Venus fly traps
Hey guys! I just ordered a venus fly trap from the #GregPlantShop! Iβm really nervous though, does anyone have any advice? My main concern is how to water and how to feed it dead flies, and how often to feed it. Thanks!
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Best Answer
I have one! They like half peat/perlite soil with no nutrients in it. I top mine with sphagnum moss below the leaves to keep the flytraps off the peat. They need to be kept in distilled water so I keep a bowl of distilled water that their pot rests in and continue to fill that up to halfway up to maintain water for the plant. When a trap eats or open and closes a few times, the leaf will go black. Wait to pull it off until itβs completely black. And VFT can live without bugs, they just like bugs as a fertilizer. They also like lots of bright direct light! Hope this helps! :)
@GnarlyJacaranda thank you so much!! Is your plant constantly in water, or is that only for watering days?
Don't feed it. You can damage the plant. Just let it catch its own food and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS keep the medium moist. Never let it dry out.
Only use soil mix that is specifically meant for carnivorous plants or straight sphagnum moss or peat moss. οΏΌ
Only use rainwater or distilled water. The chemicals and water can burn the plant. οΏΌ
Only use soil mix that is specifically meant for carnivorous plants or straight sphagnum moss or peat moss. οΏΌ
Only use rainwater or distilled water. The chemicals and water can burn the plant. οΏΌ
@saydewuvsplants I just received mine on Wednesday so still alive today. My vft is under a grow light and in a container with distilled water to drink at all times. And I have a humidifier running as well. Hopefully that will make it feel as if itβs in a bog area! lol I found it got a bit humid in the travel and looked a bit stressed afterward at home but itβs adjusting to its new surroundings!! You can do it.. ππ»π€
@CourtlyKingfern i was planning on having a humidifier near mine as well! Thank you so much for the help!
@CourtlyKingfern thank you. Do you have a picture of it in the water. I want to do that as well and I do have a humidifier near by
Hi!! Lots lots lots of great advice here, but I'd figure I would add as well :)
Give them lots and lots of light! They love light. I grow mine outdoors in roughly 6 or 7 hours of bright, direct sunlight. The sunlight turns their traps this beautiful red. Without enough light the traps will stay green & the petioles (what the traps are at the end of) will be floppy. If you don't have a tool to measure the light, you can download an app called photone. Vfts need a minimum of 100ppfd and a maximum of 400ppfd. The closer to 400, the more the vft seems to thrive. (Atleast in my experience)
Watering is super easy. Make sure to use distilled water, Reverse Osmosis water, or rainwater. Bottom water the vft by putting a saucer underneath the pot & keeping it constantly filled with water. Never ever let it dry out. Drying out for these plants is like a death sentence.
Make sure to also use carnivorous plant safe soil. Carnivorous plants don't tolerate fertilizers and what not in their soil. I use a 2:1 mix of peat moss & perlite. Some other common mixes are pure long fibered sphagnum moss and a 2:1 mix of peat moss and silica sand.
You don't need to feed them, though it is fun. I enjoy catching little spiders w/ tweezers and feeding them to the traps. If you do want to feed it bugs, only feed 1 or 2 traps at a time. You don't need to feed every single trap. The traps can only close a select number of times before dying off. When feeding the plant, make sure that the bug touches the thin trigger hairs inside of the trap. This will then start a 20 second countdown and the trap should shut if the bug continues to move. Never feed it bugs bigger than the trap. Don't do this because the bug sticking out of the trap won't allow the trap to seal properly, so the digestive fluid will leak out & cause the trap to rot.
Like I said earlier, you don't have to feed it bugs and honestly don't worry about it.
Also, during winter venus fly traps go through a winter dormancy period. This is **required**. It's caused primarily by the changing photoperiods & the difference in temps. I'm in Florida, and where I am we pretty much only get a few frosts. After about 3 frosts the plant seems to go dormant. During the dormancy period it'll look kinda dead, but don't throw it out!! In pots, they don't like temps below 20Β°F. If it gets colder than this in your area you can overwinter them in an unheated garage/room. Just make sure that during dormancy, you are still providing adequate sun and water just as you would normally. Don't skip this !! It's very important and without it the plant has a shortened lifespan and won't do well in the next growing season. The dormant period allows them to save enough energy to make all those traps in spring and summer :)
Dont be nervous, these guys are pretty easy to care for. Maybe after youre comfortable with your vft you can venture into the world of carnivorous plants (Sarracenia, drosera, nepenthes, pinguicula..) Hope this helped some, if you have any questions feel free to ask !!
