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Nep help

  • Thread starter kgrudz
  • Start date
Recently got a vetricosa online. This is my first nep and im giving it all the requirements and the plant is really healthy looking and its pitchering well. However my largest pitcher which is no more than 2 inches long, out of no where appears to be dying. im linking a pic of it but im just wondering whats going wrong. http://http://carnivorousplantman.webs.com/myplants.htm
 
Hi Grud,
welcome to the forums! :)

There is probably nothing wrong with your nepenthes..
pitchers die..its normal.

just keep giving it good conditions, and if it is happy with the conditions you provide, it will slowly respond and continue growing..

You do however need to remove the Cobra Lilly, Venus Fly Traps, and all the Sarracenia from the terrarium!
They wont survive in there..
Terrariums are very bad for those plants..death is virtually assured!
you need to take them out, re-pot them into individual pots, keep them on a windowsill for the rest of the winter, then put them outside in the spring..leave them outside all summer and into Autumn,
then next winter you will need to devise a method for dormancy..
then..dont ever buy VFT's Cobra Lillys or Sarracenia from Lowes in the middle of winter! ;)
very bad time of year to buy plants that should be dormant in the winter..

I have a page here:
http://gold.mylargescale.com/scottychaos/CP/page2.html
about handling dormancy for people who live in our northern climates..

(hmm..I just noticed you have a "growing instructions" page..
you give generally good advice on that page!
so when it comes to dormancy for VFTs and Sarracenia, why arent you taking your own advice? ;)

Scot

---------- Post added at 08:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 PM ----------

the link doesnt work.


Correct link:

http://carnivorousplantman.webs.com/myplants.htm
 
Recently got a vetricosa online. This is my first nep and im giving it all the requirements and the plant is really healthy looking and its pitchering well. However my largest pitcher which is no more than 2 inches long, out of no where appears to be dying. http://carnivorousplantman.webs.com/myplants.htm

Ack!!!

I took a look at the link, and if that is a community terrarium you WILL have problems. You've got a highland nepenthes, a cobra plant, a VFT, two varieties of sarracenia, and an adalae all sharing the same soil and conditions. :nono: Depending on how you care for your terrarium, something has to die. The only question is what.

First off, the cobra plant is toast. They like cold conditions. A terrarium is much too warm for them.

Second, the sarracenia are going to outgrow that 10 gal tank. Also, you have mixed plants that require dormancy with those that do not, and you do not appear to have a contingency plant to accommodate dormancy requirements.

Third, you've planted sarracenia on the same strata as the nepenthes. Sarracenia like the wet, nepenthes not so much. One will thrive, the other will not. While a 70% peat moss soil mix may suit the Sarracenia, it will not suite the nepenthes (not enough drainage).

Fourth, reptile lighting is totally inadequate for growing CPs. They have very little of the photosynthetic radiation that plants need. And you have some plants that require high light, e.g., VFT.

Okay, if you want to save your plants, institute the following plan without delay. (1) Discard the grow instructions that came with those plastic death cubes you bought the plants in. (2) Get a basic book on how to grow CPs, e.g. Savage Garden or Growing Carnivorous Plants. (3) Replant the doomed plants into individual pots with (a) the proper soil mix, (b) the proper amount of water and humidity--the tray method works well, and (c) the proper kind of lighting--I can't stress this last one enough. (4) Continue to ask lots of questions. We are here to help. :)

-Hermes.
 
