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deifan8

Help me get started!!!

deifan8
17 years ago

Ok...so the brave soldier that I am purchased a Combo of Venus Flytrap, Sundew and Cobra Lily. I hear that the ones in the cubes from places like Lowe's are not good but for me just starting out, I figured it would do. Now, my question is this....The flowering part of the Venus is too tall for the cube that it is in and needing to be transplanted I am sure. I live in the frozen tundra known as Ohio. I live in an apartment where sunlight is not a plenty. Are terrariums the best answer? Am I barking up a tree that I can not climb? What do you suggest? Remember, it is a scorching 41 degrees right now and our highs have been in the low 50's. I appreciate any help that anyone could give me just starting out!!

Comments (6)

  • bob123how
    17 years ago

    "sunlight is not a plenty" - that right there is a recipe for disaster, especially, from what I've heard, for the cobra lily and VFT. The sundew can do with a little less light.

    If you're like me, you opened the box as soon as you got home. If you're smart, you will wait, and I've found that heating up a wire coat hanger and burning a few holes each day does the trick. Otherwise, if you open the box right away, everything will flatten out due to shock and it will take a while for the plant to gain its bearings. The point is, though, that the top comes off, it does nothing but make the plant grow weakly, protect it during shipping, and its a genius marketing device.

    As far as the temps, I know VFT's can handle down to 20 degrees, but I am unsure for the other two. A sunny south windowsill will suffice until it warms up or someone else tells you to put them outside.

    That being said, since light isn't a plenty, the plants should go outside after being repotted into a pot with drainage, setting in a dish of Reverse Osmosis water. NO TAP WATER. If you can't put them outside, then I suggest you invest in one or two 40 watt (100 watt equivelant) compact fluorescent light. Leave the light suspended no more than 8 inches from the top of the plant on for between 16 and 18 hours per day.

    To recap...
    1. Harden plants off slowly or they will go flat
    2. Repot them into a small pot with drainage setting in an inch of RO water
    3. Never let the potting medium, I imagine it's sphagnum moss and peat, if it's the big cube, dry out
    4. Sunlight sunlight sunlight and if you can't do that artificial light
    5. Never fertilize, and bugs aren't that important.

    I think that covers most of the bases.

  • mutant_hybrid
    17 years ago

    Yeah bob123how covered it pretty well. If the plants are flowering and growing, they are out of dormancy, so go ahead and just put them under as much flourescent light as you can get. At least two 40 watt cool white tubes of the shop light variety, four if you can, or a good compact 100 watt equivalent, two or three if you can, and get the Venus flytrap and Cobra plant as close as you can to the light. Like almost touching it. The sundew, if it a Lance Leaf, Drosera adelae, it can do with less light as it is tropical, so place it 5-8 inches from the light and watch to make sure its tentacles get red color and show dew production. If it does not develop red colored tentacles, move it an inch or so closer until you see the new leaves making red tentacles. That sundew also does not go dormant. The Venus flytrap and Cobra plant are both temperate plants from North America. The Venus flytrap is hardier in that it is not quite so finicky, but just needs light and lots of it. Get those humidity domes off like bob123how said. Just do it slowly over a couple of weeks by making holes or lifting the dome a fraction every 3-4 days until it is completely removed or has so many holes that it doesn't increase humidity anymore. The plants will be hardier without it. The Cobra plant is the finicky one. It is one of the most temperamental of carnivorous plants for beginning growers because it likes airier soil, a greater perlite mix of 2/1 or 3/1 with the smaller ratio being peat moss. Cobra plants like full sun on it's leaves and cool water running over it's roots. Nurseries often use a cold water drip system that sprays water into the pots every few hours. If their roots get too hot or the water stagnates, Cobra plants will often kick the bucket. I am waiting a while before I try my hand at those again. I need a better setup and more experience.

    Good luck with those plants.

  • nepenthesfreak_2007
    17 years ago

    Cut the flower stalk off the VFT. flowering has an exhausting effect on them, and yours may die if you let it flower.

  • mutant_hybrid
    17 years ago

    Yeah, what nepenthesfreak 2007 said too. If you just bought the plant and cannot get a good amount of light, like the higher levels I mentioned, then you might want to snip the flower scape off soon. I have my flytrap indoors right now but it is under 4 40 watts and was given a good dormancy. Even then, when it flowered, it slowed down in trap development for a couple of weeks. It is doing fine now, but I have had the plant for most of winter and have been carefully observing it for signs of deterioration from bad environment. So far it seems to like my set up and might even produce seeds. Having just bought the fytrap, you do not know how healthy the plant is, so it might weaken enough to set the plant back if it flowers now. I got mine from an online nursery that I trust, so I knew the plant was cared for before I got it.

  • jonocross
    17 years ago

    I'm gonna start totally different... where in Ohio ya from? I'm from Ohio. :-)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Aracknight's Deadly Delights

  • petiolaris
    17 years ago

    The rest of the guys covered things for ya, but with cobra lilies, they also seem to do well on a window sill, for the growing season. It was suggested to me to repot the plant into one with drainage holes and have it rest upon another container that is deeper. Then water the plant every day, just a little bit, so that the water drains through. When it exceeds the bottom of the plant's pot, drain off the excess. Here's a picture to help illustrate:
    {{gwi:430450}}

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