My AC unit used to pump its condenser water right into my laundry sink. All I needed to do to access this water was to put the end of the tube into a jug. Any overflow would just go down the drain.
However, we ended up moving our HVAC equipment into the attic. Now the condenser water is piped into the house drain. This means that I will need to purchase distilled water on an ongoing basis. On a hot day the plants go through almost a gallon of water, which starts to add up at over $1 per gallon.
One of my local markets has a reverse-osmosis water vending machine, so I will probably start using that in September and October (our hottest months here in the SF Bay Area).
I went to our local nursery to buy some plants for my mom for her birthday, but couldn’t resist purchasing a couple of new Dionaea. I left them in their ‘cubes of death’ for a couple of days but put them in the open after that.
So far they seem to be doing well. These are small plants with traps no larger than 1cm, but each pot holds several plants.
At this point my outside tray is full–if I purchase any more this season I will have to set up another tray.
One advantage of our home remodel (that resulted in the death of my outdoor CP’s) is more sunlight in the back yard. In the past, there was an enormous cypress tree in the back which gave us shade most of the day. This tree was removed as part of the remodel. Without that tree, the back yard has almost full sun all day.
My current Dionaea has strong red coloration inside the traps, and this coloration is now extending down the petioles as the summer progresses.
Similarly, my mystery Sarracenia is getting some nice red coloration to the pitchers. At this point it almost reminds me of my old Sarracenia x ‘Dixie Lace’.
I will get some pictures up as soon as possible.
Much like a Sarracenia in spring, the Kimoto Carnivorous Plant Blog slowly struggles back to life.
A quick update: We decided to perform a gut-and-redo on our house. As a result, we were out of the house for around a year. After moving back in, my spare time was spent unpacking, de-junking the garage, decorating, etc.
Sadly, despite my best efforts, my outside cp’s did not survive the move. A combination of different climate plus lack of time to take proper care of the plants resulted in their demise.
Fortunately, my tropicals fared better–I sent them to live with my friend Dave, who has been growing carnivorous plants for many years. My Nepenthes and my Cephalotus are all doing well. I still need to set up a good place for them to live in the new house.
Although I have not had time to restart my minibog, I do have a few plants growing in a tray outside (1 Dionaea, 1 Sarracenia purpurea, 1 mystery Sarracenia, 2 pots of Drosera capensis).
We have several birch trees which produce copious quantities of seeds. Because of where my bog and outdoor cp’s are located, the seeds end up trapped in the space around the front porch. The wind causes them to swirl around and many of the end up in my cp pots!
I just spent 20 minutes the other day removing small sprouts from my pots with a set of tweezers.
As it turns out, the VFT that I thought had gone to that great bog in the sky has come back to life. After the near-death experience, it started to send up new leaves and now seems happy, though smaller than it was before.
I am happy to report that several adult pitchers have started growing from my Cephalotus. Last year, I got two adult pitchers. This year it looks like I should have four at least. I will post some pictures a little later on.
Other exciting news: Peter D’Amato, author of The Savage Garden (and proprietor of California Carnivores) is giving a presentation at a nearby Sloat Garden Center tonight. I will be attending with my friend and co-cp enthusiast Davemo.
If I get a chance, I will take some pictures of the event.
I also may pick up some new plants…
Well, it looks like one of my Dionaea did not made it through dormancy. It started growing, and even sent up a flower stalk (which I quickly clipped off) but now I see no new leaves coming up at all. Looks like bad news. I guess I will have to purchase a replacement (or two)! 
Spring is the worst time of year for me as far as water issues go.
During the late fall and winter, the plants don’t need much water.
During the summer, my air conditioner supplies all the water I need–I capture the water that comes out of the condenser pump.
But during the spring, we get a lot of fog and wind. Although the AC doesn’t produce much water, the plants need a lot of water due to evaporation. This means that I have to buy several gallons of distilled water per week.
I sometimes think about getting a reverse-osmosis unit, but I don’t think that the cost is justified as of yet…
As I mentioned in the previous post, I recently purchased two new Sarracenia from Lowes. I still don’t know what they are, but I finally got around to taking some pictures. Here are some pictures of the whole plants:
And here is a closeup of one of the new pitchers:
If anyone knows what this is, please let me know.
