Axelrod's CP adventures

[Iwest]

I'd disagree with adding artificial lighting to the outdoors collection. That seems difficult, unorthodox, and highly unnecessary. Just pick the sunniest spot in the yard and they'll be fine. Worst comes to worst, you'll see a slight drop in pigmentation, but it's also important to remember that these plants in their natural environment see rainy/cloudy days even in the summer and so a bit of shade won't be the end of the world.

 

[Axelrod12]

Random sand question. I've been using Home Depot play sand in my mixes. I've been receiving some plants, watching videos, and looking at pictures lately and all the sands I see seem to be a much larger grain size. I'm concerned the HD sand may be a bit too fine for the mix. I include perlite as well but I'd still prefer to use a proper sand if possible. So any experience with the play sand? Is it too fine or am I just overly concerned?

 

[NatchGreyes]

I use this sand. It's fine for use, but I recently switched to perlite and like that a lot better.

 

[Axelrod12]

I do kinda a 1:1:1 of peat, sand, perlite. Perlite bugs me for some unexplainable reason so I like to use less of it and add sand lol.

 

[Axelrod12]

One more question. What is dionaea's cold tolerance. I've got a pot of typicals that I moved outside and apart from having gotten sunburned they don't seem to be doing well. I'm worried they may be lost soon if something doesn't change with them.

 

[Bio]

If they have a good rhizome then they can take almost anything, but if the rhizome is damaged then the plant is in trouble.
When I got deathcube flytraps, I would immediately take them and plant them with the others. I do NOT recommend you do that with small/sick plants and only do this in summer. An unacclimated flytrap in winter is dead overnight.

You don't need to worry about sunburn too much, new leaves will grow and they will be fully acclimated to full Sun.

About your hardiness question- I wouldn't let small exposed pots fall below 35*f. For the large community system, I would be worried below 28-30*f.

 

[Axelrod12]

How about sphagnum moss. I've got a bunch in some ziplock bags that I've been reviving to live sphagnum. I have a big bin outside I want to grow it in. I'm just not sure what it's cold tolerance is. Google didn't turn up much except that some sp. are frost sensitive. This is NZ sphagnum by the way.

 

[Bio]

I would imagine that NZ sphagnum is similar to Drosera arcturi in cold hardiness. Cold-temperate to sub-alpine.

 

[Axelrod12]

And now for a question about pollinating sarracenia flowers. How do you prevent nature from doing its job? In other words how do I ensure that the pollen I take from plant A and put onto plant B is the only pollen crossed. I don't want some pesky bee coming along and mixing things up on me without my knowledge.

 

[hcarlton]

Bag the flowers with some sort of fine mesh.