Mawy_Plants Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Hi everyone! My CP interest was sparked this past summer when I saw VFTs at my local Sprouts. I decided to save one and within a week, I got another! I am now a proud grower of 6 different VFT typicals, a bunch of Drosera capensis sprouts (they germinated less than 2 weeks ago), a couple Sarracenia purpurea (?), three baby clumps of Cephalotus, and a Nepenthes. I have been on the FTC forums, but since I have diversified into other Genera, I figured it would be good to be a part of other forums. I'm excited to learn more about these peculiar plants and discuss them with fellow enthusiasts! Mary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxman Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Welcome to the forum Mary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Hi Mary. I am also pretty new with CP's. Started with two rescued VFT's and grew to 15 Sarracenia, some seedling Sarra's (about 20) and a couple of Sundew Binata's. Thank the Lord Henry for the information I found here. Currently planting up a mini-bog in an old sink with some of the plants won here on the auction section. Welcome, Keith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Hello Mary and welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted September 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone! Quite excited to see where these plants take me! Kinda anxious about my first dormancy, I've read a decent amount tho. Are you mostly outdoor or indoor growers? Keith, that's awesome you're making one! Once I get a better handle on how these grow and learn what they like, I will hopefully tackle a project myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsty Posted September 26, 2017 Report Share Posted September 26, 2017 (edited) Welcome, Mary, to the forum (~8 Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea group is bone-hardy, growing all the way up into Canada. S. p. ssp. venosa group may not be as hardy, someone mentioned on here it and S. minor are the only non-hardy Sarracenias. VFTs are hardier than most people think, check this out - https://www.growcarnivorousplants.com/Articles.asp?ID=257 - It would suggest they need a freezing winter, although it seems that a cold winter is enough, and some seem to find they don't even need that. Check out this thread - There's of course lots of other info dotted around about it. Edited September 26, 2017 by Karsty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted September 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 (edited) Thanks for the info, Karsty! What do you think my Sarracenia might be? http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/shall-i-wait-to-repot-death-cube-sarracenia-t36783.html Pretty neat that you were able to gather such information about your VFTs, and also getting another member to conduct a little experiment. My hardiness zone is considered 10a and I've read they're good to go outside 24/7. At least for Dionaea, the Sarrs should fare okay too, especially after your statement that they can tolerate extremely cold weather. As for my Cephalotus, it seems that my location is only 2 degrees off of Albany, AUS latitude so that gives me confidence. Read that Sundews are pretty good with colder weather as well so those should be okay once I repot them from the propagator. Maybe I'll take them inside, although not sure where I could place them! Haha. My Nepenthes I placed inside our little backyard patio, I figured the humidity will be slightly higher since it's covered and the spot I picked receives a good amount of sun throughout the day. Waiting to see how my repots bounce back, it hasn't been too long. Less than 2 weeks since Cephs arrived bareroot and moved my Nep into a larger pot this past week. Earlier today I decided to repot my Sarracenia into a more wide and slightly taller pot. Lol, going against recommendations to wait until after dormancy. I was concerned about the media, only to find out it was actually in pretty good condition. Peat and perlite. Hopefully I was gentle enough, although I did clean up the roots a bit since I have OCD with mixing media that I didn't prepare myself. Edited September 27, 2017 by Mawy_Plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsty Posted September 27, 2017 Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 (edited) I bow to those here who are more expert than me, however, here is my halfpenny's worth... The purpurea looks like a bit of a mix of ssp. purpurea and ssp. venosa, however, perhaps more ssp. purpurea. In my experience, ssp. purpurea has narrower and sometimes longer pitchers which are hairless, and the lid is on the smaller side and not particularly convoluted. Ssp. venosa has shorter, more bulbous, and hairy (downy) pitchers, with a bigger mouth, and bigger more blousy convoluted lid. The other Sarra looks like a hybrid, and perhaps the most common one is x catesbaei, which it looks like to me, which does not prove much. Sundews vary wildly in the conditions they need, coming from all over the world. Drosera capensis is not hardy. This I know from experience. I believe it likes moderate temperatures, and it definitely prefers sun. Very importantly, which species or hybrid is the Nepenthes? Edited September 27, 2017 by Karsty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted September 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2017 (edited) Well Karsty, I've gotten some input on my post on FTC that it looks like a N. ventrata. You can check it out of you'd like, here's the link: http://www.flytrapcare.com/phpBB3/nepenthes-identification-please-t36818.html Based on that information, I figured it would be okay where I placed it. I'm not sure if it was due to the repot (09/22) or lacking humidity, but I have 3 leaves beginning to pitcher. Still waiting on them to grow, I spray all the pitchers both morning and evening. I also added water in the dish right after taking the photo, it's just raised enough that it doesn't just soak it all up. I figured that could help increase humidity. Edited September 28, 2017 by Mawy_Plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsty Posted September 28, 2017 Report Share Posted September 28, 2017 (edited) Hi Mary, I have one more mature Ventrata, and it has been growing fine but only produced a couple of pitchers over the last 9 months. I'm having better success with other Nepenthes, including northiana and campanulata. However, everyone says Ventrata is bomb proof. I would recommend watering directly onto the compost from above as it ensures all the medium gets wet, and washes salts down instead of having them crystallise out on the surface. The general consensus seems to be that humidity doesn't matter too much for Nepenthes in general, and I don't think you are gaining anything by spraying this one, and might even be encouraging rot in the crown or markings on the leaves/pitchers. Edited September 28, 2017 by Karsty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted September 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2017 Karsty, I think spraying the pitchers did more harm than help like you said. Lol. There's this discoloration and I'm guessing it's mold. Ugh. Maybe it just really needs more sunlight based on your input if humidity doesn't matter so much. I also think I want to put it outside near my other plants. Those get a nice breeze helping the media dry out. Plus who doesn't want to be around good company? https://imgur.com/gallery/M4IH6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tatter Posted September 28, 2017 Report Share Posted September 28, 2017 welcome to the forum Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted September 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2017 Thanks, tatter! Glad to be amongst those who love CPs! My appreciation of them has grown immensely. I hope to continue adding and creating an impressive collection from here on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deltatango301 Posted September 29, 2017 Report Share Posted September 29, 2017 Welcome to the CPUK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted September 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2017 Thank you much, Deltatango301! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deansgreenarmy Posted September 30, 2017 Report Share Posted September 30, 2017 Hi ya Mary, I'm new here too, it looks like we have similar personality traits to celebrate lol! I wish you many new plants to explore :) Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted October 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2017 Hi deansgreenarmy! Yay! Same with you! Still in the process acclimating my new additions, from one Genus to having 5 Genera in a matter of a week, yet always excited to expand. It's interesting learning the specifics of each plant. What's your favorite so far? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mujinamo Posted October 4, 2017 Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Welcome! I am from California too! You should find a carnivorous plant society near you and attend some meetings if there is one close by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawy_Plants Posted October 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2017 Thank you, Mujinamo! I'm in the Bay Area, I remember seeing something about the next meeting being in Oakland. Are you part of an organization? What CPs have done well with you? Do you grow outdoors?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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