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I've always liked carnivorous plants but while I successfully grow other plants, I've been pretty good and not keeping the carnivorous ones alive. So, in the spirit of the Halloween season I thought I'd give it another try and make a nice mad scientist style terrarium.
This time I played twenty questions with some folks in the know and I think I may have figured out at least a couple things I was doing wrong. Either way I'm hoping my hungry little garden will at least last the season and maybe take out a few pests in the process.
The difficulty in this was more gathering materials than executing the project but I did at least one fun thing that was ind of interesting and I did learn a bit.
I also ended up writing a second Instructable after learning a lot about carnivorous plant potting soil. http://www.instructables.com/id/Potting-soil-for-carnivorous-plants/
This time I played twenty questions with some folks in the know and I think I may have figured out at least a couple things I was doing wrong. Either way I'm hoping my hungry little garden will at least last the season and maybe take out a few pests in the process.
The difficulty in this was more gathering materials than executing the project but I did at least one fun thing that was ind of interesting and I did learn a bit.
I also ended up writing a second Instructable after learning a lot about carnivorous plant potting soil. http://www.instructables.com/id/Potting-soil-for-carnivorous-plants/
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Signing UpStep 1Materials
A large glass jar. Any jar should do. I chose one I can close up to actively manage the humidity.
Potting soil.There are certainly better blends than others and you can increase the happiness of your plants by using the correct mix. I just grabbed some basic potting soil. Again, this was a bad idea. Please see my carnivorous plant potting soil Instructable for a mix that won't kill your plants.
The plants. I went with a classic Venus Flytrap and an interesting Sundew. Probably could have used at least one more but I'm hoping they'll grow to fill in the spaces and I'm trying to encourage some moss as well. There's always time to add more if it looks too sparse.
Optional:
Animal skull. I used a raccoon skull I picked up at the same shop I got my plants from but I have a growing collection of type specimens I've been collecting since childhood and then used extensively working as an archeologist. Best to not use something unusual. A raccoon was the perfect size and you can get them cheap on the internet if you can't otherwise obtain one.
Not Optional:
Distilled water. Tap water or even bottled water will kill Venus Fly Traps and other bog plants. I'm told rainwater is OK as well and has been good for my orchids but I haven't tried it on this type of plant. Distilled water is inexpensive so there's no reason not to use it. Bottled drinking water often has salt added for flavor and will kill your plants and while chlorine is very bad for them it's not the only thing in tap water that will kill CP's. So setting it out over night won't help in this case.
Total cost if you go out and buy everything is probably around $40.
Potting soil.
The plants. I went with a classic Venus Flytrap and an interesting Sundew. Probably could have used at least one more but I'm hoping they'll grow to fill in the spaces and I'm trying to encourage some moss as well. There's always time to add more if it looks too sparse.
Optional:
Animal skull. I used a raccoon skull I picked up at the same shop I got my plants from but I have a growing collection of type specimens I've been collecting since childhood and then used extensively working as an archeologist. Best to not use something unusual. A raccoon was the perfect size and you can get them cheap on the internet if you can't otherwise obtain one.
Not Optional:
Distilled water. Tap water or even bottled water will kill Venus Fly Traps and other bog plants. I'm told rainwater is OK as well and has been good for my orchids but I haven't tried it on this type of plant. Distilled water is inexpensive so there's no reason not to use it. Bottled drinking water often has salt added for flavor and will kill your plants and while chlorine is very bad for them it's not the only thing in tap water that will kill CP's. So setting it out over night won't help in this case.
Total cost if you go out and buy everything is probably around $40.
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I recently found out that even filtered tap water will also kill flytraps. I had a thriving outdoor carnivorous bog garden when I lived near Seattle (same climate & water as Vancouver) but have killed every carnivore I brought home since moving to north Texas, where we have very hard water. The filter removes chlorine and sulphur, but leaves salt and calcium carbonate behind. The cats throwing the little pots off the windowsill didn't help, either.
I'm ready to try again, maybe in a terrarium so the winter humidity can be kept high enough to keep the plants happy.
'The Savage Garden' by Peter D'Amato is a good reference.
Final note: the old garden got moved to my MIL & FIL yard and is still thriving.
some things ive learned:
~centipedes can crawl OUT of a venus fly trap
~fruit flies are impossible to catch alive (in order to feed them to my lovelies)
~spiders arent dumb enough to become bait (but they're still dumb enough to be vacuumed)
~pitchers need to be full of water in order to live (almost daily misting)
~if you live in vancouver, bc you dont need to buy distilled water because our water is clean and awesome (google it if you dont believe me)
~your carnivorous plants will not call you seymour. no matter how many treats you give them...
I have always wanted to have a few (yah, I got big dreams! lol) terrariums of CP, but having been living in Toronto,Canada and our very cold winters there, I did't have a real chance to try. Now I am in a milder climate (Vancouver) I have a better chance to give those plants the tender lovin' care and uber sunshine they deserve!
Now for my big question, I have one window in my room. It faces north, and is continually open. I do not get much light directly in, of course. first thing in the morning, and last light of day hits the sill but the rest is indirect. I assume that it is insufficient for such southern plants. Are there any CP that will be able to flourish in my poor conditions? I'll guess at needing some supplemental light regardless of CP, but was hoping there would be a strain or two that enjoy shady dayz....
