Thursday, August 23, 2012

Grow House Update! I just got a new fogger to increase the humidity!

 Hey everyone! I just ordered a new Cephalotus Follicularus from Ebay and its smaller than I thought it was going to be! Anyways, it was in a botted medium of peat and other friends, I asked the grower if he had repotted it anytime in the recent past and he said the ceph hasn't been repotted for a while.
I took the lil guy out and soaked the roots in superthrive.  Two drops for every cup, and there was about four cups with 10 drops, about a capfull full.  I let them chill in the RO water for 15 minutes and potted the sucker in live sphagnum moss i've been growing on the side of my house.

Please pray to the ceph gods that these guys don't die!
 Here is a picture of my Nepenthes in my new growing conditions.  The Exo Terra Fogger wasn't that great, in my head i thought it would be a HUGE cloud, but yeah not the case. 
I have two foggers going, anyone know of another fogger alternative?
They look happier than before, don't you think? The leaves are softer and the dark green plants now are light green and alot more upright.

Ugh, i'm still pissed that ceph is so small.  Its the size of my thumbnail, i overpotted it, hopefully it
won't kill it and keep the media moist because im going to try not to water it too much to prevent crown rot.

Thanks everyeon!

Carnivorous Plant Grow Room Update August 23, 2012

Here is a youtube video os some of my nepenthes after I rescued the from the hot sun.
Here is my set up.

Sun Hut Grow Tent 2x4
Dimensions: 54" x 35 1/2" x 84"

Grow Bright 8 Bulb Fixture
14 hours on
10 hours off

They are acclimating still, so the light is about 3" above the plants, I am dropping the light every three days.

AC unit in the room, drops temps to 60 degrees at night.

Here are the growing conditions outside in southern california
August 2012
95 degrees 30% humidity
65 degrees 60 humidity

In my grow room its 75-80 degrees with 60% humidity
and nights of 60 degrees with 80% humidity at night.

Im hoping this will be great for my Nepenthes!

Friday, August 17, 2012

My New Nepenthes Grow Chamber August 2012

 Hey anyone that cares remotely about these beautiful plants.  I set up a new grow habitat for my lowland/intermediate neps.  its now summer in southern california, the outside weather was
95 degrees day
30 percent humidity
75 degrees night
60 percent humidity.
My plants hated me and were dying.  I got them into the shade for a while but now have this set up.
Its in a Sun Hut Grow Tent with a T5 light fixture with 6 T5 bulbs i believe. 
Not they get
14 hours on with light
10 hours off with light
they are still acclimating so there is about two and a half feet with half of the light bulbs on for one more day.  Then full power lights for three days, and then the pulleys will be lowered a couple inches until they are about a foot away from the growth points.  I'm running out of room =(

I AM NOT AN EXPERT THIS IS AN EXPERIMENT! SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!
Feel free to to email me Daven@DavenMayeda.com

I mounted the hanging baskets to an ordinary double racked wardrobe rack from ACME Supply in Downtown Los Angeles.  I got this Hygrometer at Moneta Nursuery in Gardena. 

This is my grow list and where I got the plants. 
Nepenthes Ventrata (Home Depot)
Nepenthes truncata (Lowland) (Orchid Web_
Nepenthea maxima (Orchid Web)
Nepenthes spathulata x boschiana (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes rafflesiana (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes enigma n. medusa x mermis (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes sibuyanensis x (spectabilis x beccariana) (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes spectabilis x ventricosa (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes minami (((northiana x maxima) x maxima) (mirabilis x (rafflesiana x ampullaria))) (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes sibuyanensis x maxima (Leilani Nepenthes)
Nepenthes viscaria (Leilani Nepenthes)


Thursday, August 9, 2012

New Sarracenia Species from my friend Mike Wang!

