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Top 5
Secrets to Keeping Your Carnivorous Plants Alive, Healthy and Beautiful
By Jacob Farin
SECRET #1: Know thy plant.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but one that first-time growers overlook. There
are many types of carnivorous plants occurring on every continent in the world,
except Antarctica.
If you were to go on a world-wide expedition looking for as many types of
carnivorous plants you can possibly find, you will discover carnivorous plants
growing in Japan, China, Australia, India, South Africa, Spain, France, Ireland,
Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the United States.
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If you were to explore the United States alone, you will find carnivorous plants
in nearly all of the 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.
So, the first secret in keeping your carnivorous plants alive, healthy and
beautiful is to know what type of carnivorous plant you have. With thousands of
species of carnivorous plants in the world, each type requires their own care.Hopefully, your plant came with a tag that identifies its species. If not, visit
Sarracenia Northwest for a list of carnivorous plants that are commonly grown in
cultivation.
http://www.cobraplant.com/grow-carnivorous-plants.html |
SECRET #2: Brighten their days with full sun.
Once you know what type of carnivorous plants you have, just duplicate their
natural surroundings. This means giving your plants the type of sun exposure and
water they might experience in the wild.
Lets start with sun. It often surprises many people to find out that the vast
majority of carnivorous plants enjoy full sun. You see, carnivorous plants grow
in bogs, which are open fields of wetlands.
Most people confuse bogs with marshes. Marshes typically are closer to the ocean
and contain slightly salted water. Marshes are also overgrown with trees, making
them shady.
Bogs, on the other hand, contain fresh water, usually bubbling up from an
underground spring, and can be found on mountaintops and other places far away
from the ocean. If you see a bog in nature, you will notice that there are no
trees in it. So, all plants growing in a bog are exposed to full sun.
This is true for Venus Flytraps, North American Pitcher Plants and nearly all
Sundews. As a result, these plants do best growing in 6-8 hours of direct
sunlight during their growing season. Four hours of direct sunlight are
definitely the absolute minimum. Anything less than that will cause your plants
to struggle for survival.
The only types of carnivorous plants that are not exposed to full sun in the
wild are Asian Pitcher Plants, Butterworts and some species of Sundews. These
plants prefer bright indirect light.
Now you know what types of carnivorous plants you have, give it the proper
sunlight. With US native plants, grow them outside during the growing season
(spring through fall). With Asian Pitcher Plants and Butterworts, grow them in a
window that receives bright indirect light.
If you do not have enough natural light, use 20-40W fluorescent light tubes or
fluorescent compact bulbs that are equivalent to 100W. Keep the light source
about 8 inches above the plant, and keep it on for 12-14 hours per day.
Avoid using incandescent bulbs because it produces too much heat and the wrong
type of light.
Secret #3: Soak their feet.
After giving your carnivorous plants the right amount of light (full sun,
partial sun or indirect light), now you need to make sure it gets the right
amount of water.
Nearly all carnivorous plants grow in bogs, which are constantly wet. So, if you
want to duplicate what they experience out in nature, you need to provide
constantly wet soil.
Some people prefer to simply water their plants every day. Personally, I find
this to be a real drag, especially when I have so many other things to do, like
watch a good DVD or scratch my dog’s belly.
The easiest way to make sure the soil is constantly wet is to keep your plant in
a bit of standing water. Use a tray, bowl, saucer or any container that holds
water. Fill the container with water and place your plant right in. Allow the
water to go half way up the pot. Just make sure you do not drown the crown or
base of the plant. Remember, they are bog plants, not water plants (big
difference!).
But, before your plants start soaking their little feet, make the water is
relatively pure. It does not need to be blessed by a Tibetan monk, but it should
at least have low levels of minerals (less than 100 parts per million). Check
with your local aquarium supply store for water hardness kits.
You can use distilled water or rainwater, but this is feasible only if you have
only a few carnivorous plants. If you are like me, you might have several
thousand.
In that case, local tap water will do just fine. If the water has a lot of
naturally occurring minerals or additives to make the water soft, consider
hooking your hose up to a reverse-osmosis unit. Check your local hardware store
for this type of filter.
Avoid using simple charcoal-filtration units. Although they are great in
removing chlorine and other not-so-tasty chemicals, they are inadequate in
removing minerals.
One more thing: some carnivorous plants prefer not to have their feet dunked in
water. This is true with Asian Pitcher Plants. They prefer to have moist soil
rather than wet soil. With these plants, water them once or twice weekly.
