FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Grow list update

***updated 10/20/15***

***updated 10/12/15***

***updated 10/01/15***

***updated 9/15/15 ***

***updated 8/24/15***

Hello everyone. My name is Adam. My grow list is rather modest in comparison to most I've seen so far as I am quite new to carnivorous plants, and honestly growing in general. So, double newby I guess. Anyway, I got my first CP 6/11/15. My first plant turned out to be 5 typical venus fly traps. There's more about that in my introduction post.

So here is the cast in my humble REALLY "Little Shop of Horrors", in order of appearance;

1. VFT 'typical' x 5 (+1)
2. Utricularia Sandersonii 'blue' x 2
3. Pingicula Moranensis x 1
4. Drosera Tokaiensis x 1 ...?
5. Pingicula Emarginata x 1
6. Utricularia Sandersonii 'typical'
7. Utricularia Alpina x 1
8. Utricularia Reniformis x1
9. Ginlisea x (unknown) x1
10. Nepenthes Ventricosa 'red' x 1 (9/3/15)
11. Drosera Capillaris x 1 (9/3/15)
12. Cephalotus Follicularis x 1 (9/5/15)
13. Cephalotus follicularis x 2
14. Cephalotus follicularis 'squat' x 1
15. Heliamphora minor x 2
16. Nepenthes Singalana x (Ventricosa x Maxima x 1
17. Drosera Schizandra x 2
18. Cephalotus follicularis Native Exotics "clump" received 10/08/15
19. Nepenthes ventricosa x ramispina received 10/08/15
20. Utricularia sandersonii 'blue' 10/13/15
21. Utricularia bisquamata 10/13/15
22. Drosera capensis 'dragon' x 5 10/13/15

I've also attached a photo of my first group planting experiment, and the most recent pic of my ever evolving makeshift grow area.

Non CP list;
1. Dragon Palm x 1
2. Unidentified sphagnum (green)
3. Unidentified sphagnum (pink/red)
4. Bulbophyllum caloglossum - Potted x 1 - Mounted x 1
5. Cattleya hybrid - 'Little Leopard' - Potted x 1
6. Vanilla planifolia - potted, NOW mounted x 1
7. XS - Lepanthes turialvae - mounted x 1
8. Scaphosepalum anchoriferum - mounted x 1
9. Bletilla ochracea 'Chinese Butterfly' - potted x 1

Orchids ordered today.
10. Dracula / species (Peru/Bolivia)Peru / Bolivia
11. Bulbophyllum / masdevalliaceum New Guinea
12. Cirrhopetalum (Bulbophyllum) / lepidum Thailand
13. Cirrhopetalum (Bulbophyllum) taiwanense Formosa
14. Bulbophyllum / lobbii (Sulawesi form)Sulawes islands
15. Bulbophyllum lasiochilum Thailand
16. Bulbophyllum blumei Indonesia
17. Vanilla planifolia Mexico
18. Restrepia brachypus Ecuador
19. Pleurothallis allenii Panama

..what can I say? ..there was a bare root SALE.. I'm pretty sure I got a birthday coming up.. or had one recently..

It's official ladies and gentlemen, I NOW have at least TWICE as many plants as brains! I'm ok with that, and aim to have my PLANTS outnumber my BRAINS by 3:1 before too long! Wish me luck - I'm gonna need it, I've CLEARLY used up all my sense!

That's all folks
-@.

Any tips, comments, suggestions, criticisms, warnings etc. VERY welcome.
The latter have a habit of going unheeded, but are welcome none the less.. or all the more.. depending I suppose on whether or not you're a 'glass half empty' or a 'glass half full' type of Cat.
***newest pictures as of 10/01/15***
[color=0040FF]***orchids***[/color]
Thanks for looking!
Happy growing!
Cheers,
-@.

Pretty good growlist for someone just starting out!

Nice collection!
P.moranensis is like D.capensis of all butteworts,in short it's very hardy and easy to take care of.
I doubt that those pebbles can leach minerals in soil which maybe harmful for plant's health,
I am not sure that which kind of pebbles those are,I leave that question for experts, but they look awesome.

