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Hello from Iowa!

  • Thread starter kyria
  • Start date
Hi!
My name is Emily, though Kyria works too, and I'm from Iowa.
I've been fascinated by carnivorous plants for a long time but after killing a few unlucky flytraps in my youth, I gave up on them. Recently, though, I've set out to add more plant life too my house and I am really interested in trying out some carnivores. Where I'm getting caught up is temperature and humidity. Most resources that I have found indicate "room temperature" or "if you're comfortable, the temperature should be fine" for Nepenthes, for instance, but then they generally reference 75-80 degrees.

I'm a cold-weather person. My house generally stays in the mid-to-upper 60s in winter, and in the summer I let it get into the middle or even upper 70s during the day but turn my A/C to seventy at night because I can't sleep if it's warmer than that. I'm not sure how to sort through the plants that are available as far as which ones will be more likely to thrive in conditions I can provide and which are too temperature sensitive. I'm hoping to get some advice about what plants might do well in my care.

For lighting, I currently have a west-facing window available, though it may be a bit drafty and dry for a plant situated right near the window. I have wall space maybe 6 feet or so from the window where I can put a shelf for plants, and an area where I want to do some hanging plants that I believe is 8 feet from the window. I also have some space for plants grown under artificial lights and have a couple of ideas. My only south-facing window is surrounded by trees (and occupied by hydroponic tomatoes and peppers at the moment) but I'm also considering some hanging plants in the east-facing windows in the kitchen. So basically, I have some options for lighting.

I don't have a ton of space, and I'm super intimidated by anything that requires a dormancy period.

Thanks, and nice to meet everyone!
 
Welcome!

Your conditions sound good for most "intermediate" Nepenthes and many common hybrids which can acclimate well to room temp/humidity. I'd look for things like N. x ventrata, ventricosa, x Miranda, sanguinea, x Bloody Mary/Lady Luck, etc. Basically stay away from anything that needs it really hot and humid (lowlanders) or needs consistent temp drops at night (highlanders).

A lot of "tropical/subtropical" sundew (Drosera) and ping (Pinguicula) species can also be grown indoors under those conditions as well. Lighting would possibly be the biggest issue for Drosera especially since most like full sun conditions or at least very bright artificial lighting. But I like using shelves and LED lights for all my indoor plants anyways since I only have access to a shady, east-facing window otherwise.
 
Hi Josh! Thanks for the advice! I just ordered a N. alata from Black Jungle; I needed some plants for a bioactive snake terrarium I'm setting up and they happened to N. alata on sale as well as listed as one of the plants they commonly send out in their "pitcher plant beginner bundle" so I figure it's probably a pretty safe choice. Drosera are lovely, but the ones I really love all seem to require a dormancy period. Maybe this spring I'll try to set up an outdoor bog garden.
 
Welcome to Terra Forums, Emily. :welcome: Jpappy knows his stuff so I don't think you can wrong with his advice. N. alata sounds like a good choice to me.
 
Got my N. alata today! The heat pack was ice cold so I was very worried, but all of the plants (1 Nepenthes but I also got a Jewel orchid, a begonia, and a oak-leaf creeping fig) seem to be okay. And, there's even a young pitcher growing! I'm giving them some time for their roots and soil to come up to temperature, and either later this afternoon or tomorrow morning will transfer them to permanent homes.
 
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