# Air coral



## TimV (Nov 25, 2008)

Reefs in the sea are made up of huge colonies of small tentacled animals that leave their shells behind with they die.

They are both passive and active, in that they stay in one place and wait until something eatable contacts the tentacles, then the creature pulls it's prey in for digestion.

In the plant world, there is a group called the Australian Tuberous Drosera. They spend the warm, dry summer months as a bulb way under the ground, but when the fall rains come they spring up and grow wildly, sending vines up to several feet long. 

There are no leaves, at least as we commonly know them, but rather traps that act just like coral. When a small insect lands on the trap, it is pulled in by the tentacles and eaten.

This pot I've had growing for many years, and during the whole of the summer it sits dry and bare. But in the fall, it explodes with dozens of these plants and creates a billowy cloud of living land coral.


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## LawrenceU (Nov 25, 2008)

Wow. Where can this be acquired? What type of soil does it like?


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## TimV (Nov 25, 2008)

Unfortunately they're a bit difficult. You have to get tubers first. There aren't many who sell them. I should have extra next August. 

Then you plant them in a very acidic mix, like half peat moss half sand, and keep the soil bone dry until September, or when they start coming up on their own. Then you stand the pot in a tray of pure water, either rain water or RO. Tap or well water kills them. You keep them standing in water until they start to turn brown in early summer, the start over again.

Any fertilizer will kill them. They're so efficient at capturing bugs that you don't have to worry about feeding them. And if you can't provide full sun they die as well. And you can't take cuttings, and you can't disturb them while they're growing.

Regards


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## LawrenceU (Nov 25, 2008)

Interesting. I might like to try them.


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## py3ak (Nov 25, 2008)

Those are really lovely.


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## Prufrock (Nov 25, 2008)

Wow, those are beautiful. Is that a picture of the ones you grow?


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## TimV (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks, all. Yes, the picture is just a small part of the mass of these plants, which I've been growing for several years.


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