentation of my last failure, right before I found this site and started my success... Go ahead, and laugh now. This photo was scanned in since i didn't have digital camera back then.
Seems to me this is turing into a "how did you fail back when" topic.. LOL
Andrew
Edit: Now that I know some stuff, the main problem with this tank was light... But also, getting the "extra" water out of the bottom of the tank was harder than i had planned (that's why it was perlite)
Seems to me this is turing into a "how did you fail back when" topic.. LOL
Andrew
Edit: Now that I know some stuff, the main problem with this tank was light... But also, getting the "extra" water out of the bottom of the tank was harder than i had planned (that's why it was perlite)
Even though I have only officially been growing CP's for 3 years I can remember the first CP I got. IT was a venus flytrap I got when I was 6. I begged my parents at meijers for them to buy it for me and I promised them I'd take care of it. I left it ontop of my fish aquarium in a place where it got almost no light and watered it with tap water. In about a week it started to die so I had the grand idea it would be happier if I "planted" it outside. 1 day was all it took for it to be turned into extra crispy fried plant. I never touched another venus flytrap again till my senior year in highschool when I walked into meijers again and they had them there again. This time I was determined to keep it alive. So first thing I did when I got home was read every single website that had anything to do about VFTs. I kept that plant alive for a year and a half till it had an encounter with a squirrel and to this day I hate those vermin.
PlantAKiss
Moderator Schmoderator Fluorescent fluorite, Engl
