Preparing my Carnivourous Plants for Winter

My carnivorous plants have been lovely this year, in this video I start the process of preparing them for the winter.

Get yourself a cuppa and see what my little munchers have been eating all summer long.

Love
Rebecca xx

My Carnivorous Plant Collection and Repotting

Finally! A Carnivorous Plant video on my YouTube channel

I really needed to do some repotting of my Carnivorous plants, and seeing as it's Spring and they are beginning to come out of dormancy, I thought I'd bring you along for the ride.

Enjoy the video, and please remember to rate and share my videos, and subscribe to my YouTube channel too :)
Thank you
Rebecca xx

Carnivorous Plant Updates, New Arrivals and Seed Harvesting

Carnivorous Plant update:

It's been a really busy summer in my Carnivorous Plant collection.

Sarracenia var. unknown has had it's best year EVER! I've never had such big pitchers on it, and never seen it with such an intense colour either. That means I can stumble towards a partial identification, it's probably a rubra hybrid, though I couldn't be any more specific than that.

Sarracenia rubra ssp unknown looking amazing in July

Sarracenia rubra ssp unknown 2017 brings the best size pitchers and colour yet

My Venus Fly Trap (Dionea var. unknown) has grown well too. Some of the traps achieved much stronger colour than this photo shows, and it fed regularly on all manner of things including craneflies and earwigs!

Dionea var unknown growing well

I've never seen a Venus Fly Trap in flower, many experts say the flowers are dull and it is better for the health of the plant not to allow the flower stem to develop...but I really REALLY wanted to see the flowers, so I let it carry on.

Dionea flowers! So pretty!!

I wasn't disappointed! The white Dionea flowers are tissue paper delicate, with fine veining that looks like neat pinstripes extending from chartreuse green centres. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 Moments after I took this photo, I snipped off the flowers right at the bottom of the stem, allowing the plant to use it's prey to feed up for the winter.

And now the Newbies:

For my birthday in June, my best friend bought me two amazing beasts from Triffid Nurseries (he had to be pointed in the right direction, but the choices were definitely his own)

Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis 'Yellow River' Florida

This delicious specimen came to me in full flower, with pitchers over a foot tall. It's been feeding gluttonously in the greenhouse over July and August, to the point where there are small 'burn' marks on the pitchers, and you can just see the dead insects through it.

Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis 'Yellow River' Florida

It's so massive I couldn't get it all in one photo and do it justice. The flowers are the most alien I've ever seen on a carnivorous plant. The clever landing pad forming a cup to collect pollen and seed.

Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis 'Yellow River' Florida flowers are spectacular

Drosera binata dichotoma 'Giant'

Photo to follow! This Sundew is very aptly named. It's a huge, forked variety that attempted to take over the world shortly after it arrived. I ended up having to stake the 18" tall limbs to give everything else breathing space! It is sliding into dormancy now, so I'll have to take photos of it's fresh growth in Spring/Summer next year.

Seed Harvesting

As the Sundew flowering has been so spectacular this year, so I decided to collect the seed with a view to growing it next year.
Once the flowers had finished and the seed pods had turned brown, I labelled some small brown envelopes similar to this listing on Ebay. I wrote one envelope per subspecies of Drosera, then carefully cut the entire dried flower stem off each plant, as close to the plant as I could. Trying not to shake the stem, I opened the envelope with my left hand, and tipped the flower stem upside-down into the envelope with my right.
Drosera are very generous with their seeds, which look like fine, short clippings of hair, so dropping a few won't hurt! Believe me!!
I left the stems in the envelopes for a couple of weeks, until the seeds had fully ripened and dropped into the bottom of the envelope.
The next job was to clean the seeds.
I tipped the contents of the envelopes out onto a sheet of paper (one envelope at a time - don't mix the seeds up!). Then I carefully picked out all the bits of stalk, petal and seed head. Fine tweezers are invaluable at this point, and try not to sneeze or sigh heavily, or you'll be left with all the chaff and none of the seed!
When the seed is as clean of chaff as it can be, carefully pour the seeds back into the correct brown seed envelope, and seal it.
Seed from some species of Drosera need a period of cold stratification to germinate, others can be sown as soon as they are harvested.

Here are the requirements for my collection:

Drosera Species	Subspecies	Native Region	Stratify Seeds?
capensis		Tropical	No
capensis	Alba	Tropical	No
binata	dichotoma ‘Giant’	Temperate	Fresh – No /Stored -Yes
spatulata		Subtropical	No
filiformis	filiformis	Temperate	Stratification required
hybrida	filiformis x intermedia	Temperate	Stratification required
binata	T Form	Temperate	Fresh – No /Stored -Yes

As it happens, I haven't had time (what with starting my own YouTube channel - did I tell you about that? ;-) ), so everything is being stored until Spring, and I'll stratify or not, depending on the variety and it's requirements.

