Carnivorous plants

[NORBY]

Looking to get some carnivorous plants and wondering what would be the best to start off with?

 

[Waira]

Looking to get some carnivorous plants and wondering what would be the best to start off with?

One of my fav's Norb'! My collection is sparse currently, but looking to pick a few new things up. I'll in mourning over the loss of my cephalotus, which did great for years, had one round of divisions that did well but next time some fungal shit show wiped them out! Seriously, two 6" pots and an 8" full, worth a damn fortune really,...

Aaaanyway, what species you chose will depend on your local climate, unless you're doing ID's? I have had a pile of Sarracenia leucophylla Tarnok for about 20 years now... Piles and piles of divisions, easy peasy! They do fine in cooler T's, it's the RH% that's the limiting factor usually. I lived near the central CA coast which was fine; I moved inland just enough to loss that nice RH% during part of the year and they hate that shit! They have no tolerance for heat/dry...

Fly traps come is several variants now, such as deep red colors, huge traps, blunted "teeth"...
Sundew's are very diverse too...
Pitchers are all over the map on form and color...
All three are great starter types, Cephalotus is not, nor is the Cobra plant though it's cool AF!

I see a lot of nepenthe hybrids now, even commercial nurseries seem to offer them... best most tolerant ones are N. ventricosa hybrids I think; I had a pure species that wasn't so easy... Nepenthes is a true jungle plant, highland species more tolerant than lowland steam dwellers!

I highly recommend a book, the Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato who owns California Carnivores... A great source, but there are several others, just takes some google-work to sift them out... Etsy can be a good source too!

I see a couple Sundews around at garden centers, capensis or something like that? They are like a weed, once they get going they take over and make a mess very quickly; old crappy leaves tend to stack up at the base... they flower readily, and shower seeds all the hell over!
A clear pot of babies is too damn cool though, tiny little gems laid down like a carpet...

I'll gab more later, it's late and I'm fadin' out...

 

[NORBY]

One of my fav's Norb'! My collection is sparse currently, but looking to pick a few new things up. I'll in mourning over the loss of my cephalotus, which did great for years, had one round of divisions that did well but next time some fungal shit show wiped them out! Seriously, two 6" pots and an 8" full, worth a damn fortune really,...

Aaaanyway, what species you chose will depend on your local climate, unless you're doing ID's? I have had a pile of Sarracenia leucophylla Tarnok for about 20 years now... Piles and piles of divisions, easy peasy! They do fine in cooler T's, it's the RH% that's the limiting factor usually. I lived near the central CA coast which was fine; I moved inland just enough to loss that nice RH% during part of the year and they hate that shit! They have no tolerance for heat/dry...

Fly traps come is several variants now, such as deep red colors, huge traps, blunted "teeth"...
Sundew's are very diverse too...
Pitchers are all over the map on form and color...
All three are great starter types, Cephalotus is not, nor is the Cobra plant though it's cool AF!

I see a lot of nepenthe hybrids now, even commercial nurseries seem to offer them... best most tolerant ones are N. ventricosa hybrids I think; I had a pure species that wasn't so easy... Nepenthes is a true jungle plant, highland species more tolerant than lowland steam dwellers!

I highly recommend a book, the Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato who owns California Carnivores... A great source, but there are several others, just takes some google-work to sift them out... Etsy can be a good source too!

I see a couple Sundews around at garden centers, capensis or something like that? They are like a weed, once they get going they take over and make a mess very quickly; old crappy leaves tend to stack up at the base... they flower readily, and shower seeds all the hell over!
A clear pot of babies is too damn cool though, tiny little gems laid down like a carpet...

I'll gab more later, it's late and I'm fadin' out...

The fly traps are cool my daughter wants me to get some, she wants to see one eat a fly lol
Some of the pitchers have really nice colors too

 

[Waira]

The fly traps are cool my daughter wants me to get some, she wants to see one eat a fly lol
Some of the pitchers have really nice colors too

...it's a gas no doubt- VFT's move fast enough to catch a fly after all,... the evolution of the design and biomechanics is a marvel! Only plant with a faster action is a bladderwort. Those are a trip too, though far smaller and underwater so not at all readily visible...

S. leucophylla Tarnok cultivar is unique in it's flowers, like flaming comet's! Pitchers are awesomely pretty, white with red veining on top, green and sometimes red stripes on the rest of the body... Flowers are the first thing to come out after Winter dormancy...
Not as fun to watch as a VFT, but those pitchers are killing machines! They will fill to tipping over sometimes, and a smell of bug death surrounds them literally-
The nectar along the body has something in it that drugs the bugs, makes them clumsy... between the slick lip and the downward pointing hairs in the hood area, it's very effective! Also, something about the aerodynamics inside that pitcher screws with a bugs ability to fly I think? I've watched them when down deep enough in a larger pitcher (maybe an inch or so only), and when they try, the drop like a damn stone...