FlyTrapCare Forums

Hello y'all!
A couple of days ago, I decided to buy some osmocote pellets after hearing so many great things about them when fed to nepenthes.

So my question is, how long, on average, does it take to start seeing the effects of the pellets on your plants?

Thanks!

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When you guys talk about Osmocote, do you mean the "Flower and Vegetable" or the "Outdoor and Indoor" or something else?

flower & veg is what i use.

i found the "Sta-Green" knock off on sale, seems to work just fine also.

teach me. i've always thought it's a turrible idea to fertilize the soil and that CPs need to catch their own nutrients from the air... (holds chin in wonder)

P A U L wrote:teach me. i've always thought it's a turrible idea to fertilize the soil and that CPs need to catch their own nutrients from the air... (holds chin in wonder)

Osmocote pellets can simply be placed into pitchers and apparently they tend to produce good results! My truncata seemed to really enjoy the boost, as it's working on a relatively huge leaf at the moment.

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hmm... i have a bottle of osmocote for my other houseplants... it never occurred to me to use it as food for the CP. now I feel like this gigantic bottle of fish food that will last me the rest of my life is unnecessary.

I'm not really sure if the high nitrogen or balanced matters so much. I use the high nitrogen (pink cap) osmocote. However, the other elements may provide healthier root growth and flowering. You only want to give a single pellet to a pitcher for the life of it and you should try to not give it the largest ones (though I know its tempting). It's not really risky with pitchers outside of the pitcher can die. I've had that happen. You should only put them in reasonably sized pitchers too. Not juveniles. Honestly if they're small plants I give them Maxsea through a syringe lol. If the dose is right there will definitely be a difference in pitcher growth on them. My rafflesiana hybrid's pitcher size doubled and leaf size jumped a sizable amount.

Some really preach root fertilization; They'll dose a plant's soil with Maxsea or some other orchid fertilizer for a day, then flush it out the next day to wash out the excess. Those who do it claim it does great. Sarracenia apparently do good with Osmocote too. But we're talking like 4 pellets in a 4-8inch pot. I wouldn't risk any more than that. There are articles about the stuff and I think there's a post on FTC about someone's experience with it. I heard about it by a guy on facebook but the method was the same. Check it out.

Apollyon wrote:I'm not really sure if the high nitrogen or balanced matters so much. I use the high nitrogen (pink cap osmocote. However, the other elements may provide healthier root growth and flowering) You only want to give a single pellet to a pitcher and you should try to not give it the largest ones (though I know its tempting). It's not really risky with pitchers outside of the pitcher can die. I've had that happen. You should only put them in reasonably sized pitchers too. Not juveniles. Honestly if theyre small plants I give them Maxsea through a syringe lol.

Some really preach rool fertilization, they'll dose a plants soil with Maxsea for a day, then flush it the next to wash out the excess. Those who do it claim it does great. Sarraceni apparently do good with Osmocote too. But we're talking like 4 pellets in a 4-8inch pot. I wouldn't risk any more than that. There are articles about the stuff and I think there's a post on FTC about someone's experience with it. I heard about it by a guy on facebook but the method was the same. Check it out.

I dumped five pellets into two of the pitchers on my truncata, though I do agree that you should not use more than 1 or 2 lol.

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That one plant boi wrote:I dumped five pellets into two of the pitchers on my truncata, though I do agree that you should not use more than 1 or 2 lol.

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Oops lol. They may survive?

Anyway, to answer the actual question: you should see some differences in the next leaf it puts out.

can i sprinkle osmocote dust at the bottom of the bottle... onto my sundews?

osmocote is pellets activated by water so neps and purpurea if you can keep water in the pitchers. the dust is probably the slow release coating or pure fert so i would avoid

P A U L wrote:can i sprinkle osmocote dust at the bottom of the bottle... onto my sundews?

Really wouldn't risk that either. Mixed reviews on osmocote on sundews. Some say they kill dews outright while others say the runoff from some plants enhances their growth (in a shared tray). I believe that probably boils down to conditions and maintaining water levels. Like if you were to let the trays evaporate, it'd probably have a concentration of fertilizer that'd wreck your plants.) I use osmocote on Drosera Regia but it isn't like a typical sundew. Some use them with cephalotus.

Honestly dude, I'd just foliar feed unless you have plants you're willing to test on in the name of science. I use a fine particle mister bottle that I dose my plants with once a week and only had a couple casualties in the beginning(more due to carelessness). There's still experimentation to do but the plants don't seem to mind at all. The Neps actually seem to like it. It also tends to be safer for the pitchers overall, I haven't killed one with Maxsea. Osmocote is good for if you want to do it once and let it be.