I'm really looking forward to sowing them though!
Have you ever tried growing Carnivorous Plants from seed? Tell me about your experiences in the 'Comments'
Love
PB xx

Never Complain About the Weather

It's Raining and I'm a Happy Bunny!

It's so easy to grumble when rain stops play, whether that's actual play, school sports days, outdoor performances, festivals, barbeques or whatever, but crikey the garden needs rain - real rain.

I live in the South East of England, and it's been over two weeks since we've had any precipitation, and even that was just a brief shower.

The grass is parched, the phlox are wilting and the blueberries are shriveled like raisins on the bushes, but the ones that worry me the most are my Carnivorous Plants. They must have a constant supply of water with a very low mineral content, the best source being rain water. I had gathered around 16 litres of rain water in empty drinks bottles stashed in my greenhouse, but it's been so hot and dry that I ran out over the weekend.

The Met Office have been threatening rain and thunderstorms for at least a week, but then they have repeatedly pushed their predictions out, eventually giving up on them altogether as the weather fronts move away.

In desperation I ordered 25 litres of deionised, demineralised water, which is due to arrive today.

Then yesterday evening, this happened...

Rain on the Potting Shed windows

These rain clouds mean business!

The fact that I photographed it shows what a big event it is.

We have a big water butt (*and I cannot lie), but to maximise our rainwater harvest I have also placed four tub trugs round the garden. I can strain and bottle this water specifically for use on the carnivorous plants.

"Umm, so why aren't you using the water from the water butt?" I hear you asking. Well, we drained and moved the butt to a new location earlier this year, and Mr PB decided to fill it from the hosepipe. We've had rain since then, but the mineral content will still be too high to safely water the carnivorous plants with.
"But the water has been sitting around for ages, it'll be fine by now. That's all we do to age water before we put it in our fish tank". Unfortunately it doesn't work like that for carnivorous plants. It's the mineral content that is the problem. Minerals such as Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium Chloride, Sulphate, Nitrate and Bicarbonate are held in suspension, simply 'aging' the water doesn't remove the minerals.

If you live in a low rainfall area - and let's face it, climate change means this will become more of a problem not less, you could buy demineralised water to keep in reserve for emergencies, or invest in a reverse osmosis water filtration system, usually used by people who keep fish and need high volumes of filtered water for tank water changes. Similarly if you are unable to collect rainwater (maybe you live in a flat/apartment), these really are your only options for watering your carnivorous plants.

NB: 

Demineralised water and deionised water (aka DI) are produced in different ways, but have very similar levels of purity, they are not to be confused with distilled (boiled) water which should be avoided as the boiling process can actually concentrate the mineral content rather than reducing it. You need to look for water with a mineral content of less than 50 parts per million (50ppm). Double check what you are buying before you buy it, some people mistakenly used the term DI when they are selling distilled water...all three methods do begin with a 'D' I suppose!


Well it rained all evening, overnight and well into the morning, giving me around 45mm in each tub trug...it's not much, but it all helps.
Love
Pumpkin Becki

*Funny pop culture reference

Triffid Nurseries Carnivorous Plants Unboxing and Review

There's something you don't know about me, I like to keep...

Carnivorous Plants

In the beginning there were Venus Fly Traps

I've owned carnivorous plants (on and off) since my teens, I seem to remember collecting margarine lids and sending them off for my first Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula).

It was tiny with three or four softly blushing traps. I wasn't great with it. I gave it tap water - very infrequently. I would try to make the traps close by poking it, try feeding it dead flies, you know how it is. Needless to say, the poor thing died very quickly - probably from tormented exhaustion!

Then there were Sundews

Later I got a gorgeous Sundew (Drosera), which was fantastic at catching fungus gnats, and other teeny tiny flies. The glistening, sticky 'dew' fascinated me, as did the unfurling leaves and graceful flower heads. My mother was very enthusiastic about keeping it on the kitchen windowsill.

I stuck with sundews over the years, though I thought I wasn't very successful with them. Now I realise they could just have been in their dormant phase...why didn't you tell me the go dormant?!

When we got the greenhouse I decided I wanted to step up my game a bit.

And then there were Pitcher Plants

Ohh yeah!

I currently have two Pitcher Plants...a tall one and a short one. The tall one is Sarracenia farnhamii, and the short one doesn't say. I bought them from a garden centre, so they didn't have very detailed labels. But what I do know is that they've come through two winters in the greenhouse, and they are throwing up new pitchers as I type.

Carnivorous Pitcher Plants, Sarracenia var unknown
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

When I cut back the dead pitchers, I split a few open along their length, and noticed they'd been very successful hunters, trapping and digesting huge blue bottles and wasps among other things!

Carnivorous Pitcher Plants, Sarracenia farnhamii
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

I also have a Cape Sundew Dorsera capensis alba...the big question is - Is it dead or just dormant? I guess I'll have to wait and see...

