Hello from KY

[Sarraceniacrazy]

Hey everyone! My name is Eric and I've recently fell down the cacti rabbit hole. Been doing tons of reading and research on the cold hardy varieties because I want to grow them outdoors with my prickly pears. Settled on echinocereus, escobaria, mammillaria and gymnocalycium varieties.

Now, I'm far from a plant beginner. Been growing carnivorous plants for over 15 years but my carnivores have opposing needs to cacti...really wet soil all year.

Included pics of some of my sarracenia and some E. coccineus seedlings.

[hegar]

Hello Eric,

welcome to the CactiGuide forum. You do have quite a collection of non-succulents already. I do recognize the pitcher plants. So the other plant shown, which looks almost orchid-like (images 1 and 2), must be the Sarracenia plants? You certainly do have a lot of those.
I have never tried to grow cacti from seed, but those you sowed seem to be doing quite well. Most of my cacti are members of the Echinocereus genus. So you picked something that I may recognize at times. I think, that they are beautiful plants and most species produce large, brilliantly-colored blossoms. I also do like members of the Gymnocalycium genus.

Harald

[gemhunter178]

Welcome!
That is quite a bunch of carnivorous plants! I have yet to keep one alive for more than 9 months....but I do pretty well on 'difficult' cacti!
I also grow a bunch of cacti/succulents outdoors, but I must say to remember that some plants can take cold, but not wet and cold...

[Sarraceniacrazy]

Hello Eric,

welcome to the CactiGuide forum. You do have quite a collection of non-succulents already. I do recognize the pitcher plants. So the other plant shown, which looks almost orchid-like (images 1 and 2), must be the Sarracenia plants? You certainly do have a lot of those.
I have never tried to grow cacti from seed, but those you sowed seem to be doing quite well. Most of my cacti are members of the Echinocereus genus. So you picked something that I may recognize at times. I think, that they are beautiful plants and most species produce large, brilliantly-colored blossoms. I also do like members of the Gymnocalycium genus.

Harald

Hi Harald! Thank you for the welcome. Pics 1 and 2 are also pitcher plants. In the spring they bloom before the pitchers emerge. One of my favorite things about them.

As soon as I saw the echinocereus flowers I was hooked. Some of the prettiest flowers I've ever laid eyes on.

[Sarraceniacrazy]

Welcome!
That is quite a bunch of carnivorous plants! I have yet to keep one alive for more than 9 months....but I do pretty well on 'difficult' cacti!
I also grow a bunch of cacti/succulents outdoors, but I must say to remember that some plants can take cold, but not wet and cold...

Thanks for the welcome! Why/how do you kill them? They're really easy to care for. Full sun, keep the soil wet and they should thrive. Mine sit in my backyard all year. They freeze solid as a rock and reward me every year with pretty blooms and offshoots in the spring.

I actually have some succulent carnivorous plants. They're called pinguicula or butterworts. Here's a couple pics...grab more tomorrow. These don't really need lots of water. I let the soil get bone dry before I water them. They're in a mix of equal parts peat, perlite, silica sand and calciferous sand. A nice airy mix thats, what I'm assuming, close to what cacti like.

Thanks for the wet/cold tip. I'll keep that in mind.

[gemhunter178]

I've only had venus flytraps (Dionaea, but they just don't seem to wake up after winters here.
I'll probably try again at some point. Perhaps I should keep them soaked a bit more...

That's a cool plant! I've seen them at some plant shows here, I think. Very nicely grown!

[Sarraceniacrazy]

I've only had venus flytraps (Dionaea, but they just don't seem to wake up after winters here.
I'll probably try again at some point. Perhaps I should keep them soaked a bit more...

That's a cool plant! I've seen them at some plant shows here, I think. Very nicely grown!

Thanks! Venus flytraps like it a lil more dry than sarracenia. They should only be kept moist and need at least a gallon pot when mature because the have really long roots. During the winter it's best to take them into an unheated garage, greenhouse, basement, etc or insulate the pots with mulch. Especially if you're zone is any cooler than mine (6b).