(from bottom to top):
a 2-in. layer of well-rinsed river rocks
a sprinkling of activated carbon over the rocks (helps keep the water clean)
thin layer of spanish moss (NOT the ornamental kind)
soil mix (1/3 peat moss, 1/3 bark , 1/3 coconut husk and a sprinkling of vermiculite)
I bought some epiphytes delight fertilizer and poured about 16 oz (2 cups) worth in there when I first set it up, then poured enough water in right below where the spanish moss meets the rocks. I've fed it about 8 oz. twice (YES, TWICE) since I got it and it's getting to the point where I think I'm gonna need a bigger apothecary jar.
Nepenthes are best in a hanging basket to fully appreciate their pitchers, but unfortunately it's just too dry where I live and the only window I have with enough sun is one that's open all the time (they hate drafts).
The plants you chose also need lots and lots of light. They will take full sun which you can't get indoors. They also need seasonal change which is very hard to duplicate indoors. You would do better with a tropical, shade tolerant carnivorous plant such as some nepenthes species, and nepenthes growers will actually overwinter their plants in terrarium-like environments to keep the humidity high.
A closed jar isn't so great, but you could just keep it propped open so meh. If you keep it near fruit, the gnats will swarm in there and feed the plants.
I've seen terrariums with carnivorous plants like this one, but I'm a bit dubious about how well they work unless it's only a temporary situation such as overwintering. I have a hard time keeping houseplants thriving, and my houseplants are pretty common houseplants such as pothos. I move them outside as soon as I can in the year so they can recover from the winter inside the house. It's much easier to keep plants alive and thriving outdoors generally. Terrariums are very easy, but it's best to use plants that are well suited to growing in those conditions.
I think you could grow carnivorous plants very easily, but definitely research them. I lose plants, and when I go to figure out why they died, I get very annoyed with myself and the things I did wrong. I had some gazanias wilt and die this year, and I thought they weren't getting enough water so I watered them more. Well... it turns out they were wilting because of overwatering. Crap. I thought they required more water than what they did.
Check out when the best time is to divide your plants. I suspect the venus fly trap needs to go dormant before division or you might lose both.
For the record, I think it looks nice like a little art piece, and I think you can create a terrarium with carnivorous plants so long as you pick the right container, the right plant, and the right potting mix. Research some nepenthes and see which one would work well and then select a container. Nepenthes require slightly different potting mix than other carnivorous plants, so some adjustments would be necessary.
I've had good luck growing both of those species under plain old twin-tube fluorescent shop light fixtures with plain white tubes. In this case, I might just curl a sheet of white construction paper into a half-pipe and place it behind the jar to reflect light, then use a circular fluorescent tube overhead to light the whole thing, and use a lighting timer to set the photoperiod: 14-16 hours during the growing season, and down to 8-12 hours during dormancy. If you want to try to use sunlight, I'd take the top off the jar entirely, or you'll cook 'em.
The best time to divide Flytraps is right as they're coming out of dormancy, but if the environment is stable and correct, they are actually quite resilient little plants. I've had success during the early and middle parts of the growing season, although I've never tried dividing them when they're thinking about going dormant.
I'm fairly certain my main problem before was not using distilled water.
However, while the plants were alive and living in a peat/sand mix and did so for a year, I had them in a pot-in-pot set up and collected rain water for them. They were doing really well and were filling up the container which was when I transplanted them and killed them with the perlite... If the terrarium doesn't work out, there are other things you can try. I'd send you a nepenthes cutting to try, but I think it might get confiscated by the department of agriculture. The nepenthes I have would be too large for a jar, but I have it in a hanging basket outside. It might actually be hardy where you are.
http://www.californiacarnivores.com/thesavagegardenbypeterdamato.aspx
I got peat moss and a chemically inert sand and so far my plants are thriving with visible growth and no apparent issues and seem happy in their jar.
At the very least I'll update this Instructable soon and possibly make another if there seems to be enough material to warrant it.
Most terrariums I've seen have tiny vent holes, but that kind of arrangement wouldn't allow the pests in.
Both the plant people and a couple bog plant enthusiasts repeated over and over about the water. The bone fragments are in the very bottom.
I'm not sure about growing the moss. I've been successful with in other things just by keeping it damp.
I'll try to do the soil swap and then post images and add a step dividing the Fly Trap or just make another short Instructable for that.
Thanks very much for the helpful comments!
I wish I didn't have to say this, but I'm afraid your plants are going to die.
In the 16 years that I have been growing carnivorous plants, I have found that there are really only three things that CPs need to live happy, healthy and long lives: Pure water (you got that, good job!), Lots of light (got that too) and totally impoverished, highly acidic, nearly nutrient-free potting soil (this is the problem).
Carnivorous plants adapted to catching and absorbing insects because they live in wet, acidic, impoverished soil. As a result, their root systems are extremely sensitive to nutrients, and planting them in standard potting mixes will often burn the roots right off. (Go ahead, ask me how I know this!)
What you want to use as a potting mix for Sundews and Flytraps is a 50-50 mix of canadian sphagnum peat moss and either silica sand or perlite. All of these are easily available at garden centers
Also, I would try and keep the bone fragments from the skull (Which is an AMAZINGLY cool idea!) off of the surface of the potting mix as well, just to minimize any leeching of calcium into the water/soil, since it is the major mineral that causes water to be hard.