FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Aw man Did you lose any that equate to you no longer having any of a specific drosera species? If so, which?

yeah, but i knda saw it coming. I lost my D. Spathulata and Capensis and probably some Binatas and Filiformis too. We got a pretty gnarly arctic spell down here and i figured some of the dews might not make it, especially the tropicals that i left outside. It was kind of a test situation anyway. Once we get a house of our own i'll have better greenhouses and protection though, so until then i may just focus on VFTs, Sarrs, and Darlingtonia. Or i may try to mulch the dews next winter, maybe i should have done that but again...this was my 1st full winter so i kinda wanted to see what would happen to everything with minimal protection and then tweak my growing approach from there. I like to learn by trial and error, it gives you a more full experience if you KNOW what can go wrong vs. just avoiding it. So all in all...i'm happy. I knew the tropicals probably wouldn't make it outside unheated, so no big deal really. I'm pretty sure the rest will bounce back...they had gotten a bit moldy but i gave everything a good Neem bath last week so hopefully i staved it off before it got too bad. Looks ok so far.

Sorry to hear about the lost dews Aaron. I guess you know what they can't take now though. I agree with you that learning from experience is the best way to go. I'm sure that when you get your house and greenhouse, you'll have no problem keeping them going all year.

thanks Matt...i am throrghly convinved that it was the arctic spell that did them in...but....i looked this past weekend and it looks like there may be signs of life. Not the tropicals, those got discarded (they were VERY clearly dead), but the binatas and the fili's. Even the ones that started to get moldy look to be kicking (maybe thanks to a weekly Neem bath?). So, maybe the losses weren't all that after all!

Very nice list, Aaron.

Thanks Timmy! I was actually just gonna post an update on here...After repotting i have numerous divisions of everything, some i lost a few, some i gained a few. Anyway...if i feel like re-tallying every single plant i have i will, but i may change my growlist to simply list what varieties/species i am growing vs. hard numbers. Between mother plants, divisions, and seedlings/pulling there really is almost too much to count without pulling my hair out lol.

Wow, it has been QUITE a while since i have posted anything at all! Hope everyone is doing well, i myself am doing just fine. So as i may have said in one of my most recent posts, i have lost a few plants, gained a few, all of which i expected. The "arctic spell" we got coupled with too much time in a slightly unsuitable cold frame (not enough light transmission) just made waking up very difficult for everything. I know now that for me, outdoors exclusively is the way to go, maybe a little protection for extended freezes. I learned alot from my first winter, and even though alot of my plants are coming back a little smaller than last season i gained a wealth of knowledge...and learned that these plants in fact DON'T need a hell of alot of babying even through winter. So anyway, i placed a few orders this week and i am proud to announce some new additions arriving late this week:

D. Red Dragon
S. x LadyBug
S. Alata "Maroon Throat"
S. Flava
S. mixed variety
S. Pupurea venosa

And my first foray into Pings:

P. primuliflora
P. Caerulea

So as you guys can probably imagine, i am pretty darn excited lol! Ill do an official update to my growlist and then maybe, just maybe, that will be the spark that grants me a little extra time to get active on here again.

Miss you guys, thanks for reading!

Aaron! I've been missing you man! I was hoping that you'd come back once the growing season got into full swing and here you are

It's great that you were able to learn so much this winter. That's what it's all about, right? Learning and having fun!

Those are some great additions to your "brood". I look forward to seeing some photos of your plants when they start looking good this summer.

Great to see you posting again!

Wow! You sure do like your flytraps! Oneday when I get the expierience I would like to grow my own and give some out to family and keep some for myself.

Hi Aaron! Great to see you again here at the Forum. Thanks for posting. It looks like you are developing a fondness for (or at least an interest in) Sarracenia. Those are great for outdoor growing.

Hope to see you around here more often, and I hope you have a great year. You going to sell any Flytraps or other plants at farmers' markets in your area? Maybe give a few free samples to nurseries and flower shops, with a way for them to contact you to buy more if they sell? You probably have great outdoor growing conditions and an extended growing season in Georgia and could produce a lot of plants.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by.

Hey Steve-O!!!!! Awesome to hear from you man!

Yeah, i am HUGE into Sarrs now man, they have really knocked me out! All of last years plants, as i said, had a real had time waking up but everything is finally getting into growing mode.