So, first off, I applaud your enthusiasm. But there are some major problems.
For one, you cribbed those growing instructions directly from a well-known vendor's site. It's obviously written by someone other than the rest of your site and Google sees all. That you claim copyrights at the bottom of your page is an invitation to a very real lawsuit. (It's also against the terms of service of your web host.)
Two, all of those plants belong in pots. Planted terrariums are doable for certain Drosera, Nepenthes and others, but planted terrariums are a whole layer of complexity beyond growing carnivorous plants, for which special care and considerations are required. While many people start this way and do make it work, I think you'll find it much easier to learn how to care for these plants if you give them individual pots and pay attention to the unique cultural needs of each respective family. Nepenthes like a different type of soil than Darlingtonia, which prefer different mixes than common Drosera and American bog species like Sarracenia and Dionaea. To be blunt, don't be surprised if your current approach kills a number of your plants - if you want to do it this way, you can't be the type to discourage easily.
Best luck, and welcome to the forums.
~Joe
 
[Personal Opinion- Feel free to disagree]

Okay, be careful. I am a terrarium hater because I just don't see the use of keeping them in glass cases. I see a few things wrong (IMO) in those pictures.

1. Terrariums as a whole are not good for Darlingtonia, Sarracenia, and Dionaea. Especially the VFT, which looks etiolated... not a good sign. Plus, your media looks dry, which is not too great. I'd put all your plants in individual pots and sit them in a tank, or better yet in natural light and your Darlingtonia, Sarracenia, and Darlingtonia outside. It's winter, so where's their dormancy?

2. Your lighting could be improved. Natural direct sunlight is the absolute best that there is, no doubt about it. Like I mentioned, a certain three genuses could be outside now... where's the dormancy? N. ventricosa and D. adelae should be on a supremely-lit windowsill or under t5 or t8 lights. Reptile lights don't cut it.

3. You don't need to feed... especially during winter. Feeding isn't that important, focus on getting your conditions right first. And don't force-feed dormant plants.

4. Don't steal from the public domain. Your pictures are all from Google sources, your info sounds so... familiar... on growing CPs as well...

I tend to agree with Scotty, Joe, and Dave. Get your conditions right, and have fffffuuuunnn! :-O

[Rant Time Over]

Pitchers are leaves... leaves have a certain lifespan... and then they die.
 
4. Don't steal from the public domain. Your pictures are all from Google sources, your info sounds so... familiar... on growing CPs as well...

Not to nitpick, but the stolen material isn't public domain - it's from copywritten/trademarked sources. Public domain you can get away with, but other people's intellectual property is risky business.
~Joe
 
Not to nitpick, but the stolen material isn't public domain - it's from copywritten/trademarked sources. Public domain you can get away with, but other people's intellectual property is risky business.
~Joe

I was thinking something else when I typed that... and yeah, most of the pics reposted were of copyrighted material/CP sellers.

So don't steal from other sources, really. Be proud of your own plants and upload more pics of them.



Back on topic now!
 
(hmm..I just noticed you have a "growing instructions" page..
you give generally good advice on that page!
so when it comes to dormancy for VFTs and Sarracenia, why arent you taking your own advice? ;)

Scot

ah! well now I why your advice is so good! its not yours! ;)
you should probably just delete your "growing instructions" page alltogether..just get rid of it.
for two reasons:

1. its not your information! its plagiarized.
2. If you have been growing CP's for like, a week, you really have no business giving growing instructions..sorry!

(well..we have probably scared away kgrudz! ;)

Kgrud,
if you are still here..please dont go away! :)
ALL of us were beginners..ALL of us started out knoing NOTHING about CP's..
its fine..we all have to learn.

everyone here is very concerned about CP's..we all like to make sure they are well cared for and given the best possible conditions to thrive..because they are such awesome plants! :)
Yes, you have started out growing your plants poorly..and you have been called on it!
in great detail! ;)
thats ok..you arent the first, you wont be the last! ;)
many people start out thinking terrariums are fine..it seems "logical" if you dont know otherwise..

please take the advice offered in this thread, and let us know how your plants are doing!
and when you have more questions, please ask!

Scot
 
  • #10
thanks a lot guys. at first i was just going for a cool look i guess but now im more into the plants. i plan on going to a gardening store today begin the transformation. I do have some questions
if i plant them individualy what kind of pots should i use?
is it okay if i still keep them all in the same terrarium untill spring?
where can i buy a t5 light ?
what plants belong outside ?
and what plants can go about the tray method ?
 
