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!

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)

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!

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!!

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?