Horticulture thread.

[Samwise]

Yes, horticulture advice.  I ask here only because the Internets at large are proving useless on this issue, and I know we've got a few life-science-oriented people around here somewhere.

So I'm trying to grow an aquatic plant (this one) in a glass bowl on my desk, and I'm having algae problems.  The damn stuff is everywhere -- growing in a film on the surface of the water, clinging to the sides of the bowl, clinging to the plant itself.  It looks ugly and probably isn't good for the plant either.

I tried throwing a ramshorn snail in there, and it helps a bit with the stuff on the sides, but it's not making a dent in the crap on the surface, and I'm worried that if I add more snails they'll end up eating the plant instead.

The bowl is about a quart or so, which is probably too small for an algae eating fish.

I tried changing out the water and scrubbing the sides, but the algae returned pretty quickly.  I've also tried adding tannins to the water by soaking oak leaves in it; my plant doesn't mind, but neither does the algae as far as I can tell.

Any words of wisdom?

[Signe]

VOODOOLILY!!!  It's the best advice I can give you.   

(it's so her kind of question)

[Samwise]

I almost put "VOODOOLILY" in the thread title but refrained.  I remember her complaining at one point that we didn't talk about biology stuff around here enough.  COMPLAINT ADDRESSED.  Give me your wisdom, VDL!

[tazelbain]

How do you feed it?

[Samwise]

I've read that Utriculariae don't need feeding to do well, so I usually don't bother, but occasionally I'll pop in an eyedropper of Daphnia pulex.  No idea if it actually catches them, since the traps are really tiny.

[Righ]

Snails. More snails.

[Sauced]

Edit: Oops! I posted while Sauced was logged in. It's-a me! Voodoolily!

Yeah, regardless of the plants you grow, a snail is your friend.

You can actually get huge awesome snails that are great pets in their own right - I could watch those radula scrape the glass all day!

I have also kept Corydoras spp. catfish to eliminate algae, and they work great as well.

[voodoolily]

Hi! It's me this time.

The best book I've ever seen for growing carnivorous plants (Utricularia is one) is The Savage Garden. Bladderworts are native to the subalpine regions of Oregon, so I can understand why your warm little desk is proliferating algae.

[Samwise]

All right, I'll try more snails.  Luckily I have no shortage of them since they breed like rabbits.  I've lost a couple of plants in the past to over-snailing, but that was in tanks with much less algae than what this bowl is accumulating, so maybe it'll be all right.

The Savage Garden is good (I discovered recently that California Carnivores is only about an hour north of me so I plan on taking a trip up there sometime), but it doesn't have any useful tips on bladderworts other than claiming that they're really easy to grow in any climate.  Growing Carnivorous Plants is what offered the tip on turning the water into tannin tea, but that hasn't been that useful either.

[voodoolily]

If you're growing in the (generally) suitable mix of clean sand and peat moss, the pH will be low and the water tannic anyway from the peat. That usually should help.

If you go to California Carnivores take pictures! 

[Signe]

Some of those snails are absolutely awesome looking. 

[Samwise]

If you're growing in the (generally) suitable mix of clean sand and peat moss, the pH will be low and the water tannic anyway from the peat. That usually should help.

If you go to California Carnivores take pictures! 

Ja, and ja.  Barry Rice's advice was to layer sand over the peat moss instead of having it all mixed in, so you get the same low pH without making the water murky.  Getting the sand to stay on top of the much lighter peat was a fun project.   

The Conservatory of Flowers in SF has a great carnivorous plant exhibit going right now, most of which are on loan from California Carnivores.  I neglected to take photos while I was there, but here's one from their site showing off their giant bog island display (big mix of pitchers, sundews, butterworts, and flytraps, almost all of them in flower):

[Stephen Zepp]

If you're growing in the (generally) suitable mix of clean sand and peat moss, the pH will be low and the water tannic anyway from the peat. That usually should help.

If you go to California Carnivores take pictures! 

Ja, and ja.  Barry Rice's advice was to layer sand over the peat moss instead of having it all mixed in, so you get the same low pH without making the water murky.  Getting the sand to stay on top of the much lighter peat was a fun project.   

The Conservatory of Flowers in SF has a great carnivorous plant exhibit going right now, most of which are on loan from California Carnivores.  I neglected to take photos while I was there, but here's one from their site showing off their giant bog island display (big mix of pitchers, sundews, butterworts, and flytraps, almost all of them in flower):

So do they import flies and bugs to feed all those? Must suck to be a plant that can't move, and have some human put you next to dozens of competing plants just so y'all look pretty together.

[Samwise]

Bugs are more like vitamin supplements (fertilizer) than food for CPs, really; it's not like if you don't feed them they starve to death and wither up.  The plants at the exhibition were doing a pretty fine job snagging them anyway, though.  I don't think I saw a single sundew or butterwort that didn't have a few dead flies and ants stuck to it.  Plenty of bugs in the park, and I imagine a big humid room that smells like nectar is pretty enticing to them.

The thing that was most impressive about the exhibition was how happy all the plants looked, actually.  Seeing nothing but healthy foliage and brilliant blooms is a remarkable contrast to the sad, neglected little flytraps that you see in stores.  Made me even more determined to get my flytraps to flower.  Need more sun.   :-(

[voodoolily]

The Sarracenia 'Janet Craig' that was left over from our wedding is doing great. I'm hoping it will flower, but it's still a wee plant and might need another season or two. I planted it in the bog I created to attract bats to our yard. 

