Carnivorous plants

alansweeney100

I had an attempt recently at growing a couple of carnivorous plants, a venus fly trap and a pitcher plant I got off ebay.
I had them potted in peat and they looked great until they died on me. I was told not to use tap water with them so I figured boiled tap water would do the trick, it doesn't, rain water is the best apparantly.
Does anyone grow any of these plants and have any advice on growing and more importantly buying them. I had to wait ages going through ebay and the postage was quite expensive.
I'm in Dublin,

Cheers,

Al

crosstownk

alansweeney100 wrote: »

I had to wait ages going through ebay and the postage was quite expensive.
I'm in Dublin,

FWIW, I got Venus Fly Traps in Woodies last year - €6.99 each. That might save you on the postage.

They all died on me, but I think the ba$tard of cat that shat on them was what killed them all. That said, I wasn't aware that they were intolerant of tap water, so maybe the cat will get a reduced sentence!

Ellechim

I would have thought that peat would be too rich for them - given they get their nourishment from eating things that they don't need much if any from soil and you would be better off planting in grit or sand. I'm not an expert but I think they tend to grow in deserts or rooted to trees generally so anything that gives them nourishment from their roots might be too much.

There is a very good houseplants gardening book in the garden expert range which I recall has a section on carniverous plants (sorry I've given mine away so can't tell you what it says) but if you're interested in getting more then I'd advise getting a book....

Also, i would be fairly wary of buying that kind of specialist thing from woodies - anything halfway delicate is less likely to have had the kind of care it would need to survive - eg - everything gets watered by a hose at the same time or not at all etc..........unless you get it when it's straight off the lorry it may not have had the best of care between then and when you buy it.....

magicbastarder

my venus flytrap eventually died after three or four years. were you keeping them inside?

alansweeney100

I was growing them inside. The people I bought them off reccommended I plant them in either peat or a sand peat perlite mix (whatever that is)
Might be more trouble than they're worth the fly traps.
Does anyone know of a garden centre that has a carnivourous section or regularly stock any, Woodies is a bit hit and miss

Wantitnow

www.vftshop.com is a specialist supplier of different varieties of venus fly traps and is in Ireland. Has a €50. minimum order though.