Florida Gardening: Carnivorous plants, 2 by shauna1219

shauna1219 wrote:
At the USF Spring plant show earlier this year, I bought a Venus fly trap for my son (he wanted to watch it eat bugs and I wanted less mosquitoes). We kept it watered and outside in a place where it SHOULD have had access to plenty of mosquitoes for food. Needless to say, the plant didn't last, but we never went out and "fed it", assuming that it would attract bugs naturally.

Last weekend at a Home and Garden show, I found this awesome Pitcher Plant "Nepenthes" that is carnivorous too. Per the instructions, you are supposed to put it in a semi-shady location, put a half inch of water in the bottom of the "pitchers" and the plant will take care of itself (of course keeping the soil moist). I have it hanging on my deck underneath a canopy of Confederate Jasmine where it gets filtered sunlight and with the rain we have been getting daily, the soils is nice and moist.

I read online that they are easily propagated by rooting cuttings and I am anxious to try that. However I want to make sure the plant is happy and established in that location, before I start to take cuttings off it.

Has anyone here ever had any success in growing a carnivorous plant? If so, do you have any advise for me?

Thanks,
Shauna