  • #11
Plastic pots are the easiest. I suggest getting ones that are straight and tall, not tapered, because they hold more media, and hence more water, which means that the hydration of the soil will change more slowly and give your plants more consistent conditions. (Which means less watering and easier care for you.) Darlingtonia like to grow horizontally and can take shallow containers - they'll spread out and make runners as adults. VFTs can take shallower pots in warm conditions, but they don't like to be totally waterlogged in cold and dark winter weather. Or at least, that's my experience with growing in the Pacific NW climate - I use pots about eight inches deep now and have since ceased having wintertime VFT problems. I like rectangular pots because they fit together neatly, which minimizes evaporation from water trays and also protects temperate plants from quick freezes.
The best place to get pots is the hardware store dumpster, or landscaping projects. Pots from the garden store are overpriced and pretty - your pots are going to be spattered with peat and algae so a nice plain black pot will look as good or better than some flowery fake stonework job from Rite-Aid. (Not to mention, a smooth, plain black plastic pot is easier to wipe down than ceramic or textured plastic.) Nursery pots are what you want - the mass-produced plain black UV-resistant plastic ones. You can find them online in bulk for reasonable prices - a case of 800 little nursery pots costs about as much as a dozen big plain terra cotta pots at Home Depot. But you can also find them discarded at places that have lots of nursery plants.
For your Nepenthes, you might try using a net pot, like they sell for pond plants, but for your first try I suggest getting a really big one. I put all my adult Neps in net pots that are about ten inches square and seven or eight inches tall. And that's probably the minimum size you should use - I only recently found a source for bigger ones and I'm immediately thinking about which plants I should move up first. I like to do this so that I can leave my plants sitting in a little water. That way they don't dry out as fast, and I don't have to worry as much about overwatering either. In a normal pot, the media might get too waterlogged for most Neps if you left them in water; Neps need airflow to their roots. The net pots let air in through the sides, so you can give constant water through the bottom (but still let the tray dry out between watering.) With net pots, you need to use a sizeable proportion of media that won't compress - stuff like orchid bark, big chunks of perlite, ceramic chips or horticultural charcoal. LFS and peat will compact and decay over time unless they're mixed in with chunky stuff to allow air in. Plants like Sarracenia and VFTs don't mind that at all, but Neps have different expectations.
I need to go sign papers on a new apartment, but I can't resist the urge to help... best luck!
~Joe

PS - I made several threads about shopping around for T5s recently... use the search feature at the top of the page and look for threads started by me. They're all in the terrarium subforum, IIRC.
 
  • #12
Ok I know, even though i'm a semi-noob, that VFTs and Sarrs belong outside in the summer but depending on where you live in IL (anywhere near the QCA by any chance?) they wouldnt survive our winters directly but maybe the garage or cool basement. ask these guys about temps i wont even pretend to know what they should be but i know 20's is really testing their life. cobra plant i know NOTHING about so i cant answer that. the nep is an indoors plant or warm weather plant. I recommend LIVE long Fiber Sphagnum moss of LFS for short, as a media. A mixture of perlite i have heard works well too. Andy has great media mixtures if you want to check those out on flytrapshop.com humidity, light, temp, soil moisture play huge parts in the health of your plants. neps are tropical so higher humidity is recommended. also the soil should be moist, not soaking, at all times. As for pots I use plastic and go large to give the plants plenty of room to grow for all my CPs and I think long term. Most CPs have small root balls (i think...not sure) so don't go massive for VFTs. However you can grow sarrs, VFTs and temperate dews can be grown in a single pot as long as roots dont tangle. I would recommend growing those (Sarrs, dews, and VFTs) in a bog like pot. There are several posts that instruct you how to or you can search the net! Experienced growers please feel free to correct any misinformation! I think thats pretty decent with out getting into specific instructions..anybody else?
 
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