Carnivorous plants at Kroger

[TXlib]

I don't know how widespread this is, but I'm pretty excited about it:

The Krogers here in Houston are currently selling Nepenthes pitcher plants (two distint hybrids... N. coccina and N. miranda). They are well-developed plants with 25" leaf spans and 6-10" pitchers. They are selling for $16.99, which is a STEAL!

Also, they are selling 4" pots with pairs of carnivorous plants... I have seen:

Venus flytrap/sundew
Venus flytrap/butterwort
American pitcher plant/sundew

There were two species of sundew, D. spatulata and D. adelae, and the american pitcher plants were S. 'Judith Hindle', S wrigleyana, and S purpurea.

I don't know what species the butterwort was, but they looked to me subtropicals, maybe P. primuliflora or mexican butterworts.

These pots were selling for $7.99, which was a bargain, too.

If you're in Houston, and this is your sort of thing, got out to Kroger and get some now.

Just make sure you water them with DISTILLED water only. The 4" pots would do well standing in a tray of water, about 1/3 the height of the pot. The Nepenthes prefer it drier, getting watered every 2-4 days or so. All prefer partial sun, but the Nepenthes need to avoid direct sunlight. They are tropical.

Anybody in another part of the country seeing these in their local Kroger?

[histohoney]

1. Walgreen's Midland TX

My son begged for and got a Venus fly trap. I did not know about using just distilled water, used the Midland water (Nothing really deserves that), it's all but dead now. I'll switch to DI water.

[Westegg]

17. As a youth, I was obsessed with carnivorous plants...

Had some Venus Fly Traps. I guess they're inevitably appealing to a ten-year-old lad who's reading a lot of science fiction, etc. I fed mine hamburger. Wanted to catch flies and feed 'em to the VFP's, but mom said no---they could only eat flies if they could catch them for themselves. So once or twice I took 'em out to the yard and set them next to piles of dog shit. To no avail.

Okay, so that sounds a little twisted, in retrospect. Hey, other kids did worse. Didn't they???

[redqueen]

2. Yes, my daughter wants one

Thanks for the tips! I might just surprise her with one. :)

[TXlib]

4. Also get the book

"The Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato

It is a beautiful book, and comprehensive at how to care for carnivorous plants.

[redqueen]

7. Thanks again - I need all the help I can get!

:hi:

[LynneSin]

3. My college professor discovered the chemical reaction...

that allowed the plants to close their traps when they caught a bug. It was really neat. The greenhouse in the Science lab was filled with Venus Fly Traps

[TXlib]

8. That's pretty cool.

[GOPisEvil]

5. Hey...I need some plants for my new house...

:think:

I could get a sign that says "This plant eats Republicans and other insects". :D

[onecitizen]

6. Must be a TX thing.........

}(

[Atlas Mugged]

9. I have - and love - Nepenthes miranda

And a couple of others. Since I'm on well water I don't have to bother with distilled or rain water. I'm in Western New York, however, so I do have to keep them in a greenhouse about 10 months out of the year (not really - but we went down to 44 degrees last night and it ain't good). In the bog section of my pond (a quarter acre) I have about 30 or so Saracenia purpureas that happily make it through the Winter, buy my S. 'Judith Hindle' has to come in and kept dormant. Amazingly, I had one Venus Flytrap make it through the Winter outdoors; which I tried after a friend of mine kept insisting that he had them survive Winters in Michigan.

[TXlib]

12. 44 degrees LAST NIGHT?!

You're kidding, right? Or do you live in the mountains?

[Atlas Mugged]

15. Nope, sadly - I'm not kidding.

I'm pretty dismayed by the whole season. Wet and cold.

It's pretty hilly, but not in the mountains exactly. Though I'm about 20 minutes away from Letchworth State Park, aka, the Grand Canyon of the East.

[amazona]

10. source of the plants ?

I've been seeing more carnivorous plants on sale in Louisiana also, and it's disturbing, since I was led to believe that most are stolen from the wild. I know of some sites where they grow wild, which I keep secret, because they are not properly guarded. I was upset when the local paper published directions to where you could find them. Afraid to go back -- I'm pretty sure they will be gone. :-(

No problem with legally cultivated plants being sold, of course.

[TXlib]

13. Tissue-propagated in a nursery

I am familiar with CITES, and I would report it if I thought they were wild-harvested. But they definitely had a greenhouse-cultivated look to them.

I subscribe the the International Carnivorous Plant Society's newsletter, and every issue has a tear jerker about another habitat destroyed.

Last issue it was Hurricane Creek, where a particularly beautiful all-white variety of Sarracenia leucophylla lived. Made me sick.

Yeah, I have a problem with the newspaper publishing directions, too.

There are bogs in TX where you can find S. alata, D capillaris, and some terrestrial bladderworts, and aparently the ranchers who own them have vowed to shoot on sight any plant poachers.

[Atlas Mugged]

16. Greetings

I subscribe to ICPS, also. And the Conifer Society. And the National Rock Garden Society. And the Terrestrial Orchid Society. And the International Peony Society. And the....well, you get the idea.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

11. Expect a PETA protest

Those bastard meat-eating plants. Don't they know tha vegan is more humane and healthy.

[TXlib]

14. I prefer to live at the top of the food chain.

Ergo, not only do i eat meat, i only eat sentient species.

:evilgrin: