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tropic_lover95

Making a terrarium, need advice

tropic_lover95
14 years ago

I am making a terrarium out of a fishbowl type of enclosure, it has an open top and the sides are bubbled out like a fishbowl, In the terrarium (3 gal by the way) I hope to plant 2 sundews 2 venus flytraps and a butterwort, I'm hoping that this will be ok, I'd place them outside but being in CT the weather isn't too favorable at night. The terrarium will be placed in front of a west facing window where indirect light comes through until about 4-5 pm then its full sun for about 2 hrs. Should I go with making a terrarium or should I do something else? Any help or advice is appreciated, thanks.

P.S. I'm thinking for drainage I could put either rocks or sand under the soil so the excess water would drain through away from the soil

Comments (10)

  • mcantrell
    14 years ago

    The VFTs are probably not a great idea -- they aren't terrarium plants, they are used to cold nights and would be better served outside. Even in CT weathers, I would think -- what USDA zone are you in? You would probably have to winterize the plants or put them in the fridge during winter, but that's not as big of a pain as it sounds, honestly.

    Washed rocks for drainage is a good idea.

    CobraPlant has a good "What plants are goood for me" thing here:
    http://cobraplant.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=34&chapter=4&zenid=c11210d451956f4a002a77e0e651d071

    A quick flip through suggests a few butterworts, a Cape Sundew or Lance Leaf Sundew (Drosera Adelae), and maybe some Monkey Cups like Nepenthes ventricosa. Since Neps get a bit big, what I'd do is make the Nep the centerpiece of the terrarium, with the other plants circling around it. Maybe on one side some Sundews, and the other, Butterworts. This would allow you to keep the soils separate, too -- long fiber sphagnum moss for the Nep, peat and sand for the sundews, and a slightly more sandy soil for the Butterworts.

  • alcran
    14 years ago

    Terrariums usally aren't needed unless the humidity is 0%. And constantly changing the location won't be very helpful either. How cold is it at night? 40, 50? Any of the carnivorous plants you are likely to run into early on can deal with this. If the temperatures drop even in the summer you could look into some highland neps. They are not as fragile as you think. I grow mine outside on Long Island. So our climates are actually pretty similar. I grow eymae, ramispina, izumiae, and a lowlander, a raff outside. They humidity stays low during the day and climbs at night. Try some, you'll be suprised by the results. By the way, a 3 gallon terrarium would be useful as nothing more than a pot for most carnivorous plants. If you have to have a terrarium shoot for a 40 gallon tank.

  • tropic_lover95
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Alright, thanks, I'm in zone 8a, just looked it up, would it be ok if i took the terrarium, cut the globe part in half and used it as a pot outside for them? the globe is plastic so it wouldn't be hard to do. it contains a cape sundew, a lance leaf sundew a butterwort and 2 venus flytraps. If I did place them outside, they'd go on a southern facing porch which gets constant sun all day.

  • alcran
    14 years ago

    In my experience transparent plastics get brittle when left in the sun for a while. Also, the venus flytraps and maybe butterworts will need different pots.

  • mcantrell
    14 years ago

    I'd just repot the VFTs outside in pots. Not sure how warm 8a is in winter but cape sundews are tropical, so might not like being outside during winter...

  • tropic_lover95
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks everyone, what I'm probably going to do is repot each plant in its own 6 inch pot and place them outside on my porch. Now correct me if I'm wrong, tropical plants require no dormancy period correct? If so I can just take the cape
    sundew in my house in winter and put the rest in the fridge when the time comes right?

  • alcran
    14 years ago

    Your actually in a pretty good spot to leave your flytraps outdoors when winter comes. Just insulate them under a tarp covered with hay, leaves, dirt. Thats how I over winter mine. Where in CT are you?

  • tropic_lover95
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Bozrah area, in a valley so not a lot of wind chill either, The winters range from -12 to around 37 degress F depending on the day, what about the others, could I just leave them outside and do the tarp hay and leaves thing with them too? minus the cape sundew of course.

  • alcran
    14 years ago

    Yeah, but when it gets to the negative degrees you will need to put a lot more insulation on. If any snow gets on it leave it. It'll ice over during cold weather and work as a good insulator. Just make sure that they don't freeze solid or they will die because the water in the plant will not circulate.

  • tropic_lover95
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    alright thanks. I'm going to start repotting them today.

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