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Carnivorous Plants

imaguitargod

imaguitargod

Well, since there was some interest in tthis when I posted in my grow log I went searching the web. I finally found the picture (thanks to Larry Wong for archiving the LACPS meeting pictures) of my "Killing Fields".

Here she is, in beatuiful colored glory.

cptankjc8.jpg
 
very cool. so do you actually have to release bugs into the tank or will they survive on fertilizer? and more importantly, do they eat aphids?
 
GrumpyBear said:
so do you actually have to release bugs into the tank or will they survive on fertilizer?
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FERTILIZER IS A NO NO WITH CP'S!!! They are very sensitive plants. They live in nutrient deficient bogs and evolved to get the extra nutrients they need by attrackign, capturing, and then eating bugs (and sometimes small frogs and birds depending on what type of CP it is). They can survive without bugs but they always do best with fresh food.

Dave and I used to go out with the net and go "hunt the white buffalo". We'd find some fresh dog poo around and scoop up flies or go to the compost heap and get them their. Then we would stick them in quart mason jars and stick them in the refridgerator. It puts them into hibernation.

Then later at night when we are good and stoned, we would release them into the tank (we had a glass top to the tank so they wouldn't escape). They would slowly wake up and go walk arounnd...*gulp*, a fly trap gets them. or *stick* right onto a drosera leaf.

Some of them would take to the air and *stick* right to a virtical drosera. Then they would get free of the sticky leaf and be too gunked up to fly. The funny part is the sticky stuff is a digestive enzime and narcotic. The more they spread (try to clean it off of them) it withh their little legs, the more doped up they get.

Alot of the times after this gunking up, they would just sit there and stair off into space and not move for like 10 minutes at a time. Then they would wonder onto another drosera and get even more gunked up and zone out. Then the little hairs on the leaf would grab and pin down the fly, wrap around it, and then start to eat it/suck the disulved nutrients (body) out of it.

Oh ya, they would also get stoned on the drosera and then walk into a pitcher plant, drown, and desolve.....it was sadistic fun! I miss those days...

GrumpyBear said:
and more importantly, do they eat aphids?
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Yes they do. Aphids are too small for the VFT's but just the right size for the droseras and another one that is escaping my mind right now. I got an aphid infestation (well, a small one) in the tank and I just wiped the plant down with a few drosera leaves and poof, a meal and no more aphids!
 
Pam said:
That's gorgeous!

Aren't most carnivorous plants wetlands plants?
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Primarally a bog plant (sphagnum and peat moss) but some live in other areas as well, as long as there is high moisture. Utricularia (bladderworts) live in the water and Pinguicula (butterworts) generally are found in gypsum deposits on the side of cliffs in Mexico.
 
I've thought about getting one of those plants, the type that closes its jaws on the insect. because it always seems like you can never get those couple flys in the house :mad:
I have some questions for you.

will those plants live out in the open in the house ?
can you leave them outside during the summer, once in awhile, so they can have their full & grow quicker ?

so you're telling me they'll live & still grow in just wet peat moss soil with sun with no fertilizer or any type of food given to the roots, & a fly once in awhile ?
how long can they go w/o a fly to eat ?
how fast do they consume the fly so their ready to catch another one ?
do they also eat spiders, of course nothing huge just those little ones.
will they eat box elder bugs, or would those be to big ?
how big do those trap types get to ?

thats alot of questions, uh :lol:
 
imaguitargod said:
Primarally a bog plant (sphagnum and peat moss) but some live in other areas as well, as long as there is high moisture. Utricularia (bladderworts) live in the water and Pinguicula (butterworts) generally are found in gypsum deposits on the side of cliffs in Mexico.
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Venus Fly Traps are native to South Carolina, so that's the one with which I am most familiar. There have been problems with poachers for years destroying the remaining populations by stealing them to sell. I was pleased to see you producing your own seeds.
 
Pam said:
I was pleased to see you producing your own seeds.
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: bows :

chilehunter said:
I've thought about getting one of those plants, the type that closes its jaws on the insect
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That's a venus fly trap.

chilehunter said:
1. will those plants live out in the open in the house ?

2. can you leave them outside during the summer, once in awhile, so they can have their full & grow quicker ?

3. so you're telling me they'll live & still grow in just wet peat moss soil with sun with no fertilizer or any type of food given to the roots, & a fly once in awhile ?

4. how long can they go w/o a fly to eat ?

5. how fast do they consume the fly so their ready to catch another one ?

6. do they also eat spiders, of course nothing huge just those little ones.

7. will they eat box elder bugs, or would those be to big ?

8. how big do those trap types get to ?

thats alot of questions, uh :lol:
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Ya, that's alot of questions, lol, but it's ok, I can take it. I've numbered them for easy of answering.

1. Yes, but it depends on what type you get. Some of them require higer moisture levels (the sundews).

2. Yes, you can leave them outside but make sure they are used to it (harden them off). The more sunlught they get the more their pritty colors come out. In low light a VFT will be green, but in bright light their mouths will turn red and some verieties turn completely red.

3. Yes, that is what I am telling you.

4. Forever...well...until the plant dies.

5. Generally 3-4 days. For VFT's one trap (leaf) (depending on the size of the thing it traps) will last about 3 meals then die.

6. They'll eat anything. I have a picture somewhere of a VFT that ate a frog. Some pitcher plants (Nepenthis marylenella....sp?) can get large enough to eat small birds.

7. Yes, the can probably handle that. Harder shelled insects don't fair to well in traps because of the armor. I would suggest softer things. If the bug eats plants (ie: catapiller) make sure you put them head first in the trap so they can't get a hold of a leaf with their jaws and eath their way out.

8. Well, VFT's (Southern Giant in particular) can get to be about 2 inches.
 
I can't get peat moss here. Could I use coconut husks instead? Actually already tried that and failed miserably. :(
 
imaguitargod said:
True but it's generally not a good idea. There's alot of chemicals in beef.
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There's a lot of chemicals in you, but I guess since we're not feeding your to your plants, it's ok.
 
Pam said:
There's a lot of chemicals in you, but I guess since we're not feeding your to your plants, it's ok.
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Ya, we don't want the plants seeing funny colors or trying to teach the pepper plants that the government is after them... :lol:
 
imaguitargod said:
Ya, we don't want the plants seeing funny colors or trying to teach the pepper plants that the government is after them... :lol:
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You know, I read a couple of articles about the drugs in our drinking water today at lunch. We may already be feeding them things that will make them see funny colors and think the government is after them!
 
I had incredible success growing these things.

I ran a fish tank pump onto some rocks in my aquarium. The plants (pitcher, v fly trap, sun dew) were in moss with a little of the running water running onto them.

I had my turtle living in the tank below the rocks.

Evidently turtle poo is the best fertilizer there is.

I will post a pic later.
 
Pam said:
Venus Fly Traps are native to South Carolina, so that's the one with which I am most familiar. There have been problems with poachers for years destroying the remaining populations by stealing them to sell. I was pleased to see you producing your own seeds.
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Oh, yeah. I remember seeing them grow wild on the side of the roads in Camp LeJeune, NC back in the early 90's.
 
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