This is my formal introduction. I've beeen reading the group postings
for the last week. I have almost no experiance with cp's. I do have a
small bladderwort (Utricularia ?) that showed up on it's own in one of
my aquariums. I am very much an aquatic enthusiast and all my aquariums
are fully planted. The rest of my experance with cp's has been pretty
disappointing as I've only managed to kill them. :-(
I bought a VFT and a sundew two years ago and put them in apothicary
jars. The VFT parished after several months. The sundew lived almost
two years. But has recently passed on. I now have some quite nice moss
growths in my jars. Obviously I have no idea how to keep these plants.
I also have orchids (grown in bark), tallandsias and several epiphytic
cactus. They are all quite appropriatly growing over my garden tub in
the bathroom to give them some humidity. Though my orchids grow they
have as yet to bloom.
I'm hopeing to merge my love of aquariums and plants. I'm planning on
building a greenhouse this winter and keeping aquariums and plants in
it. I'm planning on circulating the aquarium water through plants and
then sending it back into the aquarium. A sort of hydroponic system.
I'm looking for plants that would thrive in this sort of system and
thought cp's might do well being bog plants. I am also going to put in
a pond. I noticed someone mentioning setting up a bog area in their
back yard. This sounds like a great idea also. I live in Arizona
though and wonder if the heat and dry air would kill cp's grown outside.
I am planning on shading my pond which may help the problem. I've
noticed other Arizona people on the list and perhaps they would know if
this is feasible. Also on the same note I was wondering about
greenhouse cooling methods. I was planning on useing a swamp cooler for
the greenhouse. However due to the high humidity level which I assume
the greenhouse will have this may not work. I am open to any
suggestions on that also. I would like to keep the expense down though
or I'll never be able to justify it to my husband <g>.
Thank You,
Rhonda