Continue to support me in my new blog: http://dreamandgrowit.wordpress.com/ Instead of just talking about carnivorous plants, I will also share other types of plants!! 

Keep your green fingers on!!

In order to catch prey, the plants need to first attract its prey to the traps. Some species have very attractive pitchers, some with coloured or striped peristome or some with sweet nectar. Their nectar are secreted under the lid where there are a lot of tiny downward pointing hairs which will make their preys lose their footing and fall into the trap.

Other species like N.Truncata and N. Vetchii have very wide peristome with deep ridges, which will guide the insects towards the mouth of the pitchers. N.Ampullaria have pitchers with open lids, which are believed to collect falling leaves and twigs as their meals!

Once the insects fell into the pitcher, there is no chance of escape. The interior walls of the pitcher are waxy and insects with sucker legs are unable to climb their way out. Insects with claws are stopped by the curvature at the top of the pitcher which acts like a lobster pot, preventing exit.

Some pitchers like the N. Black Truncata have checkerboard designs on the interior walls of the pitcher which caused optical confusion to their prey. Under infrared light, these designs are far more effective against insects as they have infrared eyes.

As you can see, the design of the pitcher is so complex and effective. It is very fascinating to see plants have the ability to feed on animals and insects.

First, You need to decide where you want to grow the plants. Try to find a permanent place and avoid shifting them around. An ideal place for Nepenthes usually have high humidity and considerable amount of sunlight. For most lowland Nepenthes, 70% or above humidity and morning direct sunlight and semi shade throughout the day are ideal for them. These conditions can differ a little bit, depending on the species of the plant. For example, Nepenthes Ampullaria can take more sunlight.

Next, you will need to acclimatise your plants. This process usually take 2-4 weeks to complete. Once your plants are acclimatised, they can grow real fast and start growing beautiful pitchers! Always give them the same amount of water at a regular basis. Only water your plants when the media look and feel dry as over watering can cause the media to waterlog and cause root rot. Potting media like cocopeat retain more water than draining media like peat moss and perlite, so the watering regime will be different.

Some suggest bagging up the plants to increase humidity. Here in Singapore, the humidity level is around 70%, which is good enough for these Nepenthes. There is no need to bag up the plants unless your place is very windy. For windy areas, you can put them in a bag but keep the top open and slowly roll down the bag every alternate days and finally remove the bag.

My N. xGardentech’s growing tip dried out after a few days. I grow it in a windy place, so I place it in a shallow bag to retain the humidity. As a result, a new growing tip emerged right beside the dried tip!

It is perfectly normal to see the existing pitchers drying up. This is part of the acclimatisation process. If your exisiting pitchers are empty try adding some water into the pitchers, till around 1/3 of the pitcher will be fine. You may even see the growing tip of your plant dried up! That happen to my new Nepenthes xGardenTech (Ampullaria x Ventricosa). A new growing tip emerged shortly, which indicate the plant is still doing well!

You will know the plants are acclimatised when they start to grow fast. By this time, your plants are more hardy and will produce wonderful pitchers soon!

Hope these information help you get started in your Nepenthes hobby!

 

Borneo Exotics, the world’s leading pitcher plant nursery had set up a fantasy garden display of Nepenthes!! They have brought one of the rarest pitcher plant in the world for display!

The BLACK NEPENTHES TRUNCATA  is native of the Philippines island of Mindanao. But due to the extensive logging in the area, this plant is believed to be extinct from their natural habitat.

The owner of Borneo Exotics, Rob Cantley told me that there are only 7 known specimens in cultivation in the entire world. Unfortunately, one of the plant was reported missing and there are only 6 of them left in good hands.

This pitcher plant showcased at the festival has extremely large pitchers! The pitchers are around half a metre tall and can contain 4 litres of fluid! It looks like a plant in the prehistoric times…

If you have the time, do go down to the Singapore Garden Festival at Suntec Convention Centre and view these beautiful plants! Not only showcasing just pitcher plants, you can see great landscaping designs by world class professionals and other plants like Orchids, Tillandsias and Bromeliads…

The exhibition ends at 1st August. Do come to Green Culture Singapore Booth A1 and say hi to me!

So sorry that I haven’t made a post for so long…. I am having my university exams and projects… I hardly had any time for recreational activities.. Poor me!

Recently, I got interviewed by a reporter from the press. They are doing a report on carnivorous plants! That got me really excited!

Here’s the papers:

Basically, I talked about common knowledge and my experience as a carnivorous plant grower!

