FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

...or not do?

I've got some 2 month old seedlings that I'm wondering whether to feed or not. They seem almost impossibly too small to feed, but...

If I feed would it be better to feed with some Maxsea or rehydrated bloodworms?

I've got a oiler bottle and 32-gauge blunt needles I can use to apply a drop at a time of Maxsea to the plants but even the size drops that these needles produce are pretty large relative to the size of these seedlings.

Feeding bloodworms seems a bit more problematic. I've seen it mentioned to use ground up dry fish food and sprinkle it on a leaf. Use it dry, not wet?

Another issue I have is some mold/bacteria/slime starting to grow. The peat moss that I used is some of the Tractor Supply "Greensmix" brand which I will state is pure garbage. I believe it has caused me some issues with foreign matter in it that might be negatively affecting some plants. I've got some of this peat left which I will toss into the garden or a wash somewhere. I've got a bale of Majestic Earth (by Sungro) that looks *much* better that I will be using going forward. Should I consider transplanting these tiny plants to the better peat moss or letting them ride it out in the current medium? Also, am I keeping this too wet. The pots are 3" tall and I'm keeping roughly 1/4" of water in the tray they're sitting in...during dry conditions (not raining or heavy overcast) I keep a loose piece of plastic over them which does collect condensation on the bottom side.

So basically three questions...
1. Should I feed and with what?
2. Should I transplant to better peat moss?
3. Should I reduce moisture?

Thanks!
Ed

That's a nickel for size reference...

I think they are too small to feed still. If to want to feed them at a more mature age, you can use either food. With Maxsea you risk overdoing it and with blood worms you risk lots of mold and algae. I would probably use Maxsea personally because I'm to lazy to go out and buy the right fungicides. And with maxsea you can lightly mist the pot so the chance of you overdoing it is low.

Because of how small the seedlings are, I don't think you need to repot now. If the plant are drastically declining and/or dying because of that peat, you can repot. I think the best time for you to repot and separate them is when they are maybe 4x that size. which species are those seedlings?

With the water situation, you could try to let it dry out a little bit before refilling the water trays to reduce the mold and algae that can grow. Otherwise I'm not sure. I made a similar mistake with my D. rotundifolia var. corsica. The whole pot is covered in the weird white mold and there's a lot of algae on one side of the pot. What's even worse is I only have three tiny seedlings and if the mold and algae gets out of hand . . . plants go bye bye.

Yeah, they are very tiny still. I'll hold off on feeding for a while.

In regards to "feeding", though... I see lots of people refer to using both Maxsea and/or fish food (of some type). But, it seems as though they use them interchangeably. They seem to me to be two different things, though. In regular vegetable gardening you can use either petro-chemical fertilizers or "organic" fertilizers (manures, rotted matter, etc). The vegetables can't differentiate between the NPK of the chemical or that of the organic fertilizers...both can be overused or underused. The big difference comes in regards to what the two different types of fertilizers do to the soil and the "soil life". With carnivorous plants, though, it seems that the pH is about the only thing we might want to modify a bit (if that) and we're not concerned with adding nutrients to the growing medium. I guessing that the difference between using Maxsea and fish food would be the possibility of burning the plants easier with one than with the other. But, with the fish food there is more of a chance of promoting mold growth. So, in the end, are Maxsea and fish food doing the same thing, have the basic same benefits to the plant...just different application rates and possibly different problems. Does any of my rambling even make sense?

So for now, I think the only think I will do is allow the tray to dry out more often and see if that helps with the algae/mold growing. Thanks for the feedback!

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:29 pm Yeah, they are very tiny still. I'll hold off on feeding for a while.

In regards to "feeding", though... I see lots of people refer to using both Maxsea and/or fish food (of some type). But, it seems as though they use them interchangeably. They seem to me to be two different things, though. In regular vegetable gardening you can use either petro-chemical fertilizers or "organic" fertilizers (manures, rotted matter, etc). The vegetables can't differentiate between the NPK of the chemical or that of the organic fertilizers...both can be overused or underused. The big difference comes in regards to what the two different types of fertilizers do to the soil and the "soil life". With carnivorous plants, though, it seems that the pH is about the only thing we might want to modify a bit (if that) and we're not concerned with adding nutrients to the growing medium. I guessing that the difference between using Maxsea and fish food would be the possibility of burning the plants easier with one than with the other. But, with the fish food there is more of a chance of promoting mold growth. So, in the end, are Maxsea and fish food doing the same thing, have the basic same benefits to the plant...just different application rates and possibly different problems. Does any of my rambling even make sense?

So for now, I think the only think I will do is allow the tray to dry out more often and see if that helps with the algae/mold growing. Thanks for the feedback!

Yes, that does make sense. Overall I believe they have the same end result just with different application rates and the different problems they cause.