Hello
I'm very seriously considering buying the Small Moderate Humidity Kit from this site (two VFT's and two sarracenia) for my college dorm room in the fall, since my 10-gallon fish tank is far to large to be lugging 200 miles each way and i need something alive to care for!! And i've always wanted some cp's... lifelong hatred of ticks, honestly (*SNAP* goes the flytrap... teehee
). Plus, my theory is if you're going to get a hobby, it may as well be one of the most oddball ones available ("I garden." "I knit." "I grow meat-eating plants. Come in for tea?")
Just looking for a few basic care answers... i'd really like to keep these plants alive!!!
1. Stupid question... humidity. What's considered "moderate"/ good for flytraps and pitcher plants? How badly do i need a humidity gauge?
2. Lighting? My room is on the northwest side of the house and i doubt my dorm room will be any better situated, so i'll need artificial. Since the thing is round and a little larger than a milk jug, I was thinking a basic desk lamp with a compact flourescent bulb, with a timer?
3. Do CP terrariums generally grow algae? Just curious... I'm very well accustomed to dealing with the stuff, just want to know if i'll be scrubbing another tank on the weekends
4. Well, I was all set and happy about getting my cute little CP terrarium until i got to this thing about "dormancy." Err... i'm SLIGHTLY apprehensive about stuffing my plants into a fridge for three months, especially considering the very, very, very mixed reviews on that. I live on Long Island where we get wildly varied winters... two januarys ago we had three days where it was 70 degrees F (i kid you not), and this winter we didn't see grass from december to march. I was thinking, perhaps my garage... we have a window that gets light but never direct sunlight, and it's very sheltered in there because it is a garage. However if we get a serious cold snap, or somebody leaves the door open, there could be problems. On the other hand, I could do the fridge thing up at school (by Rochester NY, BRRRRRRR), but i'm very much afraid that i'll have four dead plants come spring :$
Or, do I even have to put them through dormancy at all this year? The latest I would buy the terrarium (again, the one from this site) is late July... how old would they be then? Would i be screwing up any kind of biological cycles by putting them through dormancy around Thanksgiving?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me... i really wasn't sure where to post this but since the biggest question is dormancy for VFT's and sarracenia it seemed a good bet!
Thanx again!!!!
~heather
I'm very seriously considering buying the Small Moderate Humidity Kit from this site (two VFT's and two sarracenia) for my college dorm room in the fall, since my 10-gallon fish tank is far to large to be lugging 200 miles each way and i need something alive to care for!! And i've always wanted some cp's... lifelong hatred of ticks, honestly (*SNAP* goes the flytrap... teehee
Just looking for a few basic care answers... i'd really like to keep these plants alive!!!
1. Stupid question... humidity. What's considered "moderate"/ good for flytraps and pitcher plants? How badly do i need a humidity gauge?
2. Lighting? My room is on the northwest side of the house and i doubt my dorm room will be any better situated, so i'll need artificial. Since the thing is round and a little larger than a milk jug, I was thinking a basic desk lamp with a compact flourescent bulb, with a timer?
3. Do CP terrariums generally grow algae? Just curious... I'm very well accustomed to dealing with the stuff, just want to know if i'll be scrubbing another tank on the weekends
4. Well, I was all set and happy about getting my cute little CP terrarium until i got to this thing about "dormancy." Err... i'm SLIGHTLY apprehensive about stuffing my plants into a fridge for three months, especially considering the very, very, very mixed reviews on that. I live on Long Island where we get wildly varied winters... two januarys ago we had three days where it was 70 degrees F (i kid you not), and this winter we didn't see grass from december to march. I was thinking, perhaps my garage... we have a window that gets light but never direct sunlight, and it's very sheltered in there because it is a garage. However if we get a serious cold snap, or somebody leaves the door open, there could be problems. On the other hand, I could do the fridge thing up at school (by Rochester NY, BRRRRRRR), but i'm very much afraid that i'll have four dead plants come spring :$
Or, do I even have to put them through dormancy at all this year? The latest I would buy the terrarium (again, the one from this site) is late July... how old would they be then? Would i be screwing up any kind of biological cycles by putting them through dormancy around Thanksgiving?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me... i really wasn't sure where to post this but since the biggest question is dormancy for VFT's and sarracenia it seemed a good bet!
Thanx again!!!!
~heather