Carnivorous Plants, Sundew Drosera capensis alba
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

Buying from a Specialist Carnivorous Plant Nursery

Inspired by the new growth on my Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia), I decided to expand my collection. I looked around online, and settled on Triffid Nurseries, a UK based carnivorous plant specialist. Their website was easy to navigate, had good photographs and product descriptions, and the ordering process was very easy.

Please note, I paid for everything except for a free plant which was an offer on the website, and a packet of seeds. These gifts were genuinely available to all customers at time of ordering, I did not announce I was a blogger, or writing a review until after my order had despatched.

 I ordered:

Plants (supplied bare root)

• 2 Sundews Drosera capensis
• 1 Sundew Drosera x hybrida filiformis and intermedia (actually supplied in a square pot, not bare root)
• 1 Sundew Drosera spatulata
• 1 Sundew Drosera filiformis ssp. filiformis (Free plant as part of the Spring Offer)

Seeds

• Sarracenia purpurea ssp. purpurea x Open Pollinated
• Drosera binata 'T' form 

Plus

• A bag of multipurpose Carnivorous Plant Compost (UK)

I was also really tempted by the pygmy sundews, they're soooo cute! but I didn't want to get too carried away.

The delivery charge is £8.95, which at the time felt like quite a lot for bare root plants and some seed (the compost price already includes P&P), but the plant and seed prices were very competitive compared to garden centres, where you 're lucky if the labels tells you what varieties you're buying, plus the individual plant packaging is so intricate and careful, I soon realised the charge was totally justified

I picked varieties described as easy and/or hardy on the website, but they also ask you to give a few substitutes, just in case what you've chosen is unavailable. I just said that I was a 'mildly experienced owner of carnivorous plants, keeping them in an unheated greenhouse year round' so alternatives need to be 'hardy and easy to grow'.

I placed my order via the website on Wednesday 12th April. Normally their plants are selected and packed on the Monday after your order is placed, but as this Monday was a Bank Holiday, I fully expected to have to wait an extra week, which was completely fine with me. They also warn you that they do not send out order confirmation emails, so don't get anxious when you don't hear anything.

I did send them a message via their website, to see if they could advise me what the chances were of my sundew coming back to life. Not only did they confirm shipment of my order (which was sooner than I expected, and I hadn't directly asked about), but Andy also gently broke it to me that poor old 'Alba' was very probably dead *sadface* It apparently should have lots of new leaves by now. I'll do a post mortem once I have the new compost...maybe the roots will be clinging to life...maybe.

Triffid Nurseries Haul, Unboxing and Review

My parcel arrived by courier on Friday 21st April.

The box was an appropriate size and strength for the contents, and the filler was shedded paper, which I can recycle - yay!!

In the top of the box was a personalised letter from Andy and Alison of Triffid Nurseries, and clipped to the top was a ziplock bag with my two packets of seed and an additional free packet. The website stated 10 or 20 seeds of each, but there were definitely more than that in each packet. There wasn't a packing note though, and as you don't get an order confirmation, I'd kinda forgotten what I'd actually ordered (oops).

A personalised letter, with the seeds stapled to the front in a ziplock bag
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

Opening the box from Triffid Nurseries
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

Each plant was beautifully and creatively packed to protect as much of the leaf and dew as possible. The letter said the plants were just coming out of dormancy, but I think they were a bit further along than that, with lots of fully formed leaves. Each came wrapped in soaking wet paper towel (remember they are bog plants), and with a proper plastic plant label, so it was easy to identify each plant. I was really pleased with them all. Below are photos of every plant I bought and how it looked on arrival

Two lovely Drosera capensis plants
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

This pot should be Drosera hybrida filiformis x intermedia but look at the tiny spatulata (my guess) round the edge - so adorable!
Phot by Pumpkin Becki

Drosera spatulata
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

My freebie! Drosera filiformis ssp filiformis
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

The Pumpkin Becki Award for Most Ingenious Packaging - I love the sticky tape roll to give extra height!
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

All the seeds are sown, Drosera binata T-Form, Drosera binata 'Otaki Forks NZ' and Sarracenia purpurea ssp purpurea
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

 And finally...
'Alba' made it through after all!! Yay!!! I started pulling away the rosettes of dead leaves and discovered all this lovely growth. I am so bloomin' happy :D

Drosera capensis alba emerges from dormancy at long last
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

And when I unpotted it to upgrade it to a bigger one, I discovered strong shoots coming from the root ball as well!

The arrow points to a shoot coming off the root ball on Drosera capensis alba
Photo by Pumpkin Becki

Huge thank yous to Andy and Alison at Triffid Nurseries for sending me such fantastic quality plants, seeds and compost, and providing additional support via email. I would highly recommend buying from them, and I'm sure I'll be ordering again soon...I'm still hankering after the pygmy sundews afterall!

Let me know if you're interested in Carnivorous Plants in the comments,
Love
Pumpkin Becki