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Im new to this but ive done a ton of research and so far this is what is in my terrarium. N Ventricosa Red, 3 typical form venus flytraps, 1 red dragon, 1 red pirahna, 1 dente, 1 big mouth, 1 big vigorous, 1 cross haired. 1 cape sundew, 1 staghorn sundew, 1 marshton dragon sundew, 1 forked sundew giant form. Now my only question is can i grow a cobra lilly in this terrarium with all the others? I know it needs cooler nights , but can all those other plants tolerate cooler nights? I also plan on completeing my terrarium with a cupped trap venus, an austalian pitcher small, and an N Truncata. Out of all these plants listed which ones have the greatest root base? if placed together will any of these rob the other of water?
 
All VFTs are best grown outside, I seriously recommend finding them a better spot outside. Some of your sundews will do better outside as well though a terrarium is fine like binata. As for Darlingtonia I would set it outside as well.
Be careful with some of your plants like the Cephalotus, it's not a recommended plant for beginners, not saying it'll die on you but it'll need more maintenance then a D. capensis.
 
well the terrarium is in a south facing window that gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. and the temp doesn't go over 90-95 at highest. I have a small fan blowing air into a tipped up part of the lid to keep the air filtered so mold and fungus wont grow. Plus i live in a pretty dry climate so i doubt mold and fungus will be much of a problem. but besides that i am dead set on a terrarium.. even bought humidity and temperature gauges. and if any are difficult to maintain please give me some basic tips on keeping them healthy
 
besides the 4 hours of sun they also get about 14-16 hours of 40 watts of sunglow a day
 
Even with a south facing window your Akai ryu will not be able to turn bright red with less than 6-8 hours of direct outside sunlight. You also wont see the summer VFT leaves which stand erect. Your sundew would do fine in this window but the Darlingtonia and VFTs simply wont unless you can get a hold of some SERIOUS lighting equipment. If you're really set on a terrarium try leaving one or 2 VFT and set the rest of them outside and compare the results at the end of the growing season, you'll see what i mean.
 
First of all, welcome to Terra Forums!

The community is always happy to help out new recruits. For a first timer, you definitely have acquired a large range of plants. As we commonly see on this forum, all the research in the world often cannot prepare you for actually growing some of the more difficult species.

As Frenchy stated, Venus flytraps are not well suited for terrariums and are best kept outside 99% of the time. Venus flytraps need full, unfiltered, sunlight to thrive. Cobra lilies are also outdoor temperate plants, but are more difficult to care for. They often need constant running water to cool their delicate roots.

EDIT: It would also be beneficial to have your location so we can check up on your weather. In addition, it'd be good to know if you have an outdoor area where you could keep plants.

Jason
 
Hiya! Welcome to TF!

I highly reccommend growing the VFTs outside. No questions about it. And another thing is is that I would do a planted terrarium if your going to have all those plants. What I would do is have them in individual pots and have the terrarium act like a mini-greenhouse. I wouldn't try to have a Ceph and a beastly Nep in a planted terrarium.

I need some other people's words on this, but wouldn't it be better to grow forked sundews onside in the sun than in a terrarium? :x
 
well so far all the plants are doing great.. the venus flytraps get the most amount of light in the window.. and i would think 16 hours of 2 20 watt bulbs and 4 hours of direct sunlight would be enough?
 
Probably not. :/ But I could be wrong since I have no idea exactly how much light the bulbs radiate.

How long have you had the plants?
 
  • #11
The effects and results of etiolation are not immediate. It would be like putting a human in an environment with less oxygen then we breath normally. Eventually you would see some very serious symptoms. Since air travels indoors we are fine but light is severely filtered through a window. UV rays do not penetrate windows which I believe is a strong factor in determining how well the plant does.
But even with 2 20watt bulbs and a south facing window this is not enough light. I have experimented with growing VFTs indoors. Even with 4 40W T8s the VFTs eventually went downhill. At first they flourished and were bright red, heck they even flowered, but you cant substitute pure sunlight. They grow in full sun out in the wild, not under bulbs so they can take a 'sunburn' if you will. They also can take low humidity, my RH was down to 25% this winter and they grew without a hitch indoors, until they said enough is enough.

If you still dont think that sunlight is a necessity do the experiment as I suggested, that way you wont have all your eggs in one basket when they go under.
As Jason stated if you have a place outside put them there but what you can do even if you are in an apt is put them in a hanging flower bed that hooks to your window.
 
