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Fertilising carnivorous plants
- Thread starter Nont
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Myrtle
Member
No, the complete opposite. The plants that developed the ability to gain nutrition from absorbing insects did so out of necessity as they come from areas with very poor nutrition. To put it simply, fertiliser can kill them; their roots often can't handle it and burn or they simply dislike it and fail to thrive.
hypnogogia
Member
Just feed them the odd flying insect.
Like a lot of what's entrenched in traditional knowledge and belief, it's not always necessarily true. Carnivorous plants have evolved to live in nutrient poor soils, especially those low in nitrogen. They are capable of deriving most or some nutrients from trapping insects etc. But just because they can doesn't necessarily mean it's the only route of nutrient acquisition, or for that matter the prefered one.
For example, Dionaea muscipula is often considered difficult to grow, but it's not really. It's a classic example of the mistaken idea that carnivorous plants should not be fed fertiliser if they are to remain healthy.
I fed mine regularly with weak fertz solution and it thrived. Whatismore, it flowered almost continuously. The conventional wisdom is to cut the flower stalks off before they have chance to flower otherwise the plant will die of exhaustion, and without the addition of fertz it probably would. Also what really made a difference to the plants health was to keep it under a light for 12 hours a day. They don't do so well during winter otherwise and many wither away.
Further in the case of Dionaea muscipula, at least, they often will not digest dead insects since the process is activated by ongoing stimulation of the trigger hairs over several hours.
For example, Dionaea muscipula is often considered difficult to grow, but it's not really. It's a classic example of the mistaken idea that carnivorous plants should not be fed fertiliser if they are to remain healthy.
I fed mine regularly with weak fertz solution and it thrived. Whatismore, it flowered almost continuously. The conventional wisdom is to cut the flower stalks off before they have chance to flower otherwise the plant will die of exhaustion, and without the addition of fertz it probably would. Also what really made a difference to the plants health was to keep it under a light for 12 hours a day. They don't do so well during winter otherwise and many wither away.
Further in the case of Dionaea muscipula, at least, they often will not digest dead insects since the process is activated by ongoing stimulation of the trigger hairs over several hours.
The Venus Flytrap Dionaea muscipula Counts Prey-Induced Action Potentials to Induce Sodium Uptake
Children are able to count at the age of 15–18 months. In this work, Böhm et al. demonstrate that the carnivorous Venus flytrap plant is able to count as well. The leaf tips develop into snap traps, where the number of contacts of the prey with mechano-sensitive trap initiates capturing and...
www.cell.com
NatureScape - The End
Thanks @CooKieS On the whole it's transitioning quite well. There has been a lot of die off of the MC but the new growth is coming though and taking root. The Stauro has taken a bit of a hit as well, some leaves have started to turn brown and rot. The rest of the plants are growing well though...
www.ukaps.org
Plants that hate nutrients
I am doing research on growing carnivorous bog plants, and they all prefer lean water. The recommendation is to use distilled or rainwater as high nutrients can kill these plants which evolved in nutrient poor soil and thereby supplement nutrients by eating insects. Are there other bog/aquatic...
www.ukaps.org
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hypnogogia
Member
that's why I put the flies in live and wriggly!
Out of curiosity, do they prefer one nutrient more than others? I’ve seen Green aqua and @CooKieS dose Potassium daily when it comes to Utricularia only tank.
I fed my Dionaea muscipula a weak solution of TNC Complete, so that's pretty much everything, NPK and micros.
With regards Utricularia @Geoffrey Rea would be the best person to ask.
If you haven't already read his UG journal you'll probably find it very helpful.
With regards Utricularia @Geoffrey Rea would be the best person to ask.
If you haven't already read his UG journal you'll probably find it very helpful.
Something... Something... Shallow UG Tank!
New 45F project: ADA 45F Strideways Pro Co2 regulator ONF Flat Nano Eheim Ecco Tropica soil Black lava rock Utricularia graminifolia
www.ukaps.org
