FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Whoa...I can't say it sounds like a simple solution, but interesting nonetheless!

Leaf Talon,
Yes, please do keep us posted. Sounds like a lot of trouble to set up and maintain, though. Most air stones either clog up or fall apart over time, and I suspect that even a slight change in the water level will drastically affect how much gets splashed onto the soil and/or roots. It also seems like having air constantly bubbling through the water is going to cause it to evaporate pretty quickly, unless the air pump is sealed inside the bucket.

Are you familiar with the way tobacco farmers start their plants in hydroponic greenhouses? They use styrofoam trays that hold the soil and float in water laced with nutrients. Because the trays float on the surface, regardless of the level of the water, the moisture in the soil is constant. Something like that might be adaptable to VFTs.

Or you could just use a water pan that holds more than your neighbor's cat can drink.

Heathen Priest,

I don't think this setup is overly elaborate, either to establish or maintain. I have spent about two hours on the project, and have about another two hours to completion. Then I'll have a potentially very useful tool for growing CPs. As for maintainance, if the bucket hold two gallons of pH adjusted water, I suspect that it will take at least a week for half the water to be wicked away by the planting media, and the system works fine at half capacity. That means watering only weekly! I used to run a petshop, and kept 24 stock tanks running for years, with airstones going the whole time. Good quality ones that cost more than .49 cents last for years. I will be surprised if I encounter problems with that aspect of the experiment.
This is known technology, the hydroponics types call it aeroculture, I think. The intention in their application is to be able to feed huge amounts of ferts to their plants in the presence of copious amounts of oxygen, leading to huge growth rates and final sizes. I am leaving out the fertilizer, but acidifying the reservoir makes up for the small amount of acidic media in the net pots.

What got me to thinking about this, was I received a catalogue of indoor grow supplies that included a photo of a bucket lid being held up so we could see the densest, lushest, most luscious-looking roots I've ever seen in a lifetime of growing corn and tomatoes. And there was not soil to sully the wonderful roots'opulent glory, they shined golden in the light. The whole key was oxygen, and I had loads of O2 floating around.

Since I will not be fertilzing, my hope is that greater oxygen uptake through the roots will prevent any rootrot that might attack. And also, allow meals to be more easily digested in the presence of additional oxygen, perhaps allowing larger meals to be effeciently absorbed, or more larger meals on more traps at the same time. Who knows? Wanna find out??

Thanks for the interest and comments!

Leaf Talon

FASCINATING! I've never gotten into hydroponics, so I didn't know any of that. I can't wait to hear what happens, especially with a plant that normally has only a few stringy roots. And if the roots do overdevelop, I wonder if they might even be able to tolerate and absorb fertilizer. Who knows what might happen then? If the right conditions created giant insects in the past, they might create giant CPs now! Please do keep us posted.

On the other hand, I wonder if that's kind of what we're doing by growing them in our various soil mixes that probably hold more moisture, yet allow more air to get to the roots than their native soil would. Maybe one reason they seem to do better in deep pots is because less moisture in the peat mixture allows more air to get in. Does anyone know how big they get or how quickly they grow in the wild? I wonder if we're already growing them bigger and quicker than their natural soils do.

Next time I'm "down east" as we say in NC, I'm going to check them out, if I can find some. I hear the Green Swamp is a good place to find them. Anyone know of any other good places?

According to Sarracenia.com, the VFTs grow much more vigorously in their native situation than our pampered pets tend to do. I believe that our plants subsist on minimal oxygen. The wild VFTs grow in mostly silica, which neither holds water well nor wicks it up efficiently from the water table. This suggests to me that the water table must be very shallow. So why are the plants not rotting if they are sitting in water day and night? My hypothesis is that the water table is ebbing, flowing, constantly moving, and through that motion, continually absorbing oxygen. Water becomes an exellent growth medium with the simple addition of oxygen and nutrients, that is the basic premise of hydroponics. Take away the nutes, and we may have a perfect environment for our CPs.

I'm not trying to do anything but recreate the wild conditions as closely as possible by adding O2 to the root zone. An aquarium, with all it's pumps, filters, lights, timers, etc., looks rather involved and complex. But that is what is required to recreate a body of water with it's associated lifeforms. Why should we think that a pot of sand/peat in a tray of water can recreate something as complex as a natural bog?

Heathenpriest, you say that the VFT only has "a few stringy roots". I got a 'B52'
mother plant division from David Conner a couple of weeks ago. He also included a freebie 'cupped trap' division. These plants both had the normal stringy brown roots, but both had several places where thick, vibrant white roots were beginning new growth for the season. I think that new growth represents healthy VFT roots. Is it normal for them to turn brown and stringy, or do they do it in response to less-than-perfect conditions? I think some of the real expert growers have figured out ways to increase the oxygen content of their planting media, perhaps by using lots of sand/perlite and then using automatic watering systems (sprinklers?) to water frequently. That would be more difficult to replicate for most of us with modest collections than would be what I am describing. But until I see if it works, and post some pics, this is all theoretical.

I actually had the pot containing my VFT supported in a ring of styrofoam cut to the size of the water container underneath, to prevent evaporation. The pot was situated in the foam so that it was constantly submerged by about a centimeter and the whole "raft" sank as the water evaporated. I only watered like once a month that way

I am having a really hard time finding silica sand, and after reading all the posts I’ve read that you can use plastic BB's and then it hit me! My girlfriend has what they call a moshi pillow from work and I was laying on it the other day and it feels like little beads that form around your head and neck(almost exactly the same size as silica sand). Upon doing some research, they describe the beads as tiny Styrofoam BB's. Therefore, the idea is to buy one and cut it open for the beads. Could an expert be so kind to verify and confirm this to be used as a silica sand alternative?


http://buymoshipillow.com/

After losing a healthy plant for the first time, I'm switching back to my 75:25 sand:peat mix next spring.

What happened to your plant Adam? What was it growing in?

Anthony: All you can do is try. I know what you're talking about and it does seem to have the same consistency as sand. If it's plastic it should be inert, so that should work. Just keep a close eye on your plants and if they start to decline after a few months you should probably consider repotting them into something else. Good luck!