  • #12
Can you tell me more about your lighting system? Are they long fluorescent tubes? If so, are they T12, T8 or T5, and do you have a reflector for them?

I am almost positive that in the long run, your flytraps will be much better suited to growing outside. 2 months is definitely not enough time to be assured of anything. If you have a camera and could maybe take a few pictures of your plants and grow system, that would make things easier.

Jason
 
  • #13
yeah , there as tall as the top of the tank, about 3 feet. not sure about the T but the bulbs are sunglow bulbs that supposedly give off the same UV rays as the sun.. and i have a reflector over the top
 
  • #14
You have the issue of dormancy to overcome with the VFT's as well. If these are all in one community planting this is going to be very difficult. Community plantings can quickly lead to rot and if one plant goes you need know about it ASAP. If you don't do something about it before it spreads they will all go down. Not sure what you are using for your terrarium but in a community planting you also have to worry about drainage. Sure you can put a layer of whatever on the bottom to allow water to collect but you also have to make sure none of the plant's roots go down into the drainage layer or they will rot (and trust me, those D. binata ssp. will do that quickly). Also I use different media and different watering regimes for all of my plants so again having such a shotgun spread of CP's in one terrarium may be a little more difficult.

Not to mention I don't think any of those plants need a terrarium in the first place. Most do just fine with normal household RH.

-J.P.
 
  • #15
well i plan on taking the vfts out for the winter months.. i just like the idea of having a whole ecosystem of plants thriving together.. where i can drop a bag of crickets or fruit flies and watch them feed on their own.. outside planting in pots just doesn't seem as exciting to me..
 
  • #16
growing vft's indoors... is not recommended really for anyone, especially beginners... but it is possible to grow them indoors, it just requires MUCH more work than it would to grow them outside... you dont need professional lighting equipment or anything, your just going to need ALOT of light and a really good plan as far as how to deal with dormancy... ( theres no easy way of doing that indoors really )

so I'm not going to sit here and say its IMPOSSIBLE, i'm just saying for someone new to the game... its improbable that you'd be able to do it succesfully your first try.

so if there is even the potential that you can grow them happily outdoors than thats what you should do just because its the smarter decision...

and i'll echo everyone elses concern, you dont want all those things planted together...split em up and work on growing them individually before you try any kind of collective terrarium...

other than that... welcome to TF

good luck~!
-C
 
  • #17
yeah , there as tall as the top of the tank, about 3 feet. not sure about the T but the bulbs are sunglow bulbs that supposedly give off the same UV rays as the sun.. and i have a reflector over the top

To tell the T system, look at the diameter of the bulbs. If it is well over an inch, they are T12s, if it is closer to one inch, they are T8s, and if they are well under one inch, they are T5. The only fluorescent lighting system I'd even try to grow VFTs long term with is a T5 setup with a 95% or better reflector.

Were these bulbs marketed as agricultural bulbs? One of the things that is often only discovered when talking to veteran growers is that agricultural lights are typically a waste of money. Any difference between them and your common fluorescent tubes is negligible. They can never measure up to the sun's intensity.

The biggest point is, however, if you have the means to grow venus flytraps outside in full sun, it is better than growing them under lights 100% of the time. J.P. mentioned dormancy as well. If you have not read up on that, you should.

Save your indoor growspace for more sun sensitive plants like nepenthes.

Jason
 
  • #18
ok there T12s and they were just the sunglo version at lowes
 
  • #19
i just like the idea of having a whole ecosystem of plants thriving together..

I think that's just the thing though. It isn't an ecosystem - those plants aren't associated with one another, and they don't benefit from one another's presence. They aren't from the same ecosystems; they aren't even all from the same biomes. Even if you can get past tricky things like pests, overcrowding and dormancy issues, some of those plants just have flat-out different needs. Sundews like to stay wet; Nepenthes need air circulation through their root mass. VFTs like it moist and warm; Cephalotus likes it dryish and cool. I think you would be well-served to do some more research on the cultural conditions of your plants.
~Joe
 
  • #20
well im not even going to try the cobra lilly, but i was thinking the temperate plants would be somewhat succeptable to tropical conditions.. plus, in the window the way the sun comes down only the plants in the front of the tank get about 4-5 hours of sunlight. Where the ventricosa and sundews are in the back so they are in the direct sun for only about an hour or 2 at most.. and the fan keeps the air below 95 degrees.. i hope i can pull this off.. i wish more people would try to give advice for how to achieve this, despite the complications..
 
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