Bizarre Venus Flytrap Growth in an AeroGarden
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- Опубліковано 29 січ 2025
- Got a hydroponic garden? Before you stick your Venus flytrap in there, check out this video. One grower gave it a try, and 11 months later, his plants went all weird. Seriously bizarre. Even I haven't seen this before.
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Thanks for watching! This will be a fun experiment.
Hi Jacob: this is the Pond Liner Lady here in Vancouver, WA! I purchased many plants from you guys years ago and used only distilled water, or rain water from one of our Rubber Maid tanks we use to collect water in for our fish. Well Jacob, I got sick of all this work and over the years I have so many plants that it was getting to be a chore. So, after one of my customers told me to add them to one of our streams, I was hesitant to say the least. Obviously our ponds are filled with miserable hard city water. I took the challenge and added them to our streams in pots with some gravel and guess what?...................................they love the water and have grown like crazy and lived through 2 winters already. Also you can do this with Hosta plants too. I just wash off the dirt on the stems and thrown them in. So.............................for those customers of yours who are turned off after hearing the only way to raise them is rain or distilled water, this may just help sales. Happy New Year, love your videos!
This works for some people but not for others.
What is the TDS reading for your stream water?
Does the water have high amounts of iron or calcium?
Thanks for sharing! This is certainly possible and something that folks in the Pacific Northwest can rely on. However, it's not true for some parts of the country because of limestone. The Ozarks would be one example. So, it's still important to always check the TDS level before using any surface water. We have a video in the works about various sources of water, but it'll be a while before we can get to it.
Just got my wonderful order today and can tell you this carnivorous plant nursery is the best. Things are shipped on time and packaged perfectly.
Thank you so much for your kind words. We appreciate your business! Have fun with your new hobby.
Happy holidays and Happy new year Jacob, Jeff and crew!
Happy New Year to you too!
I used my Aerogarden Bounties to house Venus fly traps in my classroom. Each of my 5th graders had their own plant. I bought them in the fall so we were skipping the first dormancy. (I'm in Michigan) We planted them in tall plastic cups with peat and perlite and then used the AGs to hold them. The lights are great for this and the basins held the water. I did not use the deck or the pods from the AG. We then transitioned them to outdoors full sun so they could take them home at the end of the year. I was really only them for lights and timers. They worked well for this and it was a great learning experience for my students.
I feel as though Heliamphora could do VERY well in this sort of setup, as well as any other CPs who are found in waterlogged environments; Helis like true Pulchella are often found flooded past the pitchers for extended periods of time, and their roots are basically attached to the few rocks that don't get washed away in the rain.
If one of these containers could be made with some sort of refrigerated/cooled water cistern, it would be even better for Helis.
Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, the shorter Heliamphora are good candidates to experiment with. But, we're going to try out plants that are easier to obtain for most growers. I'll definitely keep Heliamphora in mind after trying out capensis.
I have gone thru quite a few flytraps and pitcher plants I am growing in 2 hollowed-out pumice stones from the Oregon area. I maintained my stones on top of milk crates in a 500-gallon kiddy pool with koi and other aquatic plants community. I had hopes to share a beautiful 20-year-old massive growth of carnivorous plants that inspired me to do this 2 years ago as seen in your videos. I succeeded in growing moss and smaller leafed plants on the surface of each stone, but it feels like the carnivorous plants are not doing as well as I had hoped. I am debating on removing the soil, search for rhizomes, even reconsidering what depth of the stones should be submerged in the water. It is a time for dormancy, so I am just considering what I can do to increase my chances. I have a 3rd stone I have not started pending success. What are your thoughts? BTW this was a great video! I was wondering if nepenthes would do well in that set up. I missed the one I purchased initially and failed. I guess the outdoor environment temperature and humidity were not favorable in my local.
Glad you're giving the rocks a try. There's definitely a learning curve to growing plants in them. If that was your first time growing carnivorous plants, you might find more success growing them the traditional way first to familiarize yourself with their growth habits. We would love to help you finetune your setup. Send us your question to Ask the Growers. Supply all of the requested information and upload a couple of photos of your setup. I or another grower will get back to you.
www.growcarnivorousplants.com/ask-the-growers/
@@SarraceniaNorthwest Thank you! I will do just that. Appreciate your quick response.
i could throw a capensis seed on my floor and it would grow. they're carnivorous weeds. im sure theyll do amazing in this
Yeah, they can be very weedy! But, I was thinking that it's the root structure that would make the plant a good candidate for this device. It'll be a fun experiment!
I'd think that you could do it successfully (somewhat) with a rhizomatic CP (VFT/Sarracenia) if you oriented the growth up instead of down and then took divisions as it grew too tall. Still doesn't make it a great option, since you still will have to force dormancy at some point, but I do think if you really wanted to, you could make this work. The biggest problem the person was having was the orientation of the growth... (away from the light, and into the reservoir).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, it is possible. But, rather than trying to figure out a way to make it work, we should examine the intent for this type of device. The original intent was to make it easy to grow plants year-round compared to the traditional way. Given how Sarracenia and flytraps grow, we might be faced with more work with potentially undesirable results. So, attempting to grow Sarracenia and flytraps adds a layer of complication that the setup wasn't designed for. From that perspective, my curiosity isn't strong enough to explore ways to make it work.
Neps and cephs work. Capensis do not, I’ve tried.