Give them lots and lots of light! They love light. I grow mine outdoors in roughly 6 or 7 hours of bright, direct sunlight. The sunlight turns their traps this beautiful red. Without enough light the traps will stay green & the petioles (what the traps are at the end of) will be floppy. If you don't have a tool to measure the light, you can download an app called photone. Vfts need a minimum of 100ppfd and a maximum of 400ppfd. The closer to 400, the more the vft seems to thrive. (Atleast in my experience)
Watering is super easy. Make sure to use distilled water, Reverse Osmosis water, or rainwater. Bottom water the vft by putting a saucer underneath the pot & keeping it constantly filled with water. Never ever let it dry out. Drying out for these plants is like a death sentence.
Make sure to also use carnivorous plant safe soil. Carnivorous plants don't tolerate fertilizers and what not in their soil. I use a 2:1 mix of peat moss & perlite. Some other common mixes are pure long fibered sphagnum moss and a 2:1 mix of peat moss and silica sand.
You don't need to feed them, though it is fun. I enjoy catching little spiders w/ tweezers and feeding them to the traps. If you do want to feed it bugs, only feed 1 or 2 traps at a time. You don't need to feed every single trap. The traps can only close a select number of times before dying off. When feeding the plant, make sure that the bug touches the thin trigger hairs inside of the trap. This will then start a 20 second countdown and the trap should shut if the bug continues to move. Never feed it bugs bigger than the trap. Don't do this because the bug sticking out of the trap won't allow the trap to seal properly, so the digestive fluid will leak out & cause the trap to rot.
Like I said earlier, you don't have to feed it bugs and honestly don't worry about it.
Also, during winter venus fly traps go through a winter dormancy period. This is **required**. It's caused primarily by the changing photoperiods & the difference in temps. I'm in Florida, and where I am we pretty much only get a few frosts. After about 3 frosts the plant seems to go dormant. During the dormancy period it'll look kinda dead, but don't throw it out!! In pots, they don't like temps below 20Β°F. If it gets colder than this in your area you can overwinter them in an unheated garage/room. Just make sure that during dormancy, you are still providing adequate sun and water just as you would normally. Don't skip this !! It's very important and without it the plant has a shortened lifespan and won't do well in the next growing season. The dormant period allows them to save enough energy to make all those traps in spring and summer :)
Dont be nervous, these guys are pretty easy to care for. Maybe after youre comfortable with your vft you can venture into the world of carnivorous plants (Sarracenia, drosera, nepenthes, pinguicula..) Hope this helped some, if you have any questions feel free to ask !!
@saydewuvsplants Hi Sayde, lots of good advice to consider. I always recommend joining our #cpclubthursday where I have added a number of posts about care of VFTs over some time. @LaSiguanaba Rose Red , @JesssJungle Jess and I have recently recorded a whole episode on VFTs and Jess even had a good care guide.
So unless there is anything more specifically I can answer, check out and consider joining #cpclubthursday through the hashtag.
One thing is to check the root after tour plant has settled in as some of the VFTs did have some mesh netting surrounding the roots which can be unhealthy however allow a week or so for your VFT to settle into your conditions and adjust first, lots of light and access to distilled or similar mineral free water.
All the best and enjoy ππ @Seymour
So unless there is anything more specifically I can answer, check out and consider joining #cpclubthursday through the hashtag.
One thing is to check the root after tour plant has settled in as some of the VFTs did have some mesh netting surrounding the roots which can be unhealthy however allow a week or so for your VFT to settle into your conditions and adjust first, lots of light and access to distilled or similar mineral free water.
All the best and enjoy ππ @Seymour
Lots of great inputs on this thread @saydewuvsplants can't wait to see how your Venus flytrap arrives! ππ
@saydewuvsplants
You should watch this guy's videos. Scroll down and down (past the retail names like Amazon, Etsy etcetera)
until you see the section on videos. I followed this guy's advice and mine it still alive. I try to feed it, but they say it really doesn't have to eat baby crickets πͺ or other live stuff.
https://www.joelscarnivorousplants.com/
You should watch this guy's videos. Scroll down and down (past the retail names like Amazon, Etsy etcetera)
until you see the section on videos. I followed this guy's advice and mine it still alive. I try to feed it, but they say it really doesn't have to eat baby crickets πͺ or other live stuff.
