Anyone grow Carnivorous Plants??

[mabudon]

I don't know if anyone on this site would be interested in this, but it's one of my favourite hobbies.

I have a pretty decent sized collection of all sorts of stuff from all over the planet- Pitcher Plants from North and South America, Sundews from pretty much every continent, Nepenthes (like a pitcher vine) from SE Asia, Butterworts, Bladderworts, all kinds of stuff

I won't go on about it too much, but it is a fascinating hobby, and surprises are everywhere- the Venus Flytrap, for instance, is one that most folks would know about best I'd think- they sell them in supermarkets etc with instructions on them that will basically guarantee the death of the plant, especially if grown inside as a houseplant- oddly enough, the best way to grow them in much of Canada is actually outdoors year-round- I have lots of different species from as far south as Florida happily growing in a Mr.Turtle sandbox outside in the yard

Anyways, I'm always on about political stuff here, figured I would maybe add to my recent attempts to "round" myself out, presence-wise, on this site

Thanks for reading this far

 

[eh1eh]

Interesting. I've had a few fish eating fish in my day and I love house plants so that sounds like a natural progression for me.
Do these plants act like a perenial and die back then sprout up in the spring? What care do they need? Do they catch their own food?
Ha, thanks for reading this many questions. I think something like a fly trap would make a nice addition by my pond.:smile:

 

[mabudon]

The "outdoor year round" ones totally act as most of our natural perennial species do, the best comparison for the Pitcher Plants would be maybe the common Tiger Lily, they're all sending out little spikes right now which soon will be pitchers. Sundews make little "dormancy buds" (called hibernacula) that are also popping open right about now (thus my "inspiration" for this topic- I hav spent the last few days correcting mistakes made last fall by myself )

The only thing they really need is constant water (standing or flowing, makes little difference to most of them) , and ideally the water should be fairly low in dissolved solids (I use rainwater) and good sun- AND a "sterile" growing medium, ideally acidic- plain ol sphagnum peatmoss is good for them, just moisten it up, put it in a pot and pot the plant in there.

Winter care is simple too, but depends on exactly where you are- I just leave mine alone and they do fine...

They SURE do catch their own food- my pitcher plants often eat so much they fall over from the weight of dead bugs in there- hornets and wasps seem a fave snack. Sometimes on saturdays I'll go out and sit with them and just watch bug after bug meet its end- the stronger ones take a while to die so many times all the pitchers will make buzzing noises all day long. If you grow any of them outside in summer, food is NOT a problem

So if that sounds like something you'd be interested in trying, you could always PM me and I can give you additional pointers- the easiest way I've seen them grown is in floating styrofoam "collars" inside a pond, so the holes in the bottom are always in the water. Any Flytrap you see is fine, in most of Canada they're always clones of one specific plant ("Dente" or "Dentate", they have stubby, saw-like teeth, not long skinny ones like normal flytraps do) so if you see one available, you could be safe knowing it would suit your purposes.

(can ya tell I'm kinda crazy about them??)

 

[hermanntrude]

I had a venus flytrap once at university. got lost or given away in one of the many moves. I'm very fond of the pitcher plants which grow in newfoundland. My grandmother-in-law embroidered a giant one in full flower for our wedding present.

 

[eh1eh]

Thanks Mabudon, You've really piqued my interest. I'm going to do a bit of research then I'm sure I'll have a few questions.:smile:

 

[#juan]

I want a plant like that movie, "Little Shop of Horrors". There was a plant in that movie that ate people....often.:smile: http://tinyurl.com/27qd3h

 

[hermanntrude]

Have you ever grown sensitive plants? I grew several from seed last year. very interesting to do. Did you know chloroform makes them stop being sensitive? not carnivorous but fun

 

[mabudon]

#juan- a lot of folks cite that thing as the "Ultimate CP" , Audrey 2(CP is short for Carnivorous Plants- it saves me a LOT of time using it ) There's an even more AWESOME one tho, from a movie from 1989 called "Godzilla vs Biollante"- long story short, it's a cross of the DNA from a rosebush and Godzilla (YES it is as ridiculous as it sounds) the beast filled up an entire lake and gave Godzilla a hard time until he got close enough to fry it with his breath

In "real life" there ARE some species which eat mammals- there's plants in borneo that have pitchers big enough to start measuring their capacity in gallons- they are said to eat monkeys and rats and stuff...