Looks like aquarium gravel, I don't think it'll cause any trouble...

SerMuncherIV wrote:Looks like aquarium gravel, I don't think it'll cause any trouble...

Yes sir! I rinsed it really well with the hottest water I got, then rinsed thoroughly with distilled water, dried, then rinsed again. However it's mostly a topper or surface dressing as the soil underneath is moist to wet instead of damp. So, this is an effort to give the leaves a barrier, so they're not resting in wetness when they begin to recover. The roots are still in a clump of the soil it was grown in, and I received a package of said soil today from the grower. I will repot it in it's "native" soil once it's doing a little better. At least that's my plan now but I'm super open to any advice or suggestions on this matter. Thanks Jds and SurMuncherIV.

Nice! Do you have any plans for your dionaea for winter dormancy?

Dematerialize wrote:Nice! Do you have any plans for your dionaea for winter dormancy?

Ah, yes. I would've said something about growing in a terrarium, but your lighting situation actually seems fine from your description, so no big concerns here!

SerMuncherIV wrote:

Dematerialize wrote:Nice! Do you have any plans for your dionaea for winter dormancy?

Ah, yes. I would've said something about growing in a terrarium, but your lighting situation actually seems fine from your description, so no big concerns here!

Hey guys,
Thanks for the comments, and apologies for the delay getting back to you.

So, I was initially planning on growing them outside, but it's just too hot and I was going through too much distilled water to keep them just a notch above miserable, so I moved them inside as more a reaction than a response, but I've tried to be strategic about it.

Currently my dormancy plans are as follows:

1. Decrease photoperiod in gradual increments taking cues from actual daylight hour reduction. I'm thinking no more than 10-15 minute reductions at a time, but it's a learn as I go, follow my instincts, listen to plants kind of rough plan.

2. In proportionally gradual increments, decrease water levels in my trays. Ideally, not allowing the trays to all but dry up between waterings until the photoperiod has reached its minimum value. ie, the first week the photoperiod reaches 14 hours or 13.5 hours (haven't decided yet) will also be the first week the trays are allowed to all but dry out between watering.

3. It can get pretty chilly here during winter. The grow area is in my bedroom which I regularly allow to get close to 55* in winter. I don't plan to change that, and I'm thinking it might work well for all of the little guys I'm growing to not interfere too much with the temp. reduction, but we'll see.

4. As far as I know at this point, though not all my plants require a winter dormancy per say, none of them would be harmed by simulation of a winter period, and most would benefit from it in the long run.

5. All that being said, I currently have 5 VFT's. I plan to leave 2 in my area with the conditions described above. Place 2 outside and monitor. Place one in east facing window, which here will get cool, bright conditions most of the day. And monitor, monitor monitor.

What do you think guys?

-@.

Be careful with the Mexican pings; too much water will rot them out. They like damp, not wet medium...I got a nice all-mineral mix from Cascade Carnivores. Works well

Earthy wrote:Be careful with the Mexican pings; too much water will rot them out. They like damp, not wet medium...I got a nice all-mineral mix from Cascade Carnivores. Works well

Yeah...I'm afraid I'm in the process of learning that the hard way. There's a post in the ping section called "sometimes you gotta rip a ping apart to save it" something like that. I wish I would have found that BEFORE this happened, but I found it after the deed was done. Luckily, I had read quite a bit of information on the website maintained by a member here named "Grey". That's actually what led me to join here. Still need to thank Grey for that.

Anyway, I have one (from cascade actually) that got leaf rot. There were several other issues from the beginning, but anyway one day it was fine, the next day it was hours from death. At least that's what it looked like to me. I unpotted immediately and tried to clean and dry it but most of it's poor leaves were like ...bad lettuce over almost half of the leaf. This happened OVERNIGHT. The affected leaves popped off readily even in the most delicate handling. I remembered what I had read on Grey's website and set about my grim work. It was scary! I had to tear it down to the heart and two leaves to get rid of any trace of the "brown mushy death"! But now it's in new, much better soil. This was three days ago. I'm more hopeful now than I was when I did it as the plant is looking much greener and has pushed out three tiny new leaves already. So...

