# Carnivores



## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

My biggest hobby right now is growing carnivorous plants, people generally assume that carnivorous plants are all some sort of exotic tropical plants where in actuality plants like Venus flytraps and north American pitcher plants are all native to the United States (pitcher plants grow from north Florida to Canada and flytraps are native to the Carolinas). Here are a couple pitcher plants of my own 
































People generally tend to think that the pitchers are this plant's flowers where in fact it's the plant's leaves, here's one of their flowers 






Of course I have to have some of these iconic carnivores too






But some carnivores are much more orchid like such as Utricularia or Pinguicula





U. Bisquamata





U. Sandersonii (aka the angry bunny rabbits)


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## Clark (May 1, 2015)

Sarracenia "Titan" is my favorite.
Nice collection!


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## eOrchids (May 1, 2015)

Awesome CP collection!

Your leucophylla are stunning!


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

Clark said:


> Sarracenia "Titan" is my favorite.
> Nice collection!


Thanks! Mine would probably have to be Sarracenia "Elaine Wang"


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

eOrchids said:


> Awesome CP collection!
> 
> Your leucophylla are stunning!


Thanks (I really should get around to taking pictures of my other pitchers, they need love too  )


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## Heather (May 1, 2015)

Very nice! We got a couple of small guys recently, just a drosera and a ping. Then my husband bought a huge nepenthes. Addict. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

Heather said:


> Very nice! We got a couple of small guys recently, just a drosera and a ping. Then my husband bought a huge nepenthes. Addict.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 I only have one nep right now and it's a seedling but they can get huge (oh and remember to use distilled/ reverse osmosis / rain water only) also, do you know what kind of ping it is?


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## Heather (May 1, 2015)

Yup! Distilled all the way!! Not sure which ping. 


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

Well in any case, congrats on getting sucked into the carnivore addiction


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## hbozeman (May 1, 2015)

Yeah, thanks loads, SFLguy. Just what I need, another group of plants to collect...


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## couscous74 (May 1, 2015)

Nice rooftop garden you got there.
I've dabbled in sundews, butterworts, and flytraps. Never had long-term success with them though.


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

hbozeman said:


> Yeah, thanks loads, SFLguy. Just what I need, another group of plants to collect...


But look at them, you know you want some


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

couscous74 said:


> Nice rooftop garden you got there.
> I've dabbled in sundews, butterworts, and flytraps. Never had long-term success with them though.


Thanks! 
Carnivorous plants need three things to be happy:
1. Pure water (I.e. distilled, r/o, rain, or de ionized water)
2. Nutrient free soils such as peat and perlite (1:1) or long fibered sphagnum moss (sometimes called orchid moss) 
3. Sunlight, although much more variable, they will need at least 4 hours of direct sunlight (depending on the species and genus)

One problem many people run into is that companies will sell them water that was purified and then had minerals added for taste. Another problem is that many companies (such as miracle grow) add fertilizers to these usually nutrient free soils/media that kill the plants.

Lastly, many carnivorous plants need dormancy periods such as the Venus flytrap. This dormancy is triggered by lower light levels in the winter and fall months. This is why many people have trouble growing carnivores indoors. 

In a few weeks I should have seeds of D. Capensis "narrow leaf" if you'd like, you could send me a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) and I could send you some seeds


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## Marco (May 1, 2015)

I don't know much about carnivorous plants. I do love the green one with white lips on the second pictures.

I always wanted to give a venus fly trap a shot but i wouldn't know how to feed them indoors.


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## SFLguy (May 1, 2015)

Marco said:


> I don't know much about carnivorous plants. I do love the green one with white lips on the second pictures.
> 
> I always wanted to give a venus fly trap a shot but i wouldn't know how to feed them indoors.


Those are Sarracenia Leucophylla Hurricane Creek White Clone A 

Most carnivorous plants don't need to be fed at all to grow (they'll obviously prefer being fed). Venus fly traps need 6 hours of direct sunlight and will go dormant in the winter. If you're going to grow them in a windowsill, I'd suggest a south facing window (and if that can't be done, and east facing window works too). If grown on a windowsill they will go dormant on their own


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## Marco (May 2, 2015)

SFLguy said:


> Those are Sarracenia Leucophylla Hurricane Creek White Clone A
> 
> Most carnivorous plants don't need to be fed at all to grow (they'll obviously prefer being fed). Venus fly traps need 6 hours of direct sunlight and will go dormant in the winter. If you're going to grow them in a windowsill, I'd suggest a south facing window (and if that can't be done, and east facing window works too). If grown on a windowsill they will go dormant on their own



Uh oh. And here I go looking at some nice red ones or ones called b52s or something. oke:


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## Happypaphy7 (May 2, 2015)

Wow~ I love pitcher plants like the one in your first picture.
I saw some very tall ones (over 30 cm in length) sold as fresh cutflower at a florist. I bought a whole bunch and they kept for about one week in a vase.

