gejala pokok | symptomatic trees

Who would have thought obsession for plants would turn mukaketupat and myself into friendly, bordering on shameless people. After getting our venus fly trap from strange old Eneos that seems to sell every thing under the sky (including a car service centre in a mall), we got a little hooked on carnivorous plants.

Did some web search to find out more about how to care for our new baby, and found this awesome local site, PetPitcher.com.

Did some web search to find out more about how to care for our new baby, and found this awesome local site, PetPitcher.com.

I know we haven’t stopped raving about it, but it’s such a freaking cool place. Everyone’s not only really generous with info — which is a pretty fantastic nature of ‘forum-ers’ — but also with seeds, seedlings and more!

We contacted the site owner, David, to ask where we could get hold of some sundews, and in a true gesture of solidarity obsession, offered us one of his pots of D. spathulata to us. Yay!

So we called him, got directions, drove to his apartment, I saw a part of Klang Valley that I don’t usually go to, took the lift up……

Wasn’t hard to figure out which place was his. There were creepy-crawly plants greeting us immediately at the grill Pushing aside tendrils, we walked in and gasped at the beautiful, gorgeous terrariums in one corner.

picture from petpitcher website

After greedily gobbling up the sight, he showed us his storeroom that also housed another larger (maybe 6 feet?) terrarium. Whoo0 whee! So many many many many different kinds of carnivorous plants basking snugly under the glow of florescent lights. Mukaketupat brought her camera, so she snapped away. Here’s some of his little beauties.

A partial view of the terrarium

Baby venus’ fly traps in a row. The ‘mother’ is the one right at the back, second from right. Halfway through the tour, I realised that CP (carnivorous plants) enthusiasts do not speak in generics. It’s all genus and species, right down to the hybrids. So if I want to understand this world at all, I have to brush up on my Latin or Greek I think. So yes, Dionaea muscipula all in a row

When he saw us practically drooling all over his D. muscipula, he offered us one! Yippee! Now we have TWO pots of D. muscipula - one green and one red (I promise I’ll figure out the actual sub-species names soon).

Ours sitting happily on our balcony now. Though the new one seem to have some kind of bugs on it, not sure from where. Probably our dusty studio. Doesn’t seem to harm the plant though, but to be safe, getting some pesticides today. Did a whole search on aphids and spider mites from a list of stuff that might harm CPs. Not sure if it is either, but live and learn I guess

One of his Drosera brumannii (species of sundew). We said “yes, please!” when he offered a pot of baby D. brumannii to us. I feel like a greedy, out-of-control, mad woman! *blush* Can’t wait for it to grow layers and be as pretty as his. It’s already growing a fair bit since we got it a couple of nights ago. Mmmmm……… so very very cool!

This one I am SUPER excited about. It’s a byblis, also a kind of CP. Look at the sticky secretions coming out from its hairs! And all the bugs caught on their leaves. And best of all, I have seeds! Thanks to David of Petpitcher again I can’t wait to plant them and wait for germination. Have to learn more about how to cultivate these, but found an article that might help. Not sure if it needs cold stratification etc, but will print out and read. Dammit, wish we had the Savage Garden book! Must go Kinokuniya soon…

I don’t remember the name for this CP, though it might be a bladderwort (Utricularia). It lives in water, and you can’t really see it, but there are tiny traps at the end of the leaves that acts like a vacuum to suck small aquatic animals that unwittingly goes by. Sometimes it sends out shoots of pretty flowers over the surface of the water. And it’s also native to Malaysia

Okay, many species and close peering later (including with a magnifying glass), David showed us his Nepenthes collection. And geez, he’s got a LOT. Mostly hanging near the window, but he’s even got some teeny tiny super cute ones in his terrarium. I almost died.

The pictures didn’t turn out, so we can’t show you. But there are just so many different species (I hope I’m using this word correctly). One with pitchers that look like they are wearing viking helmets, some with fangs on the pitchers, and a cuddly pot of Sarracenia outside one window. Nice

We went and got some more sphagnum moss and looked for perlite - the medium that CPs apparently thrive on. Except the packet we got from Eneos (Uncle Sam from Cameron Highlands) says ‘pelite’. It looks ad feels like what perlite is supposed to be. Hope we don’t mess up by accidentally adding rat poison or something!

Anyway, YAY!

Some handy sites found:

• Carnivorous Plant Care Guide — Bugbitingplants.com
• Some info on Venus Fly Traps and other CPs — pitcherplant.com
• Coastal Carnivores
• How to sow carnivorous plants seeds
• A tutorial on Venus Fly Traps with a whole bunch of FAQs
• International Carnivorous Plants Society (!!!)