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georgette77

newby needs help

georgette77
17 years ago

I just got two carnivorous plants from Lowe's: a cobra lily and a butterwort. THey are in small rectangular boxes. I removed the paper and the plastic holding the moss down, but I am not sure what to do next. I had a butterwort a while ago that I put in a terrarium, but it died. I am afraid to take these out of the boxes now, both are doing nicely. How should I care for them? They won't catch bugs in their sealed containers. I know these are elimentary questions, but I would love to do right by these guys. Any help would be appreciated.

Georgette

Comments (9)

  • petiolaris
    17 years ago

    Ah, you've purchased the "Lowes Cube Of Death"! Don't worry, so have I! This is what you have:

    {{gwi:546987}} (P. primuliflora)and:

    {{gwi:430450}} (D. californica)

    Both plants are capable of be grown at sunny window sills, or under artificial lighting, indoors. If you want to tansplant them into different quarters, I would buy a larger plastic pot with drainage holes and place the pots into plastic containers, capable of holding water. Specifically, for the cobra lily, I was instructed to place its pot on top of a container, such that the pot was resting on the rim a dn suspended, so that the pot wasn't sitting in water. So I put the plant into a plastic pot and rested on top of one part of the original Lowes cube. Then I watered it nearly every day and the water drained right through. Basically, I treated it as a glorified hanging basket,with a comtainer to catch the water as it drains through. Does that make sense?

    {{gwi:546988}}

    Here are pictures of what I mean about by window sill plants:

    {{gwi:546989}}

    {{gwi:428437}}

    No need to go out of your way to feed them. They respond nicely to light, air circulation, and distilled water. You can try freezed dried bloodworms for the butterwort, but sparingly or set up a continer of rotting fruit to attract fruitflies, but they'll do just fine without our help.

  • georgette77
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Oh wow! Looks great! Do you repot in spagnum moss? Just a container with water is enough? THey don't need a terrarium like environment? Hope I don't sound too dumb!

  • petiolaris
    17 years ago

    I usually mix sand & peat, with LFS. The peat comes in the big bales (2.2 cm) from Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart,.... and the LFS comes in small bags from the same. One could but the sand there as well, but make sure it is either "tube sand" or All Purpose Sand. Rinse all media well. Use buckets and or a collander. Make sure the water you use is rain or RO or distilled or deionized. A terrarium is a human's "too much knowledge is a dangerous thing" approach. They don't need all that humidity and although ut has an aesthetic appeal, it also a setup for mold / disaster if not done with air circulation. Really,.... a simple pot in a plastic container of water, by a window sill or under artificial lighting, is all that's needed. That's all I gave those that you see above!

  • georgette77
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    got 'em potted and together in a little tub. Now I see a cute sundew.... will that do well with the others?

  • bugman
    17 years ago

    It depends on the type of sundew. If it was from Lowe's, then it is most likely Drosera adelae, a tropical sundew that can't stand cold temps and it doesn't like too much full sun. These grow better in the house in my experience. There are also temperate sundews that can stand the cold and grow just fine outside like D. filiformis, D. intermedia, and D. rotundifolia. Post a pic and I can identify the sundew for you. Happy Growing!

  • georgette77
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I will try to attach an image, I am not sure how to do it.

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:546986}}

  • bugman
    17 years ago

    The picture is extremely small, but it looks like Drosera adelae, the lance-leaf sundew. They are tropical and naturally live in Australia. They like sun but not too much, they survive better indoors in my experience, but that is because Texas has unforgiving summers. They don't like any temperature above 90 or any temperature below 50 so a house is the perfect place to grow them as long as they get enough light. One way you can tell that they are getting enough light is when the tentacles on the leaves start turning red. This is a sign that it is getting enough light because the plant will only produce color pigments other than green in good light. This goes for cobra plants, VFT, and pitcher plants as well. Two 40 watt cool white fluorescent bulbs should do the trick, as that is what mine is growing under, but a sunny windowsill that gets about 4-6 hours of sun coming through it a day will also work. Although they can be grown in enclosed terrariums, they are much easier to grow in an open pot because you don't have to worry about mold. Mine is growing in pure LFS (long fiber sphagnum moss) that I got at Lowe's and is doing just fine. Good luck and happy growing!:)

  • petiolaris
    17 years ago

    The plant in the last picture, all the way to the left is the lanceleaf sundew / D. adelae. When I purchased it, from Lowes, it was buried beneath the soil and was whitish green. They often look etiolated (light-starved) and significantly different from one that has been cared for.

    This is the same plant, a year later / last week:

    {{gwi:546990}}

    What bugman says is solid guidance.

    Do you have a Photobucket account? They have 3 types of textstrings to use, depending upon which type of forum or Email you are using. For this forum it is one called HTML Tag.

  • georgette77
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks for all the information! I will have to try it all! You are such a great help! Sorry about the picture!

    Georgette

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