The carnivorous plant thread.

So, has anyone out there in ACF-land ever grown carnivorous plants? Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, sundews & the like?

In my case, the answer is yes. I've been growing the little monsters for years. Some plants I've been very successful with, others not so much. Here are a few photos of my photosynthetic predators, current and past.



We'll start off with the one almost everyone knows, the Venus flytrap. This is what mine looked like, a few years ago. I no longer have them, due in large part to my part of Florida not having winters cold enough for long enough to sustain a proper dormancy period. The last one died back around May.



Here are a few of my sundews, Drosera burmannii species. These little guys die off every year. That's normal, as they're annuals by nature. They always come back from seed dropped the previous year. The glue-tipped tentacles on the leaves move to retain trapped prey & to press the insect against the leaf surface for digestion. The tentacle movement is very slow, and can't readily been seen without time-lapse photography.



Some of my pitcher plants. These are all individual species & hybrids from North America.



One of the traps from my Nepenthes bicalcarata plant. This pitcher plant is native to Borneo, and can grow quite large. This is the only one of my plants that has a name. It's called "Fang", for obvious reasons. The venom-like drops at the fang tips are actually accumulated nectar secreted by the plant as a lure. It's thought that the fangs serve as ant traps. Ants are lured by the nectar, slide off the slippery fangs and drop into the pitcher.



Last, here's my "red-form" Cape sundew. These are the easiest carnivorous plants to grow. They're damn near indestructible, as long as they get enough water and light. This plant didn't like the overly-warm Florida summer nights & died off. What you see here are the clusters of new plants that regenerated from surviving roots in the soil.

If anyone wants to try their hand at growing their own carnivores, post questions either in the thread or PM. I can answer your questions to the best of my ability.

If you're REALLY serious about wanting to grow carnivores, I recommend this book: http://www.californiacarnivores.com/therevisedsavagegardenbypeterdamatopre-orderautographed.aspx This is the newly revised second edition, with updated information on cultivation of carnivores & new species. I need to get this myself, as I'm still working from the first edition. The website is also where I bought most of my plants. They pack and ship plants very securely, I haven't ever lost a plant due to their shipping practices.

KylieJacobs said:

Thanks for the link. I bookmarked it!

I really didn't know that you could buy carnivorous plants until about 6 months ago. I might seriously look into this. They are fascinating, but they also kind of scare me a bit. :lol: I love your pictures!

I live in the northern midwest (USA) area. Do you think they would have a chance if I brought them inside or in a garage during the winter months?

This is interesting, I had no idea that they were native to any US states:

Venus flytraps are native only to the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina and extreme northeastern South Carolina.

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They'd do fine in the conditions you describe. Cold winters are actually desired by many of the North American carnivorous plant species, as long as you don't let them freeze. Many carnivorous plants are native to North America. Venus flytraps, the Sarracenia genus of pitcher plants, cobra lilies, various sundews, butterworts and bladderworts all grow here.

VeronicaChaos said:

How cool! I was curious about the Drosera eating so I found a timelapse and wow holy shit.

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Yep, that's the Cape sundew in action. I love that plant. Very hard to kill, and it flowers and drops seed like crazy during the growing season. One could have a swarm of sundews in a very short time from 1 plant.

There are a number of new large forms of Venus flytraps appearing in cultivation as the result of mutation. Here's a pic from flytrapcare.com of a new cultivar called DC XL.



I thought the B52 cultivar was big, but this thing is insanely huge! I've heard that some of the giant cultivars are being crossbred in an attempt to get a plant with even bigger traps.

Rose said:

I've had 4 venus fly traps in my life, but unfortunately they all died because of some reason or another. I'd love to try my hand at them again though. I love carnivorous plants!

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I lost plant after plant til I started using the growing info from the book I linked to. The only reason I lost the last batch of flytraps is that I didn't jump through the hoops needed to provide proper dormancy, and I may have overwatered a bit too.

Aella said:

There's a carniverous plant shop here in Portland. It is super badass and I would buy some plants if I didn't have a black thumb of doom. =(

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I think I know the shop you mean, been following them on the net for a few years. I am so freakin jealous of their setup.

A major problem for carnivorous plants is poaching. Venus flytraps in North Carolina get hit especially hard by people digging up the plants to sell them. The REALLY stupid thing about that is the legal penalities if caught are huge, and flytrap clones can be bought wholesale from commercial tissue culturing labs for as little as 75 cents per plant.