[Sky]

Bordering on another VL thread, I like fresh basil and I cannot lie. Our local supermarket carries the fresh stuff, but it's only the packaged kind and it's only freshish a couple days a week. Friday I noticed a new addition, nice fresh basil in some odd bag like you'd get roses in. When I got it home, I noticed the root ball was intact and there's some water in the bag! So I harvested what I needed to cook with and transplanted and fed the rest.

Man, I want a garden. Needs to get out of the ghetto when planting one little basil plant (actually a small clump of them) excites me so.

[voodoolily]

Bah, if you got windows you can grow food. Herbs grow just fine in a little window box. Matter of fact, the basil we have growing outdoors just keeps getting nailed by caterpillars anyway, so I might hafta put it inside just so I get some too.

[Signe]

My sister grows basil and all kinds of herbs in a homemade box on her deck, right outside the kitchen.  She also grows tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, melons... all sorts of stuff.  When we sit out on her deck the tomatoes and basil smell wonderful.  She makes the best summer salads, too.

[Sky]

We used to have massive grape vines in the fence. People used to pick them clean before we could get much out of them, and then the neighbors cut them all down, despite being on our land.

The other neighbor used to have a garden, but stopped after the second year because people stole everything from it. Then she moved because it's such a douche-filled neighborhood.

It's honestly not the worst place I've lived (central LA wins that title), but I'm dying to get a house. Trying to get the fiancee's finances in order and find something that's not horrifically expensive has been difficult, if you haven't figured out from my many rants about the subject. We looked at a couple decent houses last weekend, but no yard with good sun exposure for a garden. Garden is a must-have item on the list!

[Samwise]

My girl likes basil so I got her one of these things for a graduation present.  Perfect windowsill size.




BTW, back on the OP, the extra snails seem to be making a bit more of a dent, and it doesn't seem to have entered their mind yet to eat the plant.  Fingers crossed.

[Signe]

Doesn't the basil smell lovely?

I dan;t tupwe wirh my fdinfgers crosserd!  So I won't try again.  Snails are wondrously awesome.  If they try and escape, you know your water has gone bad.  If everything goes horribly wrong and you cry, they will melt away in sympathy.

[Sky]

That's about enough basil for one dinner, Sam ;)

[voodoolily]

From my garden to yours. Sorry for hugeness. Scroll to the side to see the point.



(resized for maximum viewing pleasure - Samwise)

[Samwise]

Awesome picture!  I want to see more of this bog garden you speak of.  That's one of the things on my to do list if I ever buy a house.

I'm working on my photos from California Carnivores now...

[Samwise]

Finally finished putting all the pictures together.  Here are a few of the highlights from the nursery:



The rest of the photos from California Carnivores (and pictures of the plants I bought as birthday presents to myself) are here.  (I also got a few nice pictures of Muir Woods on the way back.)

[Ironwood]

Horticulture Thread.

Sure, but can you make her think ?

[Signe]

There seems to be a snake in your penis plant.

Anyway, love the pics.  I still have the pic of VDL's arm with the mantis on it.  It's one of my favourites avatars.  My sister just got a new camera and she's been sending me tons of pics of her back garden.  It's pretty wooded and has a little stream and all sorts of wildlife and buggies.  She's absolutely a buggy person, too.  Inside and out.

[Sky]

I should take pictures of my garden. It's a nice patch of dirt where the neighbors tore everything out. Or maybe the denuded rosebush. There is one nice mossy patch where slugs like to hang out after it rains or in the morning dew!

[hal]

OK. I can not resist. Gramps garden secrets. Slugs do a lot of damage but they have one huge weakness. They love beer. Put 1/2 inch of beer in a shallow something or other ( they don't climb good...so shallow) near where the slug damage is. Covered as in under leaves is even better. Any way, put it out in the evening and awake to a container of drowned slugs in the morning. Organic? you inquire? Hell, painless is my answer! Basil is good as you know, but a window garden begs rosemary. I could go on and on but I will leave it at that. Green out children!!

[voodoolily]

Awesome picture!  I want to see more of this bog garden you speak of.  That's one of the things on my to do list if I ever buy a house.

Glad you likey the pic! Those lil guys are kinda jumpy, else I woulda gotten a pic of him on my finger. The bog is more like a stormwater treatment swale, but essentially functions like a seasonal wetland. I'll get pics soon (today is rainy so maybe it'll fill up). Actually, I still need to buy more gutter to extend out from the house into the darned thing...   but we get 75% off the sewer portion of our water bill for having it! That's a savings of like $3/month! Whee!

[voodoolily]

I made this for you guys.  :-D

[Samwise]

Slugs do a lot of damage but they have one huge weakness. They love beer.

Works on other pests too.  Had a fruit fly problem in our kitchen a couple of summers ago, and dealt with it by leaving half a bottle of Corona out on the counter.  Worked like a charm.

[Sky]

Might attract homeless drunks, though.

[Samwise]

[voodoolily]

Nice Drosera! I picked up some more Sarracenia flava this weekend and built a whiskey barrel water feature for the deck. I've got some black taro and an aquatic canna in there with the hooded pitcher plant (from the mantis photo) and the other pitchers. When things settle down a bit in there I'm going to submerge a bit of large woody debris and grow some sundews on it. I'll take some pics soon.

Edit: Okay I totally want to make icanhasaphids into a thread. But no one will think it's funny but me.