Hi everyone, I got some great plants today in the mail and I couldn't wait to pot them.  A grower named Mike Wang helped me get set up with a great collection of species.
Here is what I bought from him
 
 I was surprised that hey came in a small fed ex box, all of the pitchers were bent in half but ironically they didn't break! How did you do that Mike???? 
He gave me some advice, pot the plants in 4" inch pots slightly underpotted.  I put the larger ones in 6" pots.  
Thanks for http://www.ThePitcherPlantProject.com
Rob Co for giving me some great advice on how to rinse my perlite without breathing in fumes.  I wet the perlite so that it doesn't create any dust. =)
 
 
 
 Here are all of the little babiers potted, I'm not sure which ones are which right now because i'm a new grower, but i'm sure by the end of this week i'll be calling them by their names!! Which ones do you like best? I love carnivorous plants! They make me remember when I believed in magic, fairys, and super mario!  Thanks for taking a peek! Im off to Krispe Kreme!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

August 8 2012 Carnivorous Plant Garden Update

Hi internet world!
Its lie over 80 degrees in Los Angeles and my plants are still frying in the direct sun.  The nepenthes are now all hanging on steep rot iron hooks that I bought at Lowes.  I staked them into the ground and put the potted plants into hanging baskets so that I didn't have to repot them.  That way they can accimate hopefully to the temperatures in California. 
My Venus Fly Traps, Sundews, and Sarracenia are all being kind of shaded by a couple potted palm trees, is that going to work??? I tried to set up a shade cloth, but yeah im much better at styling hair that I am at construction, so that thing fell apart.
Shade ideas for the full sun plants anyone??????
xoxox
Im waiting for a bunch of rare Sarracenia Pitcher Plants to come in the mail! I can't wait!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

My Venus Flytraps are going to eat my hair!

 The big green long arm ones came from LOWES believe it or not.  They have two or three plants in the cluster I believe.  I have cut off almost all of the old leaves now, and the arms are starting to reach up to the sky.  The Venus Fly Trap above is dying. . .I didn't know they don't like to be over potted.
Thats one small trap for one big pot! =(



 This is a Big Jaws variety that looks like its dying. . what am i doing wrong??? ahh!!! I think the one above and the one below are over watered. . .not sure.  It just dawned on me that if you have a large pot, and have it floating in one inch of water, you can't put a small pot in the same tray or else the rhizome will get wet too easily.  Sigh =(

My friend Rob Co said he is going to send me some B52 Venus Fly Traps soon, I'm assuming you're reading this and holding them hostage!!!! lol =)

My first Sarracenia Pitcher Plants!

 These two unfortunate souls were a part of the HOME DEPOT Carnivorous Plant rescue that I did. I bought 5 Venus Fly Traps, 5 Sundews, and 2 of these Pitcher Plants.
I'm not sure what species the plant above is, but I think the one below is Sarracenia Purpurea.
I trimmed off all of the old pitches that received quite a burn from the direct sunlight, but I can see new growth coming from the crown so thats a good sign. They are in a substrate of Sphagnum muss from Home Depot, the kind without Miracle Grow.
 This is the Sarracenia JA Hybrid.  Jerry Addington is an amazing grower, I hope to buy plants from him and possibly meet him one day! These three plants below came from a grower on Amazon.com
 This is a beautiful Sarracenia Flava pitcher that has matured since I bought it.  Its about 7 inches high and showing new growth starting to develop.  They are sitting in a tray of reverse osmosis water.

This is my first Sarracenia Leucophyllia.  Its growing a nice new pitcher, Its so sad that I had to cut the old janky ones off.  They didn't look nice and I read that if you expose the crown to sun by cutting off some of the pitchers, new ones will grow and it will start to expedite rapid new growth.  

 Do you have any Sarracenia??? What types?




My very first Drosera Sundew Carnivorous Plants!

 



These little drosera plants have changed my life! They are surprisingly easy to take care of and have been growing faithfully!
I believe the one on the top left is Drosera Binata.  I trimmed off all of the leaves that came with the plant when I repottted it, and look at all of the new growth shooting up!

The photo above and to the right is my Drosera Madagascarensis.  I've seen photos on the internet of these plants in the wild and in my head  I thoughts a giant plant would come in the mail. . . I ordered this guy from EBAY and it came in great shape. . .the only problem was its literally the size of my thumbnail =(
I feel like when I was a kid and I would always be excited for the toys in the cereal, and then after eating all of the horrible cornflakes. . .I discovered the toy was horrible too!!! =(
I saw a youtube video of some little kid propagating Drosera Capensis in a Pitri dish by leaf cuttings and letting it float on the surface.  I got rid of all the dead bugs on the leafs, but I didn't see the debri in the tray before I put them in. . .now i have to change the water soon to keep it clean to prevent rot.  Direct sunlight with a grow dome I guess!?!? We'll see lol hahaha, deep fried cuttings anyone??? 