And yes, i do have ALOT of plans as far as what i am going to do with CPS. Once we have a house i will be building a couple greenhouses so i can keep and propagate a much larger amount of plants. I want to take them to various nurseries to sell, and i also want to put together a presentation and hopefully go to local schools and teach kids about the absolute wonder and joy of CPs. Ill probably do some online sales too, of course this is all going to be in the future (hopefully 3 or so years. I dont want to go out there and try to sell/teach until i have a few years of experience under my belt, i would like to have that credibility. Plus, this is still only my 2nd season and i want to go through some more seasonal ups and downs, so i can really get a handle on how Georgia and CPs work for me. So yeah...lots of plans. As of right now, maybe next season i may start selling a few here and there, but i am really just enjoying the ride. most days i just sit and stare at how beautiful my plants are, i have sop much wonder for them. But it is my plan for it to be at LEAST a side business one day, and if it becomes something bigger i will welcome it with open arms. I am not going to force it, i have a plan and i am going to just let it flesh out. No pressure, no stress, no worry. Come what may, go for broke.

I am really glad to see you have become a partner with Matt in all this, it seems to be going really well. I really want to try to be on more, winter was busy and now you can barely get me off the porch (my growing area)...hell, im going back out right now!

~A

Matt! Yeah, i have missed you guys too! Hope all is well out there and ill get some pics going once everything really gets growing, probably around late july ill do a good round of photos. Ill be back soon, for now...gotta go tend to the BROOD!


ps~Fish30, welcome and yeah...i LOVE my CPs for sure!

I wish you luck with your CP ventres Aaron and I look forward to seeing photos of the BROOD when you do take them

afh928 wrote:Yeah, i am HUGE into Sarrs now man, they have really knocked me out! All of last years plants, as i said, had a real had time waking up but everything is finally getting into growing mode.

Great.

afh928 wrote:And yes, i do have ALOT of plans as far as what i am going to do with CPS. Once we have a house i will be building a couple greenhouses so i can keep and propagate a much larger amount of plants. I want to take them to various nurseries to sell, and i also want to put together a presentation and hopefully go to local schools and teach kids about the absolute wonder and joy of CPs.

That all sounds great, including the presentation for school kids. When children can see some well grown carnivorous plants close up, and may be touch them and set off a trap of a Venus Flytrap, I think it will generate a lot of interest. Kids become fascinated by these plants. That's what happened to me when I was in early grade school.

afh928 wrote:Ill probably do some online sales too, of course this is all going to be in the future (hopefully 3 or so years. I dont want to go out there and try to sell/teach until i have a few years of experience under my belt, i would like to have that credibility.

That's a good way to look at it I think. I also think that you'll probably learn really fast. Regarding online sales, if you don't feel that you understand how to create and maintain a website very well, that would be an area where it would be nice to meet and become friendly with somebody who does understand that stuff. Then he or she could maintain the website and store while you concentrate on what you like to do most, like work directly with the plants, etc.

afh928 wrote:Plus, this is still only my 2nd season and i want to go through some more seasonal ups and downs, so i can really get a handle on how Georgia and CPs work for me.

It won't be hard to get an idea of what pests you'll usually encounter and how to deal with them, and the various seasonal happenings as you mentioned.

afh928 wrote: So yeah...lots of plans. As of right now, maybe next season i may start selling a few here and there, but i am really just enjoying the ride. most days i just sit and stare at how beautiful my plants are, i have sop much wonder for them. But it is my plan for it to be at LEAST a side business one day, and if it becomes something bigger i will welcome it with open arms. I am not going to force it, i have a plan and i am going to just let it flesh out. No pressure, no stress, no worry. Come what may, go for broke.

What a great attitude, Aaron. I also think it works best when a person lets their ideas take root and grow just like the plants, which can't be forced to any great extent either. A rose blooms when it's mature enough, not before. Life has its own pace, and a life and its dreams seem to grow a lot like a garden or like one's plants. In fact, that's one "life lesson" that I learned from my own plants. I believe we can learn a lot from plants, animals and nature in general. Well--so much for philosophy.

afh928 wrote:I am really glad to see you have become a partner with Matt in all this, it seems to be going really well. I really want to try to be on more, winter was busy and now you can barely get me off the porch (my growing area)...hell, im going back out right now!

Thanks. Matt and I work well together. My growing space is more limited right now and that is an issue, but there are always practical issues. Check in when you feel like it.

Thanks so much Steve-O, and Matt, your support and encouragement has been amazing from day 1. When people ask who inspired me to go so far into CP's you will be the 1st 2 names i mention. Living 2 miles away from Bob hanrahan doesn't hurt either, i need to get back in touch with him actually. Need to expand the brood some more hehehe.

ps~Your quotes make me realize how much i can suck at typing. hunt, peck, hunt, oops. lol.