Thanks for sharing your experience, it's helpful to know what works and doesn't work for different plants. I'll include a Nepenthes.
@ pinguicula will also work as well. Forgot to add them. Same with utricularia.
@@DLCoates1 Have you tried butterworts in an AeroGarden using the sponge or without the sponge?
@ without the sponge. I personally used a thin layer of long fibre sphagnum, and calcarns pinguicula mix in mine. The specific ping I’m growing in it is Agnata x Emarginata. It constantly fills and overcrowds the pot at least twice a year. It loves the setup.
I look forward to giving butterworts a try!
Hello. I also purchased an Aerogarden system. I discarded the water tray and placed my traps under the artificial light that came with the system in pots with the proper soil mix with distilled watering. For winter my traps live on my open screen porch, which exposes them to temperatures down into the 30s at night where I live. Daytime temperatures reach the 50s or 60's, but nighttime temperatures always return to at least the 40s. I may be running the lights too long, 12 to 15 hours on the timer, but they are definitely dormant. I think I will cut back the lighted hours per day. My oldest trap is over two years old but has not shown little growth. Maybe next season. Any info on the lack of growth would be appreciated.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this device! We would be glad to help you figure out what's going on with your plants. However, we don't answer growing questions in the comment section. Instead, you can submit your question to Ask the Growers. Provide all of the requested information and upload a couple of photos of your plants and setup. I or another grower will get back to you.
www.growcarnivorousplants.com/ask-the-growers/
What do you think of a Butterwort in that set up? Just wondering since there are small ones or mini's from what I saw.
Depends on the ping. Tropicals will.
Thanks for the suggestion! I thought about Mexican butterworts, particularly those that don't go dormant, like P. gigantea and Aphrodite. My only concern is their root structure. I don't know if they are long enough to reach the water. The water level is actually an inch below the cover to the chamber. I may need to use the hydroponic sponge to ensure the roots are hydrated. But, I only have three openings, so I'll have to save that experiment for later.
@@SarraceniaNorthwest pinguicula (mainly tropicals/Mexicans) love airy roots. That’s why they use such porous soil. I’ve got a few leaf pullings growing in straight live sphagnum doing just fine. You could grow a good variety of them alongside highland nepenthes.
@@DLCoates1 I'm aware that they love airy roots. My concern was whether the roots would be properly hydrated since the recommended water level is much lower than the length of their roots. It has to do with the particular setup of this particular hydroponic garden. The idea is to use the AeroGarden with as few modifications as possible. Since I have only three slots, butterworts will have to wait for a later experiment.
@ my misunderstanding. Personally I compensated by adding a little extra peat, that way I can ensure the soil wicks up enough.
Can you address the John Brittnacher ICPS article about growing Venus Flytraps indoors year-round? He claims that Venus Flytraps do not require dormancy unless they are being grown outside, since dormancy is how they survive freezing temperatures. He claims in the article/newsletter that as long as the correct soil, water, light, temperature, and food requirements are met, they can be grown indoors indefinitely.
Thanks for sharing. Yes, I’m familiar with the article. John wrote that article in 2019, and I reread it since you brought it up. It’s beyond the scope of the comment section to debate the points he brought up. But I will share what our intentions are as a nursery.
The first is to dispel myths, like Venus flytraps are tropical plants. John’s growing method will only cause more confusion about the natural history of this plant.
Secondly, we advocate horticultural techniques that are easy to implement for the majority of our customers. While it is possible to successfully grow Venus flytraps indoors or in terrariums, we don’t advocate those techniques because they are not in alignment with our mission and target market. While we have a video about LED lights, we advocate its use as a supplement to natural sunlight when growing tropical plants. John’s growing method is for growers who are not in our target market.
The third paragraph of John’s article is also very important to remember. If we were to advocate John’s method, then we have to provide support for it should a grower have encounter a problem. Having answered questions from thousands of growers all over the world, we already know there are too many variables in John’s method for misinterpretation. We keep our instructions as simple as possible while maintaining the healthiest plants possible. We also provide a 30-day guarantee on our plants as long as customers follow our instructions. That's how strongly we stand by our care guides. For this reason and the other reasons I stated, outdoor growing of Venus flytraps will always be our default growing method.
Now, this isn't to discourage you from trying out John's method. Gardening is really an experiment to find out what works in your particular microclimate. That's how we find out what works and what doesn't. So, we're always willing to experiment with various techniques as long as they are in alignment with our mission as a nursery. John's method for flytraps falls outside of that scope. But, I'm willing to try out these hydroponic devices for tropical carnivorous plants since we had numerous questions about them.
@@SarraceniaNorthwest That's pretty much what I assumed to be the case, which is actually pretty great. Your mission is to continue spreading access to this great hobby to as many people as possible with the most tried-and-true growing methods to set them up for the success that will encourage them to expand their carnivorous plant collections and growing methods once they've mastered the basics. That's certainly what you've done for me over the last two decades. Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough answer!
I'm sure a capensis will do just fine in that. I've had them pop up in my trays with nothing but some algae or a clump of club moss as "media" on numerous occasions 😂
Yeah, capensis can grow like weeds! But, I was thinking that it's the root structure that would make the plant a good candidate for this device. It'll be a fun experiment!
Use pure perlite for semihydro is an easier way.
Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, we've had lots of success growing plants in pure perlite. But given that these devices are readily available and our customers have used them with their carnivorous plants, we thought we should at least try it out with our own plants and see what works and what doesn't.