I heard from them that the coming Singapore Garden Festival will have more carnivorous plants for sale and exhibits! It seems that the trend of growing such plants had increased! Anyway, I will be there at the SGF 2008, if my sundews grow well, I might be giving away some of my latest Sundews (Drosera Burmannii)… So be there at SGF 2008 ( 25 July – 1 August)…

See you there!

                              A baby Cephalotus just potted up

Growing Cephalotus is not a good experience for many growers. Its steep learning curve to grow a Cephalotus is just painstaking. Some growing methods may work for others but not for you. You need to find your own growing method in most of the cases. If the growing conditions are not suitable for this particular plant, it will just die, not giving any second chance for you to readapt.

                     Small Cephalotus compared to the big Sphagnum!

Although growing Cephalotus is hard, but once it is adapted to your growing conditions, they will reward you with many colourful pitchers! Established plants have red colouration on its pitchers and their dentate peristome turn red too! The entire plant just look stunning!

                                  Drying up within a week!

I personally give a shot in Cephalotus and it died on me within 1 week since I received them. It was the media that was not suitable due to the acidity of the media (sand + peat). At first, I thought that the sudden drop in humidity caused it to lose quite a number of pitchers and I started misting it and planting live mosses around it to increase the humidity. I will definitely give another shot at Cephalotus again soon!

Today, I shall talk about adaptation. That is what my theory, it always work for me but I have yet suggest this theory to others. Maybe you can give it a try and comment on my theory. You might unknowingly using some of these methods described below!

Understanding your plants

Understanding your plants’ growing conditions is one of the most important aspects in gardening. If you put a sun-loving plant in the shade, it might not do well and may even die because the lag of direct sunlight. Exposing a shade loving plant in direct sunlight will cause leaf burn and the plant might die from dehydration. High-humidity plants may also dry up and die if they are grown in dry environment. Therefore,  gathering information about your plants and giving them the correct growing environment will ensure their survivability under your care.

        Dionaea Muscipula ‘Pink Venus’ turning green due to the lag of sunlight

Information about plants are readily available in the Internet like gardening web sites and forums. Books and magazines are also a good source of information, which most gardeners keep them for reference.

The “perfect” environment

Once you gathered the required information, you can now give them the so call “perfect” environment. Always try your best to give them the same environment they have in the wild. Plants are grown in their present state because they undergo evolution to survive in their environment, just like pitcher plants which have modified  leaves to trap insects for nutrients.

Adaptation

Any living organism on Earth will always try their best to ensure they survive in their environment and reproduce to maintain their species through time. That is why evolution occur and they “reconstruct” themselves to survive in their environment. This explains why ducks have webbed feet and giraffes have long necks.

This process is known as adaptation. Plants will try to adapt to their environment, they will grow more roots if they are absorbing less water. They will put up bigger leaves to take in more sunlight.

Same goes for carnivorous plants. Pitcher plants will not pitcher if they are grown in nutrient-rich soil as there is no need to trap prey for additional nutrients. Sundews will stop producing dew and grow more leaves if they do not receive enough sunlight.

               Extra nutrients produce red colouration to attract more prey

The Theory

So my theory is giving carnivorous plants the correct environment will make them grow more beautifully. Growing pitcher plants in nutrient free media will make them grow more pitchers. Growing sundews in full sunlight give them sufficient nutrients so that they can produce dew and red colouration. So what they do with the surplus of nutrients?

The next step in nature is to reproduce! Additional nutrients will be used to produce flowers and fruits. Some sundews give out flowers when they are only 1cm across!

So understanding your plants and giving them the correct environment will make them grow to their full potential and you get to enjoy big pitchers and colourful flowers!

The cute pitchers with open peristome are believed that the plant not only feed on insects and maybe on dead leaves. They will catch falling leaves into its pitchers as additional source of food.

Nepenthes Ampullaria is one of the few species that grow basal pitchers. These basals grown underground near the stem base. They are usually pitchers only and have very small leaves. This is due to the lack of sunlight at the base and there is no need for photosynthesis. When many basals are formed, it creates a carpet of pitchers!

Nepenthes Ampullaria is one of the easiest Nepenthes to grow. They need bright like and less direct sunlight. They can be watered daily and always keep the media moist but not waterlogged.

                                Nepenthes Ampullaria ‘Harlequin’

It can be grown in almost any media but preferably in 1:1 sand:peat, 1:1 perlite:long fibre sphagnum moss. Some growers also include coco chips and charcoal in their mix. They are grown best in high humidity and our tropical weather is already sufficient for their excellent growth.

