» posted on 9:35am - September 19 2009 | posted by Lev
Here are my two carnivorous plants - NeroAnima just got 'em for me. I've wanted a Venus Fly Trap forever, and I bought a grow kit about half a year ago but we either didn't water it enough or watered it too much.
But this is cooler anyhow, because it apparently takes several years for the seeds to mature into plants anyhow.
I'm not sure what this other plant is, but I know it's also carnivorous. I can't wait until I get to see a fly get nagged, cause I am keeping this in my office and I have a fly in here every once in a while. 
They don't know what's coming!
I haven't even replanted these yet, because they aren't simple plants to take care of. I've got to get some clay, sand or something else and put some perlite at the bottom, because they can't stand stagnant water.. Even more tedious is the fact that they can't take normal tap water either because of too many salts, so you either have to boil it or use distilled water. Fortunately, I have a gallon or two of distilled water I can use.
Ohh, and a few minutes ago, I was teasing/testing one with a tooth pick. I didn't think it was going to do anything at first, but eventually it did, and I got to say it scared the fuck out me! Perhaps I was studying it way too closely or something, but the way the mouth just quickly closed in was awesome. It wasn't even just a simple snap shut; it behaved like no plant I've ever seen before.. the mouth acted like it had muscles and sucked in on itself. It really looked like an animal closing its mouth, not a plant flicking in some linear direction or something. Really cool looking!
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posted by:
xcom · date:
3:24pm - October 03 2009
http://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html
As the site says I wouldn't worry so much about yours for the likelihood it came from a greenhouse and not from it's native habitat. I have actually been to that area of the country they are native to and between the swampy lowlands being drained and built on and the plants being then collected a lot. The poorer people do this all over the eastern US unfortunately. Sawgrass Palmetto is another one in South Carolina which is harvested in this way a lot.
In Kentucky Ginseng is the big collectible. It is now quite rare in the state. Soon enough pharmacutical companies will begin needing more of other things around my area like Mayapples.... these turn out to have a some serious potential in curing more than one type of cancer.
I have heard of Peyote being over-harvested too but generally a lot of the smaller succulents of the southwest and mexico are following that example for the houseplant trade.
Good luck with growing yours though. Odds are the winter there will make it hard to get fresh insects. That was my problem last time.
_X/
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posted by:
Lev · date:
12:11pm - October 02 2009
quoting xcom:
haha awesome. I have tried having one I can never keep them alive. Then I found out they are going extinct in the wild because of people collecting them for the plant trade and decided I shouldn't try.
ah dang.. didn't know they were going that way. I read a little on them, and sadly that wasn't mentioned anywhere. If you have more info, please do share.
I don't doubt it though because I know the peyote cactus is in a similar situation, white developed nations are harvesting the plants in abundance for recreational consumption, and thus leaving the people of Mexico and other regions (who used it for ages traditionally) with a problem of finding it as much as it used to be.
And you are definitely right that they are hard to grow... They don't seem very happy so far, and I've really been trying to do all I'm reading and it doesn't seem to accommodate for it. they don't look nearly as healthy as they did when I got them.
"Don't use the rules; they're not for you, they're for the fools - and you're a fool if you don't know that." - The Clash
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posted by:
TuLzie · date:
4:12pm - September 19 2009The venus fly trap looks angry...
"we are our own devil, we are our own devil.... and we''ll make this world our hell"
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posted by:
xcom · date:
1:42pm - September 19 2009haha awesome. I have tried having one I can never keep them alive. Then I found out they are going extinct in the wild because of people collecting them for the plant trade and decided I shouldn't try.
_X/
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