Another newbie in planning stages...

14 years ago

Hi all,

I've been scouring the internet to be sure I have all the information I need before I "take the plunge". My situation is I have a land turtle tank and a vermipost bin (indoors)that tend to attract fruit flies (not many, but enough to be annoying) and in order to help keep them under control I'd like to try keeping a CP or two nearby. I've been reading my head off, and I think the Cape Sundew sounds best for the situation - the temps and humidity in my house are right for it, it doesn't have a dormant period, and it's easy to grow. My question is this: I understand they need a lot of sunlight, but I'm hoping to place this one near the turtle enclosure, which while near a wall of windows, is more towards the center of the room and receives some, but not much, indirect sunlight. So looking at artificial lighting, I have on hand a 5.0 UVB compact florescent bulb that annoyed my turtle and is not being used - would this be appropriate to use to supplement the sundew's lighting? If not, what would you recommend? How far away should the bulb be placed? The setup would be more conducive to a bulb that could be put into one of my clamp lamps rather than a tube florescent, but I'm pretty good at rigging things up when I have to :)

I appreciate any advice you may have,

Thank you!

Jen

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Comments (8)

melenkolee
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm also looking at the d. adelae...any thoughts?
tommyr_gw Zone 6
14 years ago
The cape does need some Sun. The Adelae is perfect for your situation! It needs no sun but bright, indirect light AND it's a prolific baby maker! Also look into Mexican Butterworts. A p.Moranensis and p. Agnata would be good too!
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petiolaris
14 years ago
LOL! Ya had to mention D. adelae! That's Tommy's main claim to fame.

I find the capensis to be the easier plant of the two, and unenigmatic. I have had both grow successfully on S->W facing window sills. That's the simplist setup. Artificial lighting works well. I had both flower when under a typical shoplight. Artificial light should be ~6" above the plant.
tommyr_gw Zone 6
14 years ago
LOL! I've been experimenting starting Adalae from cuttings with some decent success.

I have one Capensis with a flower spike near blooming stage.
All my Adelae are done blooming.
petiolaris
14 years ago
And my little colony is dying. Except for you, a lot of us find the species somewhat enigmatic.
melenkolee
Original Author
14 years ago
Well, here we go - off on a new hobby (boyfriend has the patience of a saint, let me tell ya :). I ordered an adalae from Sarracenia Northwest, and assuming i don't kill it, will look into adding the capensis and maybe a butterwort or 2. Interesting sighting yesterday at the grocery store - in their flower shop they had about 10 Nepenthes (miransis i think, something like that) hanging from the ceiling for sale! I don't know much about them, but it's truly the first time I've seen any CP for sale in a grocery store. They looked healthy enough to my untrained eye - each had 5-7 pitchers at least 6" long - and I almost bought one, but decided to wait until I could find out more about how to care for one. I've wasted a pretty penny on pretty plants only to kill them off with my brown thumb lol...
tommyr_gw Zone 6
14 years ago
We've ALL lost plants over the years so don't let it get to you. I grow a lot of other plants other than CPs. I've killed my share of Phal orchids over the years and I still kill them! I gave up of those but I can grow all the other orchids fine. Go figure! My guess is my watering practices with them are off. Oh well!
melenkolee
Original Author
14 years ago
I did some reading and it looks like it's Miranda, not miransis...I may pick one up if i'm out that way again, just for giggles. They were huge and really pretty, and from what I'm reading, not too complicated :)

Oh boy, I haven't even gotten the first one and I'm working on the second...this could get ugly! ;)