FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

My mystery box just came in and performed these steps:

Unwrap and soak plants in Distilled water for ~20-25 min.
While soaking I mixed Distilled Water, Peat Moss, Perlite (1:1).
Poked holes in the bottom of all the Styrofoam cups.
Filled and lightly packed the cups with the media.
Planted each plant so that the light area wasn't visible.
Watered all the plants so the water would finish packing the media. (Watered until it drained out of the cup onto the ground)
Once all the cups had drained I placed them in the trough with the small amount of remaining media.
Moved trough from outside where I was working to inside next to a south facing window.

I tried to take pictures for you but I only have my dad's camera which is fancy and I have no idea how to use. Actually I cant use any camera... I took more pictures today than I have in my entire life. They were painfully fuzzy, but I cropped each picture so you could see the least fuzzy parts of each plant. Either way here is my haul.

::Fang::


::Jaws::


::Czech Giant::


::Drosera Capensis Alba::


::Drosera Intermedia::


::Sarracenia Leucophylla::


::Sarracenia Purpurea (Saved From Lowes)::


::Partially Completed Setup::


::Akai Ryu::

Wow, I hope my giant mystery box is that nice!!! Congrats and good growing!

looking good
keep us updated!

Those photos have some great reduced depth of field making your subjects really stand out!

If you're looking to get photos where more of the picture is in focus (less "fuzzy" overall) you need to look for a setting on the camera to adjust the aperture or "F stop." A lower number F stop (larger aperture, it will probably look like F3.5 or something along those lines) will give photos like you got. One part will be in focus and the rest of the photo will not be in focus. If you want photos where the majority of the photo is in focus you need a higher F stop. A good balance is somewhere around F8. Be careful though, as you increase the F stop you will also need a longer exposure time, so if you increase the F stop too much you may get to the point where you need a tripod.

95slvrZ28 wrote:Those photos have some great reduced depth of field making your subjects really stand out!

If you're looking to get photos where more of the picture is in focus (less "fuzzy" overall) you need to look for a setting on the camera to adjust the aperture or "F stop." A lower number F stop (larger aperture, it will probably look like F3.5 or something along those lines) will give photos like you got. One part will be in focus and the rest of the photo will not be in focus. If you want photos where the majority of the photo is in focus you need a higher F stop. A good balance is somewhere around F8. Be careful though, as you increase the F stop you will also need a longer exposure time, so if you increase the F stop too much you may get to the point where you need a tripod.

You sir are my hero... Thanks for that.

In the instructions I gave, did I leave anything important out? Is there anything special I need to do for the next few days? They look to be in such poor health currently. I know thats probably shipping, but I still wish them a speedy recovery and anything you could tell me so I can help would be appreciated.

Shimizoki wrote:They look to be in such poor health currently.

What makes you say that? They all look to be in pretty good health to me.

Matt wrote:

Shimizoki wrote:They look to be in such poor health currently.

What makes you say that? They all look to be in pretty good health to me.

Well 3 of 4 of the traps are browning on each plant... Sundews don't have dew. I don't know if they are actually sickly or not... they just seem that way. I cropped the images to show the most in focused and better looking parts of the plant. I'm sure they will be better in a week or two.

the sarr does look bad... but hey u know what 16.95 mystery box u cant complain for that bargain. u got JAWS,Fang,Czech
dont worry about sundews they will recover so fast and u can give them more sun faster than the VFTs u have and the will get lots of dew there pretty hardy...

Shimizoki wrote:Thanks for that.

Any time! I love photography and it's always nice to know the information you need in order to compose the picture that you see in your head. Whether that be something where you really want something to pop out, or if you want to give the viewer a very broad view of whatever the situation may be!

Shimizoki wrote:Well 3 of 4 of the traps are browning on each plant... Sundews don't have dew. I don't know if they are actually sickly or not... they just seem that way.

Those plants appear to be in good health. All plants after they get shipped in the mail usually look a bit haggard. Give them a few weeks to settle in and I'm sure they'll look quite a bit better. I have never received a Sundew in the mail that had dew on the leaves. Most of the time they just turn into a ball of leafs that you have to pry apart to find the roots.

The browning leaves on the VFTs is typical for a recently potted plant. They usually sacrifice their older growth in favor of putting energy into establishing roots and other underground growth. Give them some time!

Dubstep13 wrote:the sarr does look bad... but hey u know what 16.95 mystery box u cant complain for that bargain. u got JAWS,Fang,Czech
dont worry about sundews they will recover so fast and u can give them more sun faster than the VFTs u have and the will get lots of dew there pretty hardy...

I wasnt sure how the sarr was supposed to look, thats why I didnt say anything about it. Good to know its not awesome looking either. (or bad to know... whatever.)

95slvrZ28 wrote:Those plants appear to be in good health. All plants after they get shipped in the mail usually look a bit haggard. Give them a few weeks to settle in and I'm sure they'll look quite a bit better. I have never received a Sundew in the mail that had dew on the leaves. Most of the time they just turn into a ball of leafs that you have to pry apart to find the roots.

The browning leaves on the VFTs is typical for a recently potted plant. They usually sacrifice their older growth in favor of putting energy into establishing roots and other underground growth. Give them some time!

Thanks 95slvrZ28... I figured it was something among those lines.

95slvrZ28 wrote:Those plants appear to be in good health. All plants after they get shipped in the mail usually look a bit haggard. Give them a few weeks to settle in and I'm sure they'll look quite a bit better. I have never received a Sundew in the mail that had dew on the leaves. Most of the time they just turn into a ball of leafs that you have to pry apart to find the roots.

The browning leaves on the VFTs is typical for a recently potted plant. They usually sacrifice their older growth in favor of putting energy into establishing roots and other underground growth. Give them some time!

Thanks for explaining 95slvrZ28

Dubstep13 wrote:the sarr does look bad...

That Sarracenia spent all winter on my deck. The summer is very late here so it doesn't have any pitchers up yet. Additionally S. leucophylla make their best pitchers in the fall. It's a healthy plant that's putting out new spring growth and will be fine once it gets settled in and gets a chance to grow for the summer.

Thanks for posting the pictures!

No plant looks its best just after it has been ripped from its comfortable home and growing medium, shipped to a different location, and repotted. They will begin to look good in maybe 6-8 weeks after they adjust and acclimate and benefit from your good care. Be sure to post more pictures then! You're doing pretty good with the camera. The shots look nice.

Awesome!

lol MY bad matt i wasnt trying to talk u guys down at all... just stating the obvious and i do know that Shizmoki put in special request for ONE of each so he could have pitchers and Dews and VFTs... so thats what he gets its ok he deff got a Bargain no doubt he got more than his moneys worth and we all do when we get M.Boxes

Yea, as long as they all survive then I'm happy. I didnt know it would take 2 months before they got back on track, I expected a week or two. Oh well... I guess I need to be patient with the traps.