Plant questions

[saltee]

Hello eveybody! I don't know if this is the right area to post a question like this, but I couldn't find a better area. Anyway, I recently aquired a small acrylic terrarium measuring aprx 10 inches tall, 4 inches wide and 4 deep. the pot inside contains a small venus flytrap- the three traps measure a little under .5 inches each and has three other leaves that seem to be in development. Planted with it are a pitcher plant I believe to be S. Purpurea and either D. Capensis or D. Adelae- i'm new, I don't know- I'm just going by google images. I've been keeping them under a small 7.5 watt Power Compact bulb that seems powerful enough for such small plants, and have been mantaining the humidity at 80-90. I intend to transplant them to a larger terrarrium with a more powerful light in a few weeks because they seem quite crowded. For the last two weeks of ownership I have put in one vial of friutflies per week.
GASP!!
That said, till now i've only been guessing. Any tips for care are GREATLY appreciated.

I'm also curious as to just how compatible these three plants are together- if they are all safe to keep together and have similar care requirements, I think they would look great together, but if I must split them, I will.

Also is this diet acceptable? if I need to provide a more varied diet I'll be happy to add some crickets or spiders in. How often do I need to feed them?

Also what substrate should I keep them in? I'm currently preping a batch of Peat moss to transplant into(assuming this is acceptable) How deep should it be?

Is there a good rule to go by for determining light intensity such as x watts/x terrarrium volume. If need be I can supply a 175 watt Metal Halide equiped with a 14000K bulb?

I eagerly await responses, and thankyou for your time.

EDIT:

Just a few other notes on my plants- when I got them two weeks agfo they were in sad shape- I rescued them from the shelves of a Lowes Home Improvement garden center. Since then the sundew appears to be growing quite a bit- its unfolded two leaves about 3 inches long and has two more coming from the center. I take this as good news. the pitcher plant has perked up quite a bit, though the red streaks on the pitcher plant seems to have receeded. There was also a dryed, dead looking edge on one of the pitchers that partially greened (yellowed) up I've been keeping the bottom of the container constantly filled at 1/4 inch of water.

There is only one pitcher with red on it the rest are all green. Sizes of the pitchers vary from 2-5 inches in length. when I bought them, the pitchers were empty, so I filled each 1/4 full of water- should I have done this?

The Venus Flytrap as mentioned has three developing leaves- each one has a small, undeveloped trap that faces the center and on the center facing edge is a black coloration- is this normal or bad? if bad, how can I fix it?

Again, Thanks for your time.

[Clint]

Hey, Saltee! Dionaea are really outside plants, doing best with full sun. They also require a dormancy in the winter, so they aren't the most appropriate plants for terraria. Same goes for S. purpurea. You can skip this dormancy, but next year they'll need it. D. capensis would do very well outside in the summer in full sun, too, but with enough light you can grow it year round inside. D. adelae doesn't require much light, but I'd definitely give it more than 7.5 watts! It does not require a dormancy. If you have a bright windowsill, put the D. capensis and D. adelae in that for now, unless you want to buy proper lighting. Don't worry about humidity too much, and make sure they get some air circulation to prevent fungi growth. You don't even need to feed you plants, but a vial of fruitflies each week seems like a bit much! A few fruit flies ever now and then is fine.

This is D. adelae and D. capensis, respectively.
content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/d/d4/230px-9-Drosera_adelae_with_Plantlets.jpg
www.pitcherplant.com/image_folder1/d.cape.jpg

Your media is OK. I don't like to plant in pure peat, not that it can't be done. Any combo of sand, peat, perlite, LFS, etc. Will work. You can use pure LFS for all of them if you'd like. I've never been able to grow D. adelae well in anything except pure LFS or LFS and perlite. LFS means Long Fibered Sphagnum, BTW.


Now I see you have a metal halide lamp! You've definitely got a head start to your new hobby if you possess one of these! I use a 250 watt lamp myself. VERY nice lighting. Since you said 14,000K, it sounds like it was used previously for reef lighting. This is too high. Anything from approx. 5,000K to 10,000K is good (I wouldn't go over 10,000 K.) Around 6,000-6,500 will give you a nice, balanced spectrum. This light is perfect for growing tropical plants, and your D. capensis or D. adelae will do well under it (put the D. adelae to the side) and I couldn't give you a better recommendation than to use it! It should illuminate a 2 x 2 foot area nicely, put it higher for a wider growing area, but shadier if you want (not that I would. Give your plants as much light as they can take.)

[ICPS-bob]

My first advice is to that each part of the country (world) has different issues that make it easy or difficult to grow some types of carnivorous plants. Some, such as Nepenthes, are happy in tropical to subtropical conditions (a few require cooler temps). Some, such as Drosera anglica, require long freezing winters and have a very short summer growth period.

Nebraska, being in the great American wasteland ;D will present a unique challenge. There are a several longtime CP growers in your area that will be a great source of dos and don'ts. Pump them for information. Best of all, experiment. One thing you will discover about this CP community is that if you are seriously addicted to experimentation, many growers will send you plants to play with.

Drosera adelae will be happy in your little terrarium with relatively low light. Drosera capensis would be less happy. Dionaea would probably survive, but would need more light and would do better in a 4-inch plastic pot on a windowsill or outdoors. S. purpurea will quickly outgrow a 4 x 4 terrarium and also takes a lot of light. I find a 6-inch pot to be an adequate size for a while, but the bigger the better.

For a good start, read Barry's FAQ.
www.sarracenia.com/faq.html

Good luck!

[saltee]

Thanks for the info- its a very nice start. I'll look into the book mentioned on the FAQ site- sounds great.

[saltee]

interesting fact- I was checking out the FAQ site and I found a list of common questions- one of wich was 'Are there any carnivorous plants in the ocean?' I can answer this- No. There are barely any plant spiecies that arre higher than common algea let alone carnivorous ones.

[Aidan]

The oceans are vast and our knowledge of them still remarkably limited. I don't think your answer may be considered definitive.

[saltee]

Yes the oceans are big and its true that man has only studied roughly 1% of them- but plants need Sunlight, Nutrients, and a place to grow. Given these criteria, there aren't may places to actually grow- it would need to be in a depth of less than 100 feet, in an area within a zone that gets plenty of sunlight, and most importantly, in an area with a diverse enough animal population to actually eat. Thus, if there were any oceanic carnivorous plants, it probably would have been described long ago- and given peoples interest in Exotic Carnivorous plants, there'd probably be nature documentaries on it- it's very unlikely there are any.

[saltee]

P.S. sorry I hijacked my own thread:)

[Clint]

Not all plants need sunlight; it's possible that it could have a symbiotic relationship with something. Or it could use Chemosynthesis instead of Photosynthesis.

You say if there were any marine CP's, that they probably would have been described long ago. Well, we have new plants being described very frequently these days which originate from land, which is much more accessible than the ocean, so if anything I'd think marine CP's living at the bottom of the ocean wouldn't have been described long ago.

Not that I think there are any down there (I don't), just saying anything is possible.

[saltee]

Yeah, thats true that there could be some down there, but I'm still very firmly against it for other reasons- for one thing, carnivorous plants on land evolved through a combination of living in (usually) nutrient deficient conditions, unique climate changes, and physical isolation factors- Mountain ranges, lakes, rivers ect. Conditions perfect for advancing evolution. In the ocean its the oposite- few isolating factors (currents see to that) exist, nutrients are virtually infinite thus there would be no reason to adapt a means of eating large prey, and ocean chemistry & temperature is constant- nothing like the vast temperature and climate changes on land.