You know what you are doing, @yardenman. That's why I researched CP before settling on the Nepehthes "Red Pitcher". They need pretty much the same growing conditions are most houseplants and don't have to have purified or distilled water. They can either be grown potted or in hanging baskets. Here are a few of my Nepenthes at 1 yr. of age. The photos were taken in the dead of winter.


Nepehthes ventricosa 'Rosea', aka "Red Pitcher Plant"

I grew this one from seed from California Carnivores. It is supposed to be Sarracenia flava x purpurea. Anyone know for sure?

Hurray! We got 2.5 inches on nice clean rain last night, and I had 3 clean buckets out to catch it and poured it into gallon jugs. My VFTs will be good for a month!

My CP's don't get rainwater unless it rains, @yardenman. They get watered with a hose and that's tap water.

Lucky you Yardenman!

Mine seem fine with tap water. Its all they are going to get so they better be. In California, we had well water with a ton of minerals - I was cleaning my misters every week - and it never bothered anybody. In Reno, we have river water and I haven't cleaned a mister in a year.

Our tap water is very good here in Starkville. I understand that it all comes from deep wells.

drdawg said:Our tap water is very good here in Starkville. I understand that it all comes from deep wells.

Well, all I can say is that I have tried Venus Fly Traps before and used tap water and the died in a month. And these babies are getting distilled and rainwater and they are growing wonderfully. One even has a flower stalk!

Nothing like a newbie like me to be a fanatic, though. I read that the potting soil should be peat and sand. So I bought sand and mixed it with peat (I make my own starter soil for all my plants). Then I read that it should be non-mineral sand or perlite, so I threw out my mix and repotted them into that peat and perlite.

I water them with distilled or rain water every morning in their 6" pots. They must be happy; their traps are almost all filled and the open traps are red/pink inside.

@yardenman, keep in mind that I don't grow Venus Fly Traps. I am growing Nepenthes, the "Red Pitcher Plant", and though both plants are carnivores, they are completely different in their needs.

drdawg said:@yardenman, keep in mind that I don't grow Venus Fly Traps. I am growing Nepenthes, the "Red Pitcher Plant", and though both plants are carnivores, they are completely different in their needs.

Of course.

Peat and perlite (about half and half) is a better choice than peat and sand as the sand tends to sink out of the peat and end up on the bottom of your pot all by itself.

DaisyI said:Peat and perlite (about half and half) is a better choice than peat and sand as the sand tends to sink out of the peat and end up on the bottom of your pot all by itself.

And the perlite tends to float to the top, LOL!

But I do what I can. I got a flower from one.

Bad picture but my camera doesn't like any white flowers at any setting I've found. Still, it shows there is a flower.

I've never had a problem with the perlite floating out once I have the peat and perlite thoroughly mixed and wet.

DaisyI said:I've never had a problem with the perlite floating out once I have the peat and perlite thoroughly mixed and wet.

Maybe I should immersion-blend my perlite and peat?

Well, I look at the watering this way. The sites foccussing on VFTs say they do best with distilled or rainwater and I have captured gallons of rainwater. So I might as well use it. Can't harm them... LOL!

Yardenman said:

Maybe I should immersion-blend my perlite and peat?

That doesn't sound like a good idea. The reason to add perlite is to 'fluff' the peat up so it doesn't pack and get stagnant.

DaisyI said:

That doesn't sound like a good idea. The reason to add perlite is to 'fluff' the peat up so it doesn't pack and get stagnant.

Yeah, but how small does perlite get before it it TOO small? Small perlite still " fluffs" at a soil particle level.

I just don't like the way it floats to the surface when watering pots as it exists commercially.

Wow, I didn't realize how much larger my VFTs had gotten in just few weeks!


The wires are there to keep the pots from blowing over in storms...

They are sure catching flies, and a wasp too! And the fellow wasps seemed very distressed BTW. It was 2 days before there weren't any buzzing around it.

I am very encouraged that most of the open traps are bright pink-to-red inside, and that about half the traps are closed and seem to have something inside them.

I think I may dare to snip off the black dead traps carefully, and I may try to divide one plant before they go dormant in a few months. At the rate they are growing, it's worth a try.

The next learning experience will be getting them to survive dormancy indoors over the Winter. I think I will try to keep one actively feeding under lights and let the other 2 go through a natural simulated North Carolina Winter (I'm in MD) in the cool basement.

I walked past my Sarracenia garden a couple days ago and heard buzzing so stopped to investigate. I stared down into the first couple pitchers and could make out bee-butts. The more I looked, the more buzzing there was - all the pitchers were buzzing! I think my pitchers snared an entire colony of bees.