I would love to grow pitcher plants with white top with netting. I find them very pretty, but I don't have a cool enough space to provide winter for them. 

Oh, well...


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Marco said:


> Uh oh. And here I go looking at some nice red ones or ones called b52s or something. oke:


For red ones I'd go with either FTS Maroon Monster or Akai Ryu

B52 can be finicky in some people's climate for no apparent reason, another nice one you could look at is King Henry


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Happypaphy7 said:


> Wow~ I love pitcher plants like the one in your first picture.
> I saw some very tall ones (over 30 cm in length) sold as fresh cutflower at a florist. I bought a whole bunch and they kept for about one week in a vase.
> 
> I would love to grow pitcher plants with white top with netting. I find them very pretty, but I don't have a cool enough space to provide winter for them.
> ...


The ones you're referring to are called Sarracenia Leucophylla, dormancy in these plants is actually triggered more by naturally decreasing light levels than temperature (mine went dormant in 80° weather) so a cool area is not needed for them


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

That particular plant is an S. Leucophylla from Baldwin County, AL


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## Marco (May 2, 2015)

SFLguy said:


> For red ones I'd go with either FTS Maroon Monster or Akai Ryu
> 
> B52 can be finicky in some people's climate for no apparent reason, another nice one you could look at is King Henry



Well.... I just went to South Bay traps...and picked up a young adult akai ryu. Thanks for the suggestion! All I know is that I liked how it looked liked. And I only have a spot for one more plant. And that will likely be a neo. 1:21 am chobani and plants go figure


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Marco said:


> Well.... I just went to South Bay traps...and picked up a young adult akai ryu. Thanks for the suggestion! All I know is that I liked how it looked liked. And I only have a spot for one more plant. And that will likely be a neo. 1:21 am chobani and plants go figure


Nice! But you're going to need more space soon for more carnivores 
Alternatively, you could grow then outside if you have the space


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## Marco (May 2, 2015)

SFLguy said:


> Nice! But you're going to need more space soon for more carnivores
> Alternatively, you could grow then outside if you have the space



I have to be smart this time!

How big do these VFTs grow when adult?


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## Linus_Cello (May 2, 2015)

There are some bog orchids that do great with pitchers. I grow Calopogon and Dactylrhiza with my pitchers (one of my favorite scenes is at the Atlanta Botanic Garden in spring with blooming calopogons and sarrencia intermixed in a bog garden). I want to try habenaria and pogonia next.


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## Happypaphy7 (May 2, 2015)

SFLguy said:


> The ones you're referring to are called Sarracenia Leucophylla, dormancy in these plants is actually triggered more by naturally decreasing light levels than temperature (mine went dormant in 80° weather) so a cool area is not needed for them



Really? Good to know!
Thanks.
I'm going to search for it and get one, then. Yay!!! 

By the way, do they need to stay moist even during the dormancy?


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Marco said:


> I have to be smart this time!
> 
> How big do these VFTs grow when adult?


If you're asking for pot depth, six inches should be the biggest one you get, in terms of width, it all depends on how much the plant divides as vfts will readily divide if given the proper conditions


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Linus_Cello said:


> There are some bog orchids that do great with pitchers. I grow Calopogon and Dactylrhiza with my pitchers (one of my favorite scenes is at the Atlanta Botanic Garden in spring with blooming calopogons and sarrencia intermixed in a bog garden). I want to try habenaria and pogonia next.


Nice! Maybe you could also try growing Disa orchids with them  and although they aren't orchids, Rhexia ssp look quite nice and I'm dying to get some Lilium Catesbaei one of these days


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Happypaphy7 said:


> Really? Good to know!
> Thanks.
> I'm going to search for it and get one, then. Yay!!!
> 
> By the way, do they need to stay moist even during the dormancy?


Great! Sarracenia like to have wet feet during the growing season (so water trays are really important) and always want to stay moist even in dormancy.


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## Marco (May 2, 2015)

SFLguy said:


> If you're asking for pot depth, six inches should be the biggest one you get, in terms of width, it all depends on how much the plant divides as vfts will readily divide if given the proper conditions




Awesome..ST Auction for donation if i get it right!

However lets say for one mature plant. what what would the diameter of the pot be?


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Marco said:


> Awesome..ST Auction for donation if i get it right!
> 
> However lets say for one mature plant. what what would the diameter of the pot be?


Anything more than four inches. Oh! Almost forgot! Terracotta pots can sometimes leach salts into the soil so I'd stay away from them, if it's glazed on the inside then it's fine


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## Happypaphy7 (May 2, 2015)

Thanks for the info!


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## SFLguy (May 2, 2015)

Happypaphy7 said:


> Thanks for the info!


No problem, I'm more than glad to help


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