N. Ampullaria ‘Harlequin’ have green and purple speckles on its red pitchers.

There are a few forms and cultivars available in the market. There are green, speckled and red forms. Nepenthes Ampullaria ‘Cantley’s Red’ and Nepenthes Ampullaria ‘William’s Red’ have almost no green on their pitchers. Speckled forms include red speckles on green or the beautiful Nepenthes Ampullaria ‘Harlequin’ have green and purple speckles on red pitchers.

Presently, I am growing a 2 month old Nepenthes Ampullaria ‘Harlequin’. I will update more photos as the plant grows!

Sundews are plants with lots of tentacles with drops of sticky nectar, which they use to lure and trap insects. The tentacles, also known as mucilagnous glands will also produce enzymes to digest the trapped insect.

                                Typical Drosera Burmanii

Sundews are the largest group of carnivorous plants and found in almost every continent. Some of them will grow into lovely rosettes while some will grow and vine! Similar to all carnivorous plants, they are found in nutrient deficient areas like bogs and waterlogged grounds and they trap insects for the essential nutrients.

Cultivation

Like Nepenthes, Sundews are classified into subcategories. There are temperate sundews which require dormancy. Tropical sundews, which are found throughout Asia and South America, they grow all year round. There are miniature sundews categorised as pygmy sundews which are found in Australia, have hairs to protect from dehydration.

                                    A cluster of dewy Droseras!

There are so many species of sundews around and different group of sundews will have its own growing conditions. In this article, we will talk about tropical sundews, the type that strive very well in our climate. Sundews generally share the same growing conditions as the Venus Flytrap. They grow vigorously under full sunlight and their tentacles will turn bright red and produce lots of dew. They looked fascinating when the dews glitter under sunlight!

                               Some red colouration in the tentacles

They can be grown in typical carnivorous plant mix, 1 : 1 peat and sand. Full long fibre dried sphagnum moss can be a great media too! There is no need to top water them, as they hate rain or water on their leaves. So let the pots sit in trays of water.

Propagation

Sundews can be grown from seeds. Their seeds are extremely small and these seeds will be carried away by the wind when it ripens. They take 2 to 4 weeks to germinate with 2 non-carnivorous leaves. They will start to grow dewy leaves when they are 2-3mm in size.

                                  Young Sundews 3mm in size

They are generally slow growers and take 6 months to grow to a size of a 50 cent coin. They will produce flowers with very long stalks ad they might die after flowering.

For myself, I am currently growing Drosera Burmanii, a tropical sundew with a lovely rosette.

Knowing your interest

I guess most people did not start gardening because they simply love gardening. It probably started when you have an interest in growing a plant you like. Some of them enjoy the colourful sight of flowering plants and others may like to taste their own vegetables or enjoy lush foliages. For me, I started gardening when I found my passion of carnivorous plants. So try asking yourself, what type of plants are you interested in? It doesn’t have to be very specific or limited to a few species of plants. Also, identify some of the species you are interested.

                               Flowering Anthuriums are simply gorgeous!

Research and gathering information

This is a crucial part of gardening. Before you actually get hold of the plants you like, it is always best to find out more information about them. Find out information like whether these plants can be grown indoors, or what kind of media they can be grown in. With these facts, you can then decide where to grow them in your house, or what kind of media and fertilisers they require. Know their growing behaviour, or even pests and diseases that may happen on them. All this information will definitely increase the survivability of your plants.

Using this information you have gathered, draw up a plan and location of these plants. Daily watering, amount of sunlight at a particular location and even the weekly dose of fertilisers. You don’t need a very detailed plan, as long as the plan is feasible and within your capability is good enough.

                                                Mini Rose in full bloom

You can also visit gardening forums or discuss with other gardeners to learn from their experience and problems they faced, so that you won’t have to make these mistakes made by others.

Choosing your plants

Alright, it’s time to get your plants! Visit a nursery or flower shop and choose your plants. Choosing a healthy plant can be tricky too. Some plants may look they are green and in full bloom but they might be unrooted, meaning they are snipped off and shoved it into the soil. Some plants may look healthy but it can be infested by pests.

                                                  Florist Gloxinia

Here are some things to look out when choosing your plant. A healthy plant should have green and stiff leaves, flimsy or yellow leaves indicate lag of water or sunlight. Next, stick your finger into the media near the stem, check whether there are any roots. There is no need to stick it too deep, there will be some roots visible within a centimetre or two from the surface.

Taking care of your plants

Using your gathered information of your newly acquired plants, place them at your planned location with the right amount of sunlight, air circulation or humidity. Follow your drawn out plan closely, water them at regular intervals.

These are general tips for most of the plants. There may be additional chores you need to take care of for other specific plants. Do check them out in other web sites or gardening forums.  Observe and witness their growths and you will be fascinated by them!!