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CP Vivarium

N

Nick_27

Hello everyone, I come from a background of Poison dart frogs and was interested in coming to the carnivorous plant hobby. I Love the look of the plants. Has anyone ever tried making a CP tank? I would put wood, a background and all the rest of the things together but i would have no idea how this would all work since im still new. If this would work or someone has done it can someone send me a link to a picture and give me some tips on how to do this? Thank you all very much.

Nick
 
Welcome to TF!
:welcome:

I've never done this, but I believe there are several members here who have. What kinds of CPs would you want to put in?
 
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I do not know exactly what CP i would want in there but i would make sure its okay with artificial light and i would like it if i could put a few in there and possibly fill it with some moss. If you have any suggestions please tell me.
 
You can grow any plant in the world under artificial light if you have enough of it. The bigger issue with a set up like yours is the lack of seasonal variations in temperature required for the dormancy of many CPS. You're going to want to stick with tropical and subtropical species. Not exactly my cup of tea, so I leave it to others to make more specific suggestions.
 
There are really quite a few that would work in there, depending on what kind of lighting, substrate, and temperature you can provide.

As a general note, I would rule out the temperate plants (Sarracenia, Dionaea, Darlingtonia, some species of Drosera and Pinguicula) as not only will they all need a dormancy period, but almost all will also need really intense lighting that the frogs probably won't appreciate. As SubRosa said, you can grow these under artificial light, you just need a ton of it.
 
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I would not be putting frogs in any of these tanks. I would add any substrate needed, get LED and plant the tank. I do agree making "seasons" would be hard so the tropical plants would probably be the best. Any other tips or suggestions please tell. Thank you
 
Ventilation!
 
For tropicals, there's a massive amount of plants that could work. Do you want to start with the easier species, or do you already have enough experience with other plants that you would feel confident taking on some more exacting plants?
 
I would most likely want easier species because i have not done CP before. I would want the bright nice looking plants so it doesn't look boring. Also for the ventilation i could do a glass top or a screen or half and half. What would work best? Thanks
 
  • #10
I would use the screen top, most of the easy plants can just grow in room humidity. You could probably even put them on your windowsill and they'd do well.

For tropicals (and CPs in general), Drosera capensis is pretty much agreed on as the easiest plant to grow. There's the typical form as well as broad leaf, 'Albino' (white tentacles), all red, and so on. A lot of the other South African sundews (D. venusta, D. aliciae, D. natalensis, etc.) as well as D. spatulata are also very easy to grow. They all need strong lighting to look good however. Tropical forms of D. binata are very vigorous, but need a ton of light (even more so than the other sundews) or they will look sickly. D. adelae can grow in more shaded conditions than the others, but on the contrary likes to have higher humidity than the others. You can adapt it to lower humidity, but in my experience it doesn't grow quite as well.

Nepenthes x ventrata, N.x 'Miranda' and N. ventricosa are generally the easiest when it comes to tropical pitcher plants (though wait for others to pitch in, as I'm terrible at growing these), but it depends a lot on your particular conditions - especially temperature and humidity.

There's a whole slew of easy Mexican Pinguicula (butterworts) - most hybrids and P. moranensis are commonly recommended as easy plants. Of particular note, P. moranensis and some related species don't need to have the succulent summer phase (sort of like a dormancy) that some others need.
 
  • #11
My opinion is that you're much better off just starting out with everything is separate pots. Sometimes you may have to make adjustments to a single plant (e.g. pest infestation, dividing, etc.) and keeps you from having to disturb the rest of the plants.

I agree with the plant suggestions above though. Several sub/tropical Drosera and Mexican Pinguicula are suitable for indoor growing...I'm not great with Nepenthes either, but those mentioned do decent for me at least.
 
  • #12
As I was reading i was thinking if i started with a few in separate pots around the house i would get the feel of things better then throwing them all in a tank. If i may ask is there any threads or videos that has some basic plant care? I was looking around and could not find anything for CP care (although i may have been searching wrong). If someone old link me to something helpful that would be awesome or just give me some basics, water amount, soil, when to replant, daily care, where to put them. Thank you and sorry for all the questions. Just started all of this so i want to get it all right before i start.
 
  • #14
Hi Nick and welcome to the obsession that is CP growing :water:

You mentioned LED lights, which did you have in mind?
You can also look at using Compact fluorescent lights in a terrarium style grow area. I have got a small fish tank converted into a terrarium and using a 65W/4200lumens CFL 6500K and the plants in the tank are growing really well. Had it for just over a year now.

Remember to get a timer for the lights as well :-D

Remember that it's a good idea to cover the outside of your grow area with reflective material such as mirrors or Mylar so that no light gets wasted, also helps to prevent intense light from filing the room it's sitting in and might irritate you if you are always busy in that room.

Another important thing that SubRosa mentioned earlier is Ventilation, I learned the hard way that air movement is really important in these confined spaces or you will get all kinds of nasty unwanted things growing in your tank. I have got a CPU fan which I hooked up to a 9V DC adpater, the fan is actually rated 12V but the lower voltage adapter makes the fan spin slower which is good for my small tank otherwise it dries my tank out to much.