Secret #4: Season your plants.
One day while I was at the Farmers’ Market selling my carnivorous plants, a
customer stopped by and said that she had the good fortune to see a type of
carnivorous plant growing in the wild while visiting friends in Canada.
I immediately knew which plant she had seen, so I held up a Purple Pitcher Plant
and she exclaimed, “Yes, that is the plant I saw!”
I then told her how easy it was to grow that plant outdoors all year round, to
which she replied, “But during the winter, you have to bring them indoors,
right?”
“Why would you need to do that?”
“Because it will get too cold for them,” she stated with authority.
At that point, I was very puzzled. So, I said to her, “If you saw them growing
in the wild in Canada, surely they can live outdoors in Oregon. It gets much
colder in Canada than it does in Oregon.”
It amazes me how often some people assume that just because a plant is
carnivorous it is: 1) tropical, 2) delicate, and 3) difficult to grow. This is
precisely why people kill their carnivorous plants. They treat them as a
tropical, delicate carnivorous plant that is difficult to grow without knowing
if they actually have a tropical, delicate carnivorous plant that is difficult
to grow. This is definitely a recipe for disaster.
All carnivorous plants native to the United States and Canada are considered
temperate plants, meaning they go dormant during the winter months, and come
right back to life in spring and summer. Other non-carnivorous plants that do
this are roses, daisies, daffodils and thousands upon thousands of other types
of plants grown all around the world.
This is why Secret #1 is a very important secret. You need to know what type of
plant you have to determine whether it requires winter dormancy or if it needs
to be indoors during those cold winter months.
Temperate plants need to rest up for spring. Without their winter rest, they get
very cranky and may fail to grow in spring. Think of how you feel when you do
not get enough sleep. So, if you want healthy vibrant plants in spring, give
them a winter rest. They might even reward you with flowers!
Secret #5: Hold the fertilizer, please.
If you want gorgeous looking carnivorous plants during the growing season, repot
your plants right before they come out of dormancy. In most cases, this would be
in March. Repotting your plants serves two purposes.
Firstly, carnivorous plants need room to grow. Depending on the species, some
rhizomes can get quite large. Other species have long deep taproots. So, it is
important that you give these guys enough root space.
Secondly, changing the soil yearly aerates the roots. With fresh oxygen, roots
will grow more robustly, producing healthier plants.
Springtime is also a time when you should cut off dead leaves or any leaves that
have turned brown. This will prevent fungal infections and increase sunlight to
the base of the plant.
When repotting your plants, a standard soil mix to use is 1 part peat moss and 1
part perlite. Peat moss adds acidity and retains moisture, while perlite
provides drainage.
This soil recipe is sufficient for 80% of all carnivorous plants. You can adjust
the recipe by adding more perlite or other inert matter to increase the
drainage. Just make sure the soil is void of nutrients and fertilizer.
Fertilizer is toxic to carnivorous plants and will burn their roots. (Very
painful.) Carnivorous plants will get all of their nutrients from insects caught
in their leaves.
There you have it! You have just read the TOP 5 SECRETS TO KEEPING YOUR
CARNIVOROUS PLANTS ALIVE, HEALTHY AND BEAUTIFUL.
You learned:
Secret #1: Correctly identify the type of carnivorous plant you have.
Remember, not all carnivorous plants are created equal. Some grow in temperate
bogs, while others grow in hot humid jungles.
Secret #2: Brighten their days with full sun.
Secret #3: Soak their feet.
Secret #4: Season your plants.
Secret #5: Repot yearly and hold the fertilizer.
Each secret is an important part of the foundation on which you can grow
beautiful carnivorous plants all year round.
Believe it or not, you now know more about growing carnivorous plants than you
local nursery. Really, when was the last time you saw Venus Flytraps being sold
in the outdoor plant section? In nearly all cases, you will find them in the
indoor plant section, amongst the tropical plants.
When you follow these simple steps, your carnivorous plants will have no choice
but grow into healthy and beautiful plants that you can be proud of!
BONUS SECRET!
Always start with healthy and beautiful carnivorous plants. Make sure the seller
is growing them correctly; otherwise you will have an uphill battle trying to
keep your plants alive.
For healthy and beautiful carnivorous plants direct from experienced growers,
visit Sarracenia
Northwest.
About the Author - Jacob Farin is co-owner of
Sarracenia Northwest, a nursery
specializing in the cultivation of beautiful carnivorous plants.
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