...fingers crossed!
Sighs,
-@.

Sorry to hear that I really think you should try the all-mineral ping mix...works well

Yea, one bad thing I've noticed is once any plant gets fungus, it's usually a quick progression. One day fine, next day mushy. Just had that happen with a Pink Venus division at least your ping is growing again!

Earthy wrote:Sorry to hear that I really think you should try the all-mineral ping mix...works well

Yea, one bad thing I've noticed is once any plant gets fungus, it's usually a quick progression. One day fine, next day mushy. Just had that happen with a Pink Venus division at least your ping is growing again!

Yes, it was a bummer! I'm grateful I was fortunate enough to have read so much information on Grey's website and that I was able to recall the info and act fast enough to give the little guy a chance to spring back.

I'm terribly sorry to hear that about your pink Venus division. Those are pretty! I really hope it recovers somehow.

By the way, I've been meaning to tell you, I absolutely LOVE your quote! That's pretty punk rock (that's a compliment in my book )!

Thanks a lot for all your input Earthy! And I do intend to order some of the very mineral mix you mention. Just need to save a little bit for it. Also I think the plant needs some time to itself...it's been repotted 3 times in as many weeks! literally the worst thing I've done to another living thing like ... ever. I feel awful. I just hope I helped it... time will tell...

Thanks again Earthy,
-@.

thanks!! I'm part Cree, so I figured that quote/prophecy is fitting to the state of the Earth today. it's sad what the human race is doing to Mother Earth unless you were talking about my shout-out to 30 Seconds to Mars lol

sadly, the Pink Venus division died the day after it got the fungus. according to a fellow grower, the young seedlings and divisions don't have a cuticle skin built up yet, so that makes them more vulnerable to fungal infections. and I get what you're saying about repotting; I just repotted my P. Primuliflora last week because the plants were so close together that there was no air flow getting in-between, and alot of the dead leaves were moldy. so I separated them, cleaned off as much of the moldy stuff as I could, and repotted. the majority of them looked to have new roots coming out, but there were a few smushy-looking ones. the mix it was repotted in before I received it was probably a 3:1 ratio of peat and perlite, which is way too heavy; it was severely compacted. so I added a little more perlite and it's airier now. hopefully they bounce back. I know these particular pings like peaty soil, but they also need air for the roots too...

Hahaha, no, it was the Cree Prophecy I was referring to. I didn't know what Cree was/is so I Googled it. Your quote is even more cool now. Yes, it's sad what humans are doing to the earth, and to one another. It's embarrassing really.

I'm sorry to hear the pink Venus didn't make it.

All of that makes a lot of sense and matches what I've read as well. Did you use the mineral mix with this one?

Here's a picture of how mine is doing, taken about 45 minutes ago. I know the soil looks moist, but I just transplanted those little mosses ...I think yesterday. I'm trying to keep them moist, but leave the immediate area around the ping, and the ping, very dry. The pings root system is no bigger than a nickel. Right now, I'm using a gravy spoon to shield the ping when I mist the moss. Seems to be working. The idea behind putting the moss in there too is I understand they are an excellent indicator that the soil is suitable (acidity and lacking minerals, not moisture level or drainage characteristics).

What do you think?
Cheers,
-@.

I think it's looking a little better than the 1st day?

haha thanks!!! everytime I see the news I get angry at the human race

I didn't use the all-mineral mix with my Primuliflora; they like a little more acid in their mix, and the all-mineral is more alkaline. your baby looks better!! is that a new root coming out of the top leaves? if so that's probably a good sign, just in case you lose the rest of the bottom leaves/bottom part of the plant, it'll still have something to get moisture from. my Sethos is currently growing quite a few new roots and loading up on fungus gnats lol...I should take a pic