KylieJacobs said:

I'm just amazed that a lot of them are native to North America. They are so cool looking that they remind me of something you would find on another planet. I guess I always thought they were from South America or something.

I obviously don't get out enough. :lol:

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Most people I talk to are surprised to find out that a large percentage of carnivorous plant species are native to North America. The sundew Drosera rotundifolia grows from the northeastern part of Georgia all the way up into northwestern Alaska. The butterwort Pinguicula vulgaris grows from the Great Lakes region of the USA through a good part of Canada and into Alaska, while another butterwort species (Pinguicula villosa) is only found in Canada and Alaska. These are only 3 of many, many species native to the continent. I just chose these in particular to show the extremes of habitat that carnivores can be found in.

Rose said:

ThunderWeasel said:

Rose said:

I've had 4 venus fly traps in my life, but unfortunately they all died because of some reason or another. I'd love to try my hand at them again though. I love carnivorous plants!

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I lost plant after plant til I started using the growing info from the book I linked to. The only reason I lost the last batch of flytraps is that I didn't jump through the hoops needed to provide proper dormancy, and I may have overwatered a bit too.

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The first died from overwatering, the second from sun burn, the third from accidental dumping and my partner killed the fourth when I was visiting family out of state for a week.

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Sun burn? That's the first I've heard of a flytrap dying from too much sun. They prefer growing in direct sunlight. Was it in a closed terrarium in direct sunlight, or covered by one of those plastic domes that they usually are covered by in stores?

Rose said:

ThunderWeasel said:

Rose said:

ThunderWeasel said:

Rose said:

I've had 4 venus fly traps in my life, but unfortunately they all died because of some reason or another. I'd love to try my hand at them again though. I love carnivorous plants!

Click to expand...

I lost plant after plant til I started using the growing info from the book I linked to. The only reason I lost the last batch of flytraps is that I didn't jump through the hoops needed to provide proper dormancy, and I may have overwatered a bit too.

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The first died from overwatering, the second from sun burn, the third from accidental dumping and my partner killed the fourth when I was visiting family out of state for a week.

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Sun burn? That's the first I've heard of a flytrap dying from too much sun. They prefer growing in direct sunlight. Was it in a closed terrarium in direct sunlight, or covered by one of those plastic domes that they usually are covered by in stores?

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It had been left in front of a window that had a mirror hanging over it. Turned out something like holding a magnifying glass over ants..... I felt stupid to say the least.

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Don't feel stupid. In my younger days, before I got that book, I cooked quite a few thanks to the plastic dome they come with when bought in department stores & such.

Godiva420 said:

Omg...didn't see the link! I'm bad with plants, but so tempted, the cuteness of them is too overpowering! I might research a bit more then think about getting one when it's warmer. I'd feel terrible if I bought one, and it immediately died just because of the weather becoming gradually colder and colder.

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Most North American carnivores need the cold. They wouldn't die, just stop growing til spring. Hard frosts might kill the above-ground leaves, but the plant will come back from the roots, as long as THEY don't freeze. It's best to wait til spring before getting one anyway, so you don't have to wait through winter dormancy to see something.

Jessi said:

Hmm I have a bit of a fruitfly problem and Im thinking something like this would look much more attractive than the crusty fly paper I have stuck to the wall.

Do they need lots of direct sunlight? I only have windows on one side of my apt and the kitchen is on the opposite.

And which plant will eat the most flies ?

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I had a fruitfly infestation in my kitchen a couple of weeks back. I brought my Cape sundew in, and it knocked them down to a manageable level real fast. Most carnivores need a lot of direct sunlight, so you could keep the plant on the sunny windowsill most of the time, and move it elsewhere as needed.

Here's a closeup of one of the pitchers on my White Trumpet pitcher plant, showing the kind of colors it can develop.

Just relocated these old photos from my previous collection of carnivorous plants that I was growing back around 2005.



Sarracenia flava pitcher plant. The flower is from a Drosera filiformis sundew that was just out of frame. The maroon pitchers in back are from a hybrid pitcher plant, Sarracenia x 'Judith Hindle'



The Red Dragon cultivar of Venus flytrap. This form of flytrap turns the deep red color you see when it gets enough sun.



A pitcher from the hybrid Sarracenia x 'Dana's Delight' pitcher plant. The neon hot pink color on these is rather stunning, as you can see.