 

Ok, so this whole carnivorous plant craze got started a month ago when I saw a venus flytrap and a Sundew plant at home depot.  Little did I know that those plants are already kind of doomed for death.  The low light conditions Home Depot definitely did them some damage.  The leaved all burned when I repotted them because I didn't ease them into full sun.  I just threw them out there. . and I guess thats not the smartest thing to do. 
All of the old leaves are trimmed off, and this is all new growth. 
Do they look ok? Sickly? Happy? Anyone listening? 

 This one down here is the giant for of Drosera something. . .Lol I really should make tags for these things.  Ugh. l just another thing to do!!! Lol This one is doing pretty well I think, lots of new growth coming up!
What drosera plants are you growing? Any advice to a CP killer???

My Drosophyllum lusitanicum plants also hate me =(

I recently purchased two of my first Drosophyllum lusitanicum carnivorous plants AKA Dewy Pine Plants from http://www.CaliforniaCarnivores.com. I did some research about the slack potting method for these plants because I guess they rot really easily and can't stay damp.  
Unfortunately, my slack potting method didn't work. . .and I think they just couldn't handle the shock and being repotted.  I gave the roots quick a shake up. . .I later then read after potting them that you shouldn't disturb the roots at all with the drosophyllums.   I was wondering what this weird pot was that came with it.  It fell apart really easily and I was like WTF? Cheap lil pot turns out to be a peat pot that dissolves itself when you plant it into the medium so that you don't have to disturb the roots. 
AAAAAHHHH.   I felt really dumb for again not doing my research first before potting them.  I completely cleaned the rhizome with RO water like a Venus Fly Trap. . .and yeah.  Dead Drosophyllums =(
Maybe next season I'll try again!!! Do you have any nice pictures of Drosophyllums I can see??? 

08/04/2012 My Nepenthes Hate me =(

I'm a new grower and live in Southern Los Angeles, California.  For some reason I thought It would be amazing to have a wild nepenthes greenhouse to live out a boyhood dream I once had.
Little did I know that Nepenthes + Direct Sun in a green house + Southern California 80 Degree Weather = Cooked Nepenthes.
I just started this collection a month ago. . .so pray they make it through! 
This is the list of plants I bought. . .unfortunately in my haste I was like ripping the boxes open and have no idea which plant is which.
So typical of me to lose the tags on each plant! lol. . .Live and learn right! 

Do you know which plants are which? 

I bought two from http://www.Orchidweb.com
Nepenthes Truncata (Lowland)
Nepenthes Maxima
The plants were packed well, but one of the super large tall plants snapped at the base of the plant when I was repotting it. . . so I couldn't figure out what to do to save it so I chopped it up and tried to make cuttings in rock wool. 
I used a gel rooting horomone. . .tell them to root please! 


I'm not sure if this is the Maxima or the Truncata that snapped. . .will the bottom grow without leaves or pitchers???

I bought six from http://www.LeilaniNursery.com
They came so fast in the mail and they gave me Two Plants for Free!! I couldn't believe it! What a great surprise! 

Nepenthes Spathulata x Boschiana Cutting Bare Root
Nepenthes Rafflesiana N. Bruni Squat x (Kondo x Singapore giant 6) Bare Root
Nepenthes Enigma N. Medusa x Inermis Bare Root
Nepenthes Sibuyanensis x (Spectabilis x Beccariana) Cutting Bare Root
Nepenthes Spectabilis x Ventricosa Bare Root
Nepenthes Minami (((Northiana x Maxima) x Maxima) x (Mirabilis x (Rafflesiana x Ampullaria))) Bare Root
Free Nepenthes Sibuyanenesis x Maxima
Free Nepenthes Viscaria 

Ok. . .I have no idea which ones are which because the tags got switched up when I was repotting them. . .=(



 I think this is the N. Spectabilis x Ventricosa.

Is this the N. Sibuyanensis x Maxima? 

Mystery Plants. . . I guess it will be nice to see what kind of pitchers develop. . .my control freak mind cannot rest until I know what species it is!!! ahh!!! 
 

This lil lady HAS to be the N. Minami Right? RIght??? Right??



These guys got COOKED in the greenhouse for three days. . .they came so beautiful in the mail, ugh Thats what I get for buying plants first THEN buying SAVAGE GARDEN by Peter D'Amato. LOL! 


 I believe this is the Enigma. . .When i was moving them around the one and only pitcher snapped off on accident. . .im so sad!

I don't even want to talk about this one. . I don't even know which one it is, its fried, and sad faced =( Good thing I started with Plants before getting a dog!