I have got the following growing in my tank: D. Burmannii(Really awesome species from Australia which grows like a weed!) D. Binata small form(Also grows like a weed), D. Capensis(albino,Typical and wide. Also very weedy), D. Regia(Can be picky if the roots get to hot but my tank never goes above 82F) D. Adelae( I have had a lot of trouble with this species but boosting Humidity really helps!) a few Pygmy species(they also grow quite well) D. Nidiformis( still very small) D. Spatulata(Also grows very well).

I use my tank for germinating seeds as well and it's always worked like a charm.

Best of luck!
 
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  • #15
Thanks for all the welcoming :)

For the LED i do not know the exact name of the LED's i would use. A fellow frogger sells them so i would most likely ask him which one was brightest and get those. Would you mind linking me to some pics or posting some? I would love to get ideas before i start it. Thank you

For ventilation i have seen in frog tanks the fans used also i have seen conversion kits used that have a screen mesh on top that lets air flow in and out.

I have been really liking the D. Binata and D. Spatulata look of CP and i also love pitcher plants but i do not know how that would work.

One question are the 2 plants listed above hard to start around the house? If i were to plant them in pots and put them by the window would they work? Or are they a lot more work? Thank you all for the help :)
 
  • #16
Both D. binata and D. spatulata are nigh indestructible in good conditions. They can both grow in low humidity and don't have any particular needs.

I have found that D. binata always looks pretty sickly unless you give it tons of light, but I haven't actually seen one die completely from low light. It'll just resprout from the roots, sometimes with extra growth points so feel free to experiment with different places if it doesn't like a particular one. Mine did best outside nis San Diego in full sun, sitting in a few inches of water.
 
  • #17
For the tons of light if i put it in front of an open window that gets light most of the morning and most of the day would it be okay? or would more light be needed. Me being in Illinois, the winters are cold and in spring a rain storm happens most days. Would this be good for them?

Also can anyone please tell me what soil and water they use? I have heard many people saying they use different kinds and want to know what is the best. Also how often do CP need to be replanted? Thanks for all the help again
 
  • #18
Depends on what plants exactly you're talking about...

A lot of easy growing sundews and pings can do fine in a south facing windowsill. Most soils people use are peat based, but mix in sand or perlite to aid in drainage (usually 50/50) which what you may see called a "standard CP mix." Granted, not every CP will do well with that mixture.

Water is definitely important...most say cutoff of 100 ppm TDS or less but lower is generally better. Unless your tap is already like that, you would be best off trying to find a reliable source of RO(/DI) water. A lot of grocery and convenience stores sell water filtered as "drinking water" that works, but check the labels to see how its filtered and if any minerals are added back. Some of the same places have dispensers that just charge for however much you fill up. Another place to look would be any aquarium store that sells marine fish/corals as they usually also sell RO/DI water. I would recommend investing in a TDS meter at some point (about $20 or so on Amazon) because I've been burned with purchasing bad water in the past.

Replanting depends on growth rate, pot size, etc. There's no way to give an accurate number without considering a bunch of factors.
 
  • #19
Exactly what jpappy said - 50/50 peat:sand or 50/50 peat : perlite will work for most easy growing plants - but there will be a few exceptions. Pings will grow in peat mixes just fine, but occasionally they will rapidly rot out from the center in such mixes. Growing them in entirely inorganic mixes based on vermiculite, pumice, and/or APS (Schultz Aquatic Plant soil) can help prevent this. (There's a lot of variety when it comes to Mexican Pinguicula mixes, even incorporating improbable materials like lava rocks and iron oxide powder). Nepenthes generally like more well draining mixes as well, something like 50/50 long fiber sphagnum moss : perlite. D. binata and D. spatulata will definitely do fine in 50/50 peat : perlite or 50/50 peat : sand.

Just as a clarification, RO stands for reverse-osmosis and DI stands for deionized (or distilled). These types of water have had minerals and other dissolved solids removed so they are safe for CPs. You can usually find distilled water in 1-gallon jugs at stores as jpappy mentioned - just make sure that nothing is added to it. Regular "drinking water" is not ok unless it specifically is distilled or reverse-osmosis with no added minerals. Rainwater is safe, but can be a hassle to collect and store.

As much light as possible is really best for most CPs. You can always try putting them in the windowsill, and move them if they show signs of light deprivation. It takes a while for low light to kill plants, and usually just makes them unhealthy and sickly.

Cold winters below freezing will kill D. spatulata, make temperate forms of D. binata go dormant, and cause tropical forms of D. binata to die back. Unless the roots completely freeze though, I suspect D. spatulata would resprout after a while.

Finally, repotting depends on the plant as jpappy mentioned. D. spatulata and D. binata you can probably repot every year because they grow like weeds and will soon crowd the pot. Neither of them is particularly sensitive so I wouldn't hesitate repotting if the soil is getting old or if they are outgrowing their containers.
 
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  • #20
Sorry, should have clarified that the "drinking water" I was referring to distinctly has "purified by reverse osmosis filtration" (or something to that effect) on the label.
 
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