Question
All my CP's
Hello again! I took your advice and bought cheap green plastic pots that are 5" in size for each of my plants. I also bought a 6" plastic green pot for when they outgrow that and I need a slightly bigger pot.
I am going to, starting tomorrow, put my sundews, venus flytrap, and pitcher plant outside in the full sun as you suggested when I last spoke with you in a previous question. As for the butterwort, I am going to put that on my windowsill. I read on a couple of online butterwort care sites/guides that they will do good as a windowsill plant, as the sunlight isn't too bright and direct but there's still a good deal of it there. The windowsill I have it on is south-eastern in the direction it's facing.
I also bought a beginner's nepenthes that will do good in 20%-35% humidity even though it is tropical. (That's what the thing said, anyways.) When I got home, I instantly researched several sites that said my specific Nepenthes would do well as a windowsill plant as it can't take direct sunlight like the butterwort. This will be on the same south-eastern window as my butterwort. In the picture, you can identify the species of Nepenthes I have, but I'm pretty sure it is a Nepenthes sanguinea. I do know for sure it is an Asian Nepenthes.
I will also include a photo of my plants with the pots they are planted in for you to see how I am doing in that regard. It also shows both types of my sundews, so perhaps you will be able to identify the other one. (Although I fear it is just about good as dead, but I don't know.)
Thanks again for your time in reading and responding to the many newbie questions I have given you!
AnswerHello Devon,
The Nepenthes is too young to place right now, but could be sanguinea, ventrata, alata, or some similar species (when the pitchers get a couple inches in size you will be able to make a better identification). All take similar culture, so do well as houseplants in a bright window. Be cautious about watering the Nepenthes and Butterwort. Both love water, but hate waterlogged conditions, so do not allow much water to stand in the trays under the pots. Just water them when their soil looks like it is slightly dry on top every few days and allow only a fraction of an inch of runoff in the tray to dry between waterings. Both genera suffer root rot readily in stagnant, wet conditions.
You have a Dionaea muscipula typical form Venus Flytrap and a Sarracenia purpurea Purple Pitcher plant or hybrid of such. Both are full sun plants, but both look very undernourished. They have little coloration and their leaves look spindly and somewhat malformed. Be cautious about the light level you introduce them to as they will be unused to ultraviolet light. Each week, place them in progressivly brighter conditions. First week, place them in your bright window, second week, ouside under a large tree or close to a wall in slight shade, next week, in brighter conditions, until you have them in full sun. They might suffer a bit of leaf burn at first, but they will grow in hardier leaves that can take full sun and are very tolerant of 90-100 degree weather. Keep tabs on their water and keep the bottoms of their pots in at least an inch to an inch and a half of mineral free water (distilled, reverse osmosis, rain, or very soft tap water that tests as having less than 50 parts per million in dissolved solid minerals and salts).
The sundews both look like round leaved varieties but will be hard to identify without good close pictures of their leaf shapes, overall structure and growth patterns. The dying leaves also poses an identification problem. If both are temperates, they may be the commonly sold species of Drosera intermedia and Drosera rotundifolia. Both do well in similar settings as the Sarracenia and Dionaea. Both can take up to full sun and like more water. You can put up to two inches under their pots. Actually the Sarracenia likes up to half its pot in water, but is not necessary so long as there is always a water level of at least an inch under those five inch pots. Anyways, try to get those Sundews in the same progressive light levels as the Venus Flytrap and Sarracenia and hope for the best. They look like there is some life in them yet.
Good job with those pots. Your plants will be healthier without all the terrarium troubles. Keep on with the slow adaptation to lower humidity if they have been in the terrarium for several weeks as they can suffer humidity shock if they are placed in a high humidity area for a time, then placed in a drastically lower humidity very quickly. Slow change are the watchwords for plants. All of those plants can survive in low humidity very easily if given time to slowly adapt over several weeks.
Christopher
