FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Im new to carnivorous plants and i was wondering if the following terrarium setup is okay till summer.
Setup:
sphagnum moss
wood(not treated) to elevate plants up to light
1 t8 5000K "natural light" Phillips fluorescent bulb
20 gallon tank
rainsoft reverse osmosis water
no fertillizer
Plants:

Drosera Binata
2 Venus fly trap
Sarracenia purpurea
sarracenia rubra
sarracenia Leucophyll x "Wilissii"
Although im new i've researched CPs pretty well, most are Lowe's plants, 3 are ordered by Bug Biting plants.
Plants are okay i bought them a 2 days ago in their "death cubes"

Hello and welcome to FlytrapCare!

All of those (except the D. binata) are temperate plants that grow best in full sun. Why not just grow them outside in full sun? Terrariums are challenging to grow temperate plants in for even experienced growers. I don't know where you live, but if it's still too cold, you can keep them in a sunny windowsill or a sunny porch until the chance of freeze and frost has passed.

Thanks, im in kansas, lows will be in the 40's is that still okay? if so ill put them outside

Get them outside! Repot them into the proper mixes (peat and sand/perlite will do for all of them), get a water tray for them and place them in an area that gets full sun. The D. binata will grow better with more shade than the others, lets say a porch would be great for the D. binata, but you can grow them with the other plants as long as the local humidity is moderate. For the winter, if the lowest it gets is 40F they will be alright, they can survive to the high 30s. If it gets lower you can cover them with a potato sack and put mulch on top. You can also grow the D. binata as a tropical on the windowsill or a terrarium for the winter.

newbie14 wrote:Thanks, im in kansas, lows will be in the 40's is that still okay? if so ill put them outside

Lows in the 40s are fine. If it's going to frost, you can cover them or bring them in. Otherwise, they'll do great outside. You're going to want to slowly introduce them to full sun or they'll get sunburned.

limeslide wrote:For the winter, if the lowest it gets is 40F they will be alright, they can survive to the high 30s.

I had some Sarracenia outside all year last year in Ashland. They experienced a low temperature of 6°F and they're all coming back strong this summer. And I didn't mulch them or provide any sort of protection for them. They can definitely take temperatures well below freezing provided that they're in a pot that's large enough not to freeze solid.

Matt wrote:

limeslide wrote:For the winter, if the lowest it gets is 40F they will be alright, they can survive to the high 30s.

I had some Sarracenia outside all year last year in Ashland. They experienced a low temperature of 6°F and they're all coming back strong this summer. And I didn't mulch them or provide any sort of protection for them. They can definitely take temperatures well below freezing provided that they're in a pot that's large enough not to freeze solid.

Ah yes, but in this instance the pots being used are small, so the chance of the entire pot freezing (thus killing the plants) is greater than in a larger pot, like the one you used.

limeslide wrote:Ah yes, but in this instance the pots being used are small, so the chance of the entire pot freezing (thus killing the plants) is greater than in a larger pot, like the one you used.

Right. But I just wanted to point out that they can survive temperatures well below the high 30s provided that the soil doesn't freeze solid. A little freezing on the surface of the soil didn't seem to bother them either. In fact, even when the temperatures got down into the low single digits, the pitchers didn't die. I just snipped all of the pitchers off this spring that made it through winter and many of them still looked pretty good.

Matt wrote:

limeslide wrote:Ah yes, but in this instance the pots being used are small, so the chance of the entire pot freezing (thus killing the plants) is greater than in a larger pot, like the one you used.

Right. But I just wanted to point out that they can survive temperatures well below the high 30s provided that the soil doesn't freeze solid. A little freezing on the surface of the soil didn't seem to bother them either. In fact, even when the temperatures got down into the low single digits, the pitchers didn't die. I just snipped all of the pitchers off this spring that made it through winter and many of them still looked pretty good.

Yeah, Sarracenia do take very cold temperatures if they are kept in appropriate sized pots. They look very pretty when covered in snow in my opinion.
This isn't my picture, but beautifully illustrates the prettiness of Sarracenia in the winter.


Sarracenia in the snow by aarongunnar, on Flickr