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Hello, I must be going...
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Read about the "Bugweed Method" here.

These plants are from seeds I had sown in Feb/Mar 2007. Seeds were from the ICPS seedbank.

Seedlings were grown under lights 24 hours 7 days a week and warmed with a seed germinating pad thermostat controlled set to about 81F. Plants were feed sporadically with flightless fruit flies. I tried spraying with a dilute solution of Alaskan Fish emulsion (too stinky for indoors) and hand feeding with betta fishfood pellets (too labor intensive, pellets get stuck in nectar around the peristome).

The tallest pitchers on the S. flava and S. rubra ssp alabamensis are 10-11 inches. Pitchers are burned and disfigured from striking the lights.

The S. rubra ssp rubra appears to be a crappy grower. Perhaps inbreeding depression?

June 29, 2008 (14-15 months old)
P6290127.jpg

S. flava
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S. rubra ssp rubra
P6290130.jpg

S. alata "Tyler Co, TX"
P6290131.jpg

S. leucophylla 'Hurricane Creek White' x ?
P6290132.jpg

S. rubra ssp alabamensis
P6290133.jpg

S. rubra ssp jonesii

Today I took them out from under the lights to put them outdoors (24-25 months old)
P4290044.jpg

front row left to right: S. rubra ssp alabamesis, S. rubra ssp rubra, S. flava
P4290045.jpg

front row left to right: S. rubra ssp jonesii, S. alata, S. leucophylla 'Hurricane Creek White' x ?

Observe the flowers on a couple of the S. rubra ssp alabamensis. Flowers at 24 months!
P4290046.jpg

P4290048.jpg

P4290047.jpg

(was trapped between pot and plant)
 
Nice plnats! I think under good care, most Sarrs grow faster than indicated in the popular literature. Rubras certainly seem to grow slower for me than others, and some of the hybrids grow really fast! I have right now hybrids that are almost 5 months old and several inches tall. Mine are kept at 75 and 16 hour photoperiod.
Your rubras blooming at 24 months is AWESOME!! Nice looking plants there!
 
Thanks for the great photos and the link. Someone told me about that method but I hadn't seen it demonstrated, and couldn't locate it on the forum.

I have several Sarracenia species seeds (also from the ICPS) cooling in the fridge and am looking forward to trying this out in two weeks . . .

How's the electric bill?
 
They would grow even quicker if given there own pots. I have 12month old plants that are around 7inches and 24month old plants nearer 12inches.

I also have the same aged plants but they have been left to get on with it and are crammed in, they are still tiny and dont grow anywhere near as quickly.

Might be worth anther experiment ;)
 
Nice plnats! I think under good care, most Sarrs grow faster than indicated in the popular literature.

I think so too, others have posted photos of sun grown plants with phenomenal maturity.


How's the electric bill?

Due to limited space and trying this as a test run I only had one seedling tray of plants. Four 24 inch T12 tubes so about 80 watts for the lighting. No idea how much the heat pad and thermostat consumes. Probe measures soil temps. So the electric bill from the lights wasn't much. My computer is my biggest energy consumer.

They would grow even quicker if given there own pots. I have 12month old plants that are around 7inches and 24month old plants nearer 12inches.

I also have the same aged plants but they have been left to get on with it and are crammed in, they are still tiny and dont grow anywhere near as quickly.

Might be worth anther experiment ;)

That would make sense, less competition for light and other resources. Feeding them on a more regular basis would no doubt help. There were definite and observable growth spurts after feeding. The most dramatic was after the first time I feed them fruit flies.

The problem with fruit flies is that there is no way make sure all the plants get feed.

Foliar feeding with a liquid fertilizer is probably the best bet.
 
Very nice, interesting post, Warren. Congrats on your success! The colors are very vivid on those young plants.
 
Impressive, those rubras are very nice.
 
Nice NAN! Mine are still very tiny though. Very Nice
 
Thanks for sharing the results of a specific growing method. Always good to know how things work out!
The most dramatic was after the first time I feed them fruit flies.

The problem with fruit flies is that there is no way make sure all the plants get feed.
So, I'm assuming that your methodology was to introduce a large number of WFFs into the container & allow them to find the pitchers? :scratch:
Foliar feeding with a liquid fertilizer is probably the best bet.
Assuming the other downsides of this method are acceptable .....
 
  • #10
So, I'm assuming that your methodology was to introduce a large number of WFFs into the container & allow them to find the pitchers? :scratch:

Correct, I would transfer the pots into another seed tray, fill with some water and just sprinkle the live flies on to the pots. A large percentage of the flies would climb to the tops of the pitchers and try to "fly" away and end up in the tray.

Those I would let climb up on a bamboo skewer and resprinkle on the plants or try to drop them into pitchers (when the plants were large enough).

Otherwise it was completely random as to which plants in the pot would catch prey. Individual potting of the plants would probably help to solve this problem.

Then you would still have the problem of untrapped flies. For days after I would still find flies sitting on top of pitchers, floating in the tray or crawling around on the plant shelf. Since there were no food sources available I wasn't worried about population wandering loose in the house.

Assuming the other downsides of this method are acceptable .....

Right, having not used this method I don't know what the minuses are. Flytraplady5 fogs her greenhouse plants (all genera) with fertilizer solution so perhaps she can fill us in on the regard.

If one is intent on mass propagation through this method one needs to find a less labor intensive method to feed the plants or just accept the wastage and randomness of feeding by fruit flies. And fruit flies can only be used when the plants are large enough to trap them.
 
  • #11
Now they're outside they should get a good feed though.
 
  • #12
I'm convinced! Never would have though 24/7 would be good in the long run, but....
 
  • #13
Wingless fruit flies are a good alternative if you don't want them flying around the house. They can be purchased from a specialty place, but Petco etc. often sells them now. You can order special media to raise them on, just adding the right amount of water. I have had as good luck raising them on moistened oatmeal (fruit flies, not Sarracenia!), of all things. Well, I used to raise them........wife aint too happy about it so I don't anymore. That is ok, as it is a small sacrifice for all the benefits of a good marriage partner!
 
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