I water all my indoor plants with rainwater, makes a stunning difference.
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Nimrod@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Not true. VFTs prefer nutrient poor soil. In fact, the main reason owners of these plants fail to keep them alive is not watering them with pure enough water. You’re supposed to use water with a TDS below 100ppm. Rain water or RO water preferred.
The reason these plants can survive in such low nutrient soils is because they evolved a different mechanism for obtaining nutrients.
shalafi@lemmy.world 3 months ago
tpyo@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Even better is aquarium water!
Obviously not if they can’t handle the nutrients, like Venus fly traps
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
I was wondering about that, I saw a botanist’s video about a carnivorous plant nursery and he mentioned plants like VFTs and pitcher plants evolved in high-precipitation areas where the soil has been leached of nutrients.
shalafi@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I’ve seen both conditions with pitcher plants, don’t know what to think.
The swamp down the street is packed with nutrients, has to be, and that’s where I’ve seen them thrive. OTOH, I’ve seen fields of them where it’s marshy, but I’d guess the soil is thin like everywhere else around here.
boogetyboo@aussie.zone 3 months ago
What country/region is this? If you don’t mind me asking
sploosh@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Given the way they’re describing it, US south/southeast. The pitcher plants that grow there grow in marshes and swampy grasslands are from there. Pitcher plants elsewhere in the world are a different type all together, and are generally epiphytes or close to it.
Except Australia and certain south American highlands. Or the pacific northest US. There are like 4 families of pitcher plants, only two of which are closely related (counting sarracenia and darlingtonia together with heliamphora in the family and nepenthes and cephalotus on their own).
shalafi@lemmy.world 3 months ago
NW Florida. Not legal to grab them, but I’ve moved some to my swampy camp in the boondocks. Growing some in a buried trashcan pond, getting seeds to spread around.