https://www.joelscarnivorousplants.com/
@saydewuvsplants I do the first, I leave the water in the tray or dish and just top it up. Lots of reasons for this but some include being lazy and not having to worry about getting the water scheduling right or the risk of if I forget as I did forget to water one of my VFTs behind a curtain and it suffered badly . Plus I find they do drink a lot of distilled water during summer, surprising a lot I found. I know technically you could let them dry out a bit and then water them but I donβt see itβs worth the risk and my plants are happy with me just leaving their trays topped up. Just make sure the tray is only at most 1/4 of the pot as itβs the roots that need the water, not the rhizome. But you can always top water them every so often. Just remember they are big plants so there would be occasional rain showers etc but they would be in a moist substrate in nature. Hope this helps
@saydewuvsplants Iβve never had a VFt suffer from root rot but the thing is that they have rhizomes and you donβt want them (the body just under the soil) to be soaked so thatβs why it can be good to ensure your pots are a little long as you will be surprised how they can grow tiny little long roots down to the water (just like they would in a bog). But the substrate is also important as I use a lot of perlite for instance and some sand which means that the peat moss I mix it with has good aeration and water retention without being waterlogged. I describe it as if you have a squeezed sponge rather than one that is sopping wet full of water. So the βsoilβ needs to be moist but not wet and this will avoid potential root rot. But also as it is bottom watered, it draws up what it need as opposed to being floated from the top.
I was going to add these diagrams elsewhere and they are more for plants in general but you get the idea that bottom watering differs from top watering and each have their own advantages. If you are concerned the substrate is too dry despite bottom watering g and leaving a tray of water, just add a little water on top of the substrate as it will ensure there is sufficient water to draw up the water from the tray in a wicking way.
Actually disregard the diagrams as they arenβt relevant for VFTs which have constant tray water and more relevant for other plants in general. Thatβs why I say VFTs are actually easier to grow as you can forget about watering schedules with them and just give them lots of light and they will be happy π
I was going to add these diagrams elsewhere and they are more for plants in general but you get the idea that bottom watering differs from top watering and each have their own advantages. If you are concerned the substrate is too dry despite bottom watering g and leaving a tray of water, just add a little water on top of the substrate as it will ensure there is sufficient water to draw up the water from the tray in a wicking way.
Actually disregard the diagrams as they arenβt relevant for VFTs which have constant tray water and more relevant for other plants in general. Thatβs why I say VFTs are actually easier to grow as you can forget about watering schedules with them and just give them lots of light and they will be happy π
@saydewuvsplants no worries, there's lots more at #cpclubthursday if you have a look at some of my old posts and links. We did a VFT episode for the podcast to address some of these concerns for new owners as they are not as hard to grow as many believe, they just need certain things and they thrive π
@Seymour honestly all of them are good in my opinion, they all seem to be different varieties of S. Flava which is amazing. Flava is one of the taller growing species of Sarracenia, so when it's mature expect a pretty tall plant. The bottom seeds on the photo have S. X Exornata in them which will probably cause that one to be a bit shorter. But, varitation is of course expected since they're seeds. Any that have Sarracenia Flava var. Atropurpurea or Flava var. Rubricorpora you can expect to probably be a bit more red in color as those varieties of flava are a beautiful red.
What to go for really just depends on your personal preference. I wouldn't go for any Sarracenia Purpurea seeds as they tend to have a lower germination rate & need a longer cold stratification period.
With Sarracenia seeds they have to go through a cold stratification period as the seeds have enzymes in them that prevent them from germinating in winter. So, the cold stratification mimics the seeds natural cycle. The seeds fall in autumn, sit through winter, and germinate in spring.
I haven't grown sarracenia from seed yet, but you put them in a baggie with sphagnum moss & then put that bag in the fridge for 4 weeks (5 for Purpurea). When putting the seeds in the baggie for stratification, make sure that the sphagnum moss isn't soaking wet & just damp. Like you want it to be wet but not so soaked that there's standing water in the bag. Also it's really important that there is air in the baggie.
But yeah, the seeds you go for really just depends on personal preference. :)
What to go for really just depends on your personal preference. I wouldn't go for any Sarracenia Purpurea seeds as they tend to have a lower germination rate & need a longer cold stratification period.
With Sarracenia seeds they have to go through a cold stratification period as the seeds have enzymes in them that prevent them from germinating in winter. So, the cold stratification mimics the seeds natural cycle. The seeds fall in autumn, sit through winter, and germinate in spring.
I haven't grown sarracenia from seed yet, but you put them in a baggie with sphagnum moss & then put that bag in the fridge for 4 weeks (5 for Purpurea). When putting the seeds in the baggie for stratification, make sure that the sphagnum moss isn't soaking wet & just damp. Like you want it to be wet but not so soaked that there's standing water in the bag. Also it's really important that there is air in the baggie.
But yeah, the seeds you go for really just depends on personal preference. :)
@saydewuvsplants donβt worry about me but you may wish to give someone else a best answer if this was a question and not just a post
@Seymour oh yeah i totally forgot