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By TheGreatBombini
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Posts:  11
Joined:  Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:45 pm
#460084
Hello all,

I am super excited to join this forum and tap into all of the knowledge and resources available here (and hopefully be able to contribute some of my own!). I am scientist in a field tangential to botany and am lucky to live in a place with a good climate and amazing botanical diversity, including some fun native carnivorous plants, and started growing carnivorous plants in earnest this year.

In the carnivorous plant realm, I currently have a modest collection of Drosera, Sarracenia, a nice U. alpina specimen that currently has a couple pods ripening, and some Pings. I also have several planters of Darlingtonia, and lots of lots (too many) seeds germinating right now. I also just started a mix of open pollinated VFTs that are starting to show some variability in trap morphology, so I am pretty excited about those and itching to grow more species from seed!

Additionally, I grow all sorts of vegetables, cut flowers, ornamentals, and plants native to my area, and I'm just starting to dive into the orchid rabbit hole in earnest.

In the near future I will have more time and space to grow, care for, and expand my collection, so I look forward to chatting plants with y'all!
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By TheGreatBombini
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Posts:  11
Joined:  Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:45 pm
#460087
Actually, same zone as you but the other coast! Temps hit the triple digits in the summer but it cools off at night and it is generally much less soupy, which probably helps. The Utricularia is a windowsill plant and I've had everything listed do fine on windowsills as well, although I have quite a bit of garden space with variable lighting and a fully controlled grow tent which helps for any finicky species or specimens that need ideal conditions. Have you tried using shade cloth and/or ice cubes to get them through heat spells?
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By wcrosman
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Posts:  710
Joined:  Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:03 am
#460088
Welcome
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By andynorth
Location: 
Posts:  2249
Joined:  Fri May 12, 2023 9:08 pm
#460101
Welcome. I must ask, how do you care for your Darlingtinia Californica. I have had a couple adults that ended up dying after growing great for me but ice took one out and not sure about the other. I have been growing several from seed since April, 2024. They are doing good for the most part. My secret Santa this year sent me some very nice plants, including a Del Norte CO all red juvenile. I currently have it in 100% live LFSM . I top water using ice water daily. I have inside in my greenhouse where I will keep until spring. I plan to do an experiment with my seedlings to see which media works est and if they do better in running water.
Again, welcome to the forum, be sure to check out the seed bank, monthly photo contests and all the giveaways that forum members sponsor.
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By TheGreatBombini
Location: 
Posts:  11
Joined:  Fri Jan 10, 2025 11:45 pm
#460105
Howdy! First I must say that I live within their native range so I am sure that helps a lot! Also, I haven't had to nurse them through a rough summer yet so take my advice with a grain of salt. Right now, my biggest plant has just about chewed through whatever media it was in, but it appears to be garden variety potting soil (probably FF seed or potting mix). I have some smaller plants in native sphagnum moss, but in both cases I purchased them so I can't be sure what the media is exactly. For the seeds I'm starting, I sowed them on chopped LFSM, with peat, perlite, and blasting sand as the actual media.

I have had success growing them in my windowsill (70/70 pretty much year round with some swings, and 3-6 hours of light depending on the season), outdoors, and in a grow tent (16/8, 75deg/~80rh). Right now all the bigger plants are outside, where it does frost and snow but not often and they are looking good.

In the wild, I have seen them growing at 6-7000 feet all the way down to 3000, from roadside ditches to bogs to scree slopes on mountain passes, so I suspect they are not very finicky when it comes to media and temperatures, provided the roots stay cool most of the year. I haven't paid close enough attention to speak authoritatively, but I suspect that populations expand and contract based on short to medium term climate conditions, which makes them a little more challenging to grow in the garden since you are unlikely to have a large colony that can push through the heat spells and droughts like you'd see in situ. I do wonder about the one you lost to ice though since most wild Darlingtonias are under feet of snow right now, maybe that offers a thermal buffer or something though?

Thank you for the tips, I will definitely be getting involved with the seed bank!
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By andynorth
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Posts:  2249
Joined:  Fri May 12, 2023 9:08 pm
#460109
I live just south of Seattle, so not too terribly far away from their natural habitat. The one of mine that froze was a couple years back. I was keeping it in an aquabowl that pumped water through a coarse sand/lfsm mixture. Main pitcher was almost 14 inches. It did great indoors and then I put outside in the fall. We had a pretty bad ice storm that year and I failed to get to it in time. Lesson learned. I have chatted with Mike Wang and also have read some great writeups he put out and I have somewhat of an idea about what to do but I like hearing from those that are able to keep them alive.
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