Hi,
I have some houseplants, but no CPs before now. I have a bunch of african violets, and at some point someone over on that forum was talking about how some CPs can coexist well on a plant stand with african violets, because there will be pretty good lighting and humidity, and the CPs will get to eat the occasional fungus gnat. :-)
So, today I was in Home Depot and ended up getting some cute little CPs. Hopefully I didn't chose the hardest ones to grow. I got what I think is a Pinguicula primuliflora (the pot was just labeled Butterwort (and scanned as Venus Fly Trap, but it's definitely not that)), and an unlabeled plant that's some sort of sundew, but I'm not sure what kind. They both have "Little Pot of Horrors!" labels, but I can't find a web site for them or anything.
Can anyone make a guess as to what kind of Drosera this is? (Or like african violets, is it hopeless to guess?)
Thanks!
Sara
Sundew ID
Oops, the picture got lost. Here's the sundew.
Sigh. Trying again:
And here what I think is a Pinguicula primuliflora. Does that sound right?
Thanks.
The first one sort of looks like a very light deprived Drosera intermedia. The second looks like P. primuliflora.
Great photos for comparison here-
http://www.humboldt.edu/~rrz7001/Drosera.html
Congratulations on your lil biting babies!
Cool, thanks for the ID!
If I put the light deprived plant on my plant stand, where it'll get light from 2 32W flourescent bulbs 13" above the leaves, is there a concern that it'll go into shock or something from the sudden change in lighting? (For that matter, does that sound like enough lighting? If not, I can raise them up to be closer to the lights.)
Hi SaraCatherine,
Do you have screens on your windows? If so, I'd be inclined to stick that plant in a window that has an eastern exposure and supplement it with only one fluorescent bulb. There will be those who think differently than me.
You might as well stick the Pinguicula in the same location. After about a week or so, raise up or remove the outer window screen. After another week, place them outside. Those are both temperate species and both will need a dormancy.
I don't know what they potted them in but it looks pretty ickie. You might want to change the medium to something more appropriate. If you can't decide what you want to use, try good old long fibre sphagnum moss. If you can't get your hands on that, try some good old Canadian sphagnum moss for now. That medium they are currently in looks pretty black and yuckie pooey.
I don't know if you've had a chance to read anything back here but you have to be careful with what you use to water these plants. There are a few threads on this topic. Try distilled water or collect rain water from a downspout until you are sure which route you want to take.
If you are going to be plaing these two plants together in front of the same window, you could stick them in an oblong baking dish that you could use as a water tray. I don't know the size of your pots but they both might benefit from water wicking up to keep them moist at all times right now while they are both actively growing. Maybe a half an inch of water? Experiment a little I guess.
Pick up one banana and let it sit and go black between your plants. Fruit flies will come. Yum yum.
I'm going to be gone for a few weeks. There is an extensive carnivorous plants FAQ here-
http://www.carnivorousplants.org/
There are quite a few members who grow carnivorous plants drifting in and out of this forum who can help you but it's summer and you know how it goes.
Happy growing to you! You will absolutely love these plants!
The Sundew will do great in a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite. Place in a bright Sunless, window. Sundews are easy plants and make many offshoot plants during the year when happy and will even bloom. Check out my d. adelae flowers (taken a few weeks ago), flowers are 1/8th in in diameter:
Drosera adelae is an Australian sundew. Culturally, it prefers considerably less direct sun than this North American temperate species Drosera so I'm thinking a bright sunless window might not be ideal for her plant. The two species also come from pretty different habitats. I've seen Drosera intermedia growing in standing water in full sun. A medium of sphagnum peat and perlite would be fine.
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/droserainte.html
Beautiful blooms on that D. adelae!