Eh1eh- no problems!! I can at least give answers that sound good, somce of which could even be useful advice, I'd be glad to help you out though

Hermann- yeah, the provincial plant, Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea, known variously as the "purple pitcher plant" (they aren't really purple tho, more like green with red, more red in winter) and "Huntsmans Cup". They are nice plants, to be sure, and unlike many others, they just sort of sit there when winter comes, they don't die down or anything. I have a couple of them, 2 of which I grew from seeds (they grow SLOW- at 3 years they are maybe 10 cm across and a bit less than that tall)

And I do grow Mimosa (sensitive plant- for some folks, EVERY plant is sensitive) from time to time- a friend of mine sent me seeds from a form that grows to almost 3 METRES tall, but I've never gotten them to get quite that big, I bet it would be dramatic watching it fold up tho!!! And I didn't know you could "stun" them with chloroform, that is kind of odd, actually, thanks for sharing!!

 

[hermanntrude]

i've got some photos of the flowers at home, they're very pretty. I'll probably post them in "a quiet spot" since they'll please more people there, and you probably already know what they look like

 

[mabudon]

Yes, I usually get to see them every year, and have taken trips into bogs (some which are literally Top Secret) to view our native CPs in habitat- there's something really magical about floating/quaking bogs- I would LOVE to come out there some day and get a peek at them in habitat there- from what I understand it is a different sort of area they grow in than I've seen

Do post them up tho, once you have them ready, they're a really weird, pretty flower (and they don't smell weird like the ones from down south, which is a plus)

 

[temperance]

Yes ,very good fourm on the subject --good bunch of people
http://ocps.proboards78.com/index.cgi?board=dionaea&action=display&thread=1173022662

 

[eh1eh]

Yes ,very good fourm on the subject --good bunch of people
http://ocps.proboards78.com/index.cgi?board=dionaea&action=display&thread=1173022662

Well thanks Temperance. That place is just the thing someone looking to grow carnivorous plants needs. Ran into a familliar nic there too.

P.S. Nice to see your post again Temperance.:smile:

 

[mabudon]

Are YOU on that board Temperance?!?!?!?

I've often enjoyed your posts here.. odd that is, and I concur, there are a lot of real solid folks on that board, I've met a bunch of 'em....

And yeah, eh1eh, what can I say- I use the same name in a lot of places- easier to remember logins when my PC dies (and this was in NO wise an advert, I really wanted to see if there were any more of "us" out here, most CP growing folks are a fun kind of peculiar that suits me well )

 

[I think not]

Is a watermelon considered carnivorous?

 

[mabudon]

Not yet, ITN, but stuff like potato plants, thistles and petunias have been suspected of carnivory, no joke, and there ARE carnivorous fungi, and even carnivorous bromeliads- in Canada alone we have something like 18 species in several different (what's the plural of Genus?? I'm goin with geni) Geni (and I think that's wrong) scattered all over the place

 

[selfactivated]

Im so glad you decided to share with all of us your hobby, I always found it an amazing subject.

 

[I think not]

Not yet, ITN, but stuff like potato plants, thistles and petunias have been suspected of carnivory, no joke, and there ARE carnivorous fungi, and even carnivorous bromeliads- in Canada alone we have something like 18 species in several different (what's the plural of Genus?? I'm goin with geni) Geni (and I think that's wrong) scattered all over the place

You learn something new everyday.

 

[mabudon]

You sure do, ITN, glad I could put another piece of odd trivia in there...

Tam- Heck, I figured it would be a topic that would maybe be enlightning to a degree, possibly interesting to some folks, and argument-free- there's not so much of that around here so I figured (especially after my "ban on tin cans" thread tanked after 5 posts, I really thought it had more legs than THAT ) I'd fire it up and see what came of it-
Thanks to everyone who's joined in here, I'm glad that anyone even clicked on it

 

[selfactivated]

You sure do, ITN, glad I could put another piece of odd trivia in there...

Tam- Heck, I figured it would be a topic that would maybe be enlightning to a degree, possibly interesting to some folks, and argument-free- there's not so much of that around here so I figured (especially after my "ban on tin cans" thread tanked after 5 posts, I really thought it had more legs than THAT ) I'd fire it up and see what came of it-
Thanks to everyone who's joined in here, I'm glad that anyone even clicked on it

Well I found it interesting when we first talked about it, especially the venus flytray information. Im learning with certain plants you can kill them with kindness. I replanted a tea rose and after I left it for dead its amazingly alive LOL

 

[selfactivated]

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