Plantiis

Spring is almost here! The daily run of bringing the plants out for a couple of hours until the temperatures drop again at night is almost at an end. After a whole year of young pitchers, my tiny Heliamphora has finally started to produce adult pitchers!

So much patience is required as they are the slowest and most difficult of species to grow.

Close up of the nectar spoon as the foliage begins to open

Insects fall in by trying to reach the nectar spoons, lose footing and drown inside.

Spiky hairs that keep bugs inside once they fall in.

Side shot of the adult pitcher.

Top shot of the nectar spoons

These little guys are kept indoors inside a terrarium. Temperatures during the day are around 80 and at night around 70 degrees. Purchased from Cook’s

Lots of first time growers are often scared to find they might have killed their carnivorous plants, when in fact it’s simply gone into dormancy.

Drosera often die back, leaving behind a terrifying dead leafed corpse.
Not to worry! It will most likely regenerate new sprouts through a couple of the roots it has laid out.

So don’t throw away that planter full of plants playing possum, they be back up next season!

This cultivated variety has smaller traps with deep red coloration that covers up the lateral extension and wings.

Unlike the Akai Ryu Red Dragon, where the entire plant is covered in dark red, these guys were selected for the velvet red coloring on the traps.

This breed has the same behaviors as others. They all go through dormancy, require full sunshine and lots of water. Best grown in a mixture of sphagnum and peat.

Along the wetlands, the most common companions found growing amongst carnivores is moss. The best type to use with carnivorous plants is long-fiber Sphagnum Moss. Growing as a top dressing or as a medium, moss can help retain large amounts of moisture and help maintain medium acidity.

Using dried moss to germinate spores and harvest live moss takes quite a bit of time and patience. You can regrow with large high quality amounts of dried out moss. Buds and spores can slowly regrow as it is watered. This little bit of sphagnum has taken about eight months to sprout. Grow in a moist humid environment, until it is big enough to transport.

Most CPs come with tiny sprouts of sheet moss, although not as moisture retaining as the sphagnum. Some types of moss can be harmful to carnivorous plants, like spanish moss.

Instead of the normal green or red coloration, this cultivated variety was selected to bring out a slight yellow tint. Most noticeable as each trap matures. A very hardy little plant that continues to catch plenty of insects.

More node growth on a thriving Khasiana, induced by just covering up the dormant brown wood nodes. A nice surprise to see when you first spot the lid tops of the little pitchers pop through the moss.