I need help identifying a few plants.

[indjev99]

I have wanted to get a carnivorous plant for a long time, but I couldn't find a place that sells them. Finally I saw them in a shop as a temporary thing (it doesn't usually have them), so I bought a few different ones immediately before they run out. Sadly it didn't say anything on the label just "Carnivorous Plants Mix". Could you please help me identify them and give me some advice on growing them. Pictures:
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[ICPS-bob]

Knowing your location and the name of the shop where you bought them might help. Does the label give any hint of source?

Here is my guess:
1. D. aliciae
2. D. capensis
3. A Sarracenia hybrid with a S. leucophylla parent.
4. Dionaea muscipula
5. A Nepenthes. Once the pitchers mature, identification might be possible.
6. S. purpurea or possibly some hybrid thereof.

[indjev99]

Jun 5, 2015 21:31:14 GMT ICPS-bob said:

Knowing your location and the name of the shop where you bought them might help. Does the label give any hint of source?

Here is my guess:
1. D. aliciae
2. D. capensis
3. A Sarracenia hybrid with a S. leucophylla parent.
4. Dionaea muscipula
5. A Nepenthes. Once the pitchers mature, identification might be possible.
6. S. purpurea or possibly some hybrid thereof.

I live in Bulgaria, but I'm almost sure these were imported from somewhere else. The shop's name is Praktiker. The label gives no information, you can see it in some of the images, the back side is just a bar code. Based on that, can you give me some advice on growing them?

[hcarlton]

The Sarracenia and Dionaea need full sunlight and require a dormancy during winter. They prefer a soil of peat moss and perlite/sand. The others are tropical/subtropical, and also like bright sun, but can tolerate slightly lower lighting. The aliciae and capensis sundews will do well in the same soil as the Sarracenia, possibly heavier on the perlite/sand, while the Nepenthes will do well in a mainly sphagnum soil. All require distilled, reverse osmosis or rain water.

[jdallas]

I'll add to what the others have said to give you some explanation of what will take place in the process of getting your new carnivorous plant collection healthy. Since these have been in such inadequate light as indicated by their color you're going to see some leaf burn when they are moved to full sun, and they do need to be moved to full sun. Start gradual if you can. Do a couple hours at first, then over a couple of weeks increase it. Even doing it gradually you see some burn, but just cut those leaves off when that happens. Gradually those will be replaced by darker, healthy leaves. The plant you'll see the most leaf burn on will be the sundews. Those were in woefully too little light. The Venus Flytrap isn't in as bad a shape. The Sarracenia purpurea will have some burn for sure and possibly the S. leucophylla hybrid too. Keep some water in the S. purpurea pitchers.

[indjev99]

So, at what temperature should I keep each one and also should I keep them under direct sunlight or not? How often should I water each one?

[indjev99]

Also, should I catch insects for them and drop them or just put them in the room?

[adelea]

Hi INDJEV,
Here is a basic run down.

D. aliciae and D. capensis are both happy in temps anywhere from 5C to 40C, with 15-25C being optimum, they both also like a few hours of full sun to filtered sun all day (through 50% shade cloth), also in 10-15cm tall pots and a water tray of 3-5cm (permanent unless you induce a dormancy on the capensis).

I am tropical so I wont comment on the sarra and dionaea to much (though sarra do well here), but one thing that never seems to change (tropical or temperate) is that sarra like a high water table, I readily flood the pots of mine, and in summer I would suggest a water table just 2-4inch from the soil surface, then only an inch or two from the base in winter, but water year round.

In my experience dionaea do not appreciate a high water table, but I am tropical so this may not be the case for you (correct me if I am wrong, but Bulgaria is not tropical) so I would suggest taking another growers advice on these.

For both the sarra's and the flytraps full sun is needed for healthy growth, my plant get full sun from 8am to 5pm, no shade, but I have found that as little as 2-3hours full sun is enough.

As for the nep, at a glance I would go ventricosa X alata, but as Bob said it really has to grow up a bit more so we can see a fully formed trap.
Regardless I would suggest temps between 10-27C, but if its a ventrata (that hybrid) it will take as cold as 5C in my experience (for brief times) and as hot as 40C. I would not suggest a water tray unless it is very shallow (1-2cm), I use trays for most of my neps, but I have been told that in cool climates this is catastrophic.
This plant will be happy in anywhere from 6-7hours full sun to bright light all day (no full sun but well lit), and like a higher humidity (aim for 70% up), but can take as low as 40% with no real side effects other than slowed growth and smaller traps.

Next, I would suggest weaning the plants to more sun, they are all very green and have obviously been grown to dark, if you go straight to full sun it may burn them, so do it over the period of a couple-few months, the end product are red drosera (unless that's an alba capensis, but it doesn't look it), more colourful sarra, blood red nepenthes traps and much happier dionaea.

I also find that a small amount of NPK fertiliser (NO OR VERY LITTLE UREA OR COPPER) in the soil of the sarra's and neps can help, but only a tea spoon per pot at those pot sizes and mixed into the soil, not just on top unless you are water from above daily.

As for feeding, all but the flytrap are happy to be fed fish food pellets/flakes if you cant get bugs, but this is not necessary, but will increase growth, as a rule 1/7-1/6 of a nep trap (there must be more fluid than food at all times), for sarra the same is fine, but more wont hurt unless you go as far as half a pitcher.
And the drosera 1/3-1/4 of a leafs glandular area, otherwise a single pellet per leaf, but if in doubt use less.

If you use fish food you also need good air flow or you will get mould.
Try not to over feed (though over feeding a sarra is pretty hard).
The flytrap is a prick as they rely on movement, so live insects are best, aim for insects such as flys that are about 1/3 the size of the trap.

Cheers
Brandan