What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

A student of mine had given me a wide variety of carnivorous plants (I think 6) that I think he purchased from a store. One of them is an American Pitcher plant (S. purpera). Overall, the plant looks fairly healthy, but small, and noticed some of its pitchers are browning up. I am not familiar with this plant. I'm assuming it likes higher humidity (along with the other plants). The plants are still in their little plastic pots (about 2 inches in diameter). For now, I have them all sitting in a tall Rubbermaid container that has a clear lid. In the bottom of the container, I have a little bit of standing water. I also have a fluorescent growing light above them and have been keeping it on for about 7-8 hours a day. I also think it's important to mention that I live in North central Ohio...where it's starting to get dark about 4:00pm and outside temperatures can get below freezing (calling for snow on Thanksgiving). I am not sure what to do with some of these plants. Can anyone give me advice? Do they need to be planted? What type of soil do they prefer? How much light, water, insects, temperature, etc. do they prefer? Are they supposed to go dormant? Any advice would be most greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Dwight

P.S. The plants I received are:
Butterwort (Pinguicula primulaflora),
Round leaved sundew (Drosera caperolsis),
VFT (D. akai),
American pitcher plant (S. pupera)
tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes ventricosa),
and a U.Livida (which I have no idea what that is).
I apologize for any misspellings, I got them off of the containers and they are not the easiest handwriting for me to read.
 
im told the purpurea and VFT go into dormancy.. most of the Sarracenias do too.

water? mostly people put them in a pot that is sitting in a dish of water.. the holes in the pot allow water to move upwards, but only when needed, and when the standing water disappears, then you refill it.
distilled water/RO water/rain water.

need to be planted? how long did the guy have them before he gave them to you? if they are from the store, then they probably do need to be in a bigger pot.

soil? most of the answers i have received have said a mix of peatmoss, filter sand and perlite. thats what i have done at least and my purpurea is thriving.

light? drosera require alot of light, the purpurea i have likes my fish aquarium light, that holds to flourescent bulbs.

insects? mostly depends on the size of the plants, but i feed all of mine baby crickets that can be bought at the local pet store.. like 20 for a dime.

temperature varies with the plant, but most of them like 75 degrees around there.. ofcouse temperature drops vary at night.

the best advice to give you is for you to purchase the book "The Savage Garden".. it will go into more detail and help you to understand the different kinds of plants that you got.

thats about all the help i can give.
 
I posted on the other post that only the vft needed dormancy....sorry I guess the phenobarb affects me more then I think. I mean I have trouble hitting the right keys too.Lol. Sorry.:blues: (actualy that smiley is what I look like...I havent shaved in a month!)
 
Back
Top