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Carnivorous Plants

Venus Fly Trap seedlings/backyard garden

16 years ago

HELP!

I just received a large number of VFT seedlings -- approximately 3 to 6 months old -- in a clear gel growing material.

I want to know how to proceed with them at this point.

Can anyone suggest the best soil mixture to use? I was planning to mix perlite with sphagnum moss at a 50/50% ratio, and then lay living sphagnum moss as a top layer for mulch and appearance. And do I leave as much of the gel as possible?

I want to plant these in regular flower boxes instead of using the traditional small-mouthed opening containers to maintain humidity. Will they dry out? I've read where the plants can be adapted to living in a hot area, such as Alabama, in a small backyard garden.

I've been to their natural environment off the Carolina coast, and the temp/humidity seems very similar with the only exception being the soil mixture, which in the Carolinas is sand and pine peat.

Requesat any info that can support or improve on this project.

RD 3/19/2008

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Comments (4)

rondon
Original Author
16 years ago
Care must be taken to prevent any backyard garden/lawn fertilizer from getting in contact with the carnivorous garden.
Lots of well water should be usd.
hunterkiller03
16 years ago
Its sound like you obtained tissue cultured plants. Here's how you grow them:

Firsts, you have to wash off all the gel from the plants completely, that gel is agar with nutrients and hormones added to it. Agar will form hard clump with the soil around the roots of your plants and strangle them. Not to mention that the nutrient rich agar will promote fungus growth and you definitely don't want that either, since these plants have been growing in a bacteria and fungus free sterile environment inside test tube or vials.

Second, because your plants have been growing in a high humid environment and control lighting. You have to place them in a container that will maintain the high levels of humidity like a large jar or terrarium with a lid to avoid shock. You have to harden them off first by leaving the lid ajar a little at a time, keeping an eye on your plants for wilting. So definitely your plants are not ready to be grown outside.

Third, do not put them under strong sunlight in your backyard because the leaves will be burned and the heat will kill them. They have been growing under bright lamps that don't produce a lot of heat. For a moment have them growing in filtered sun light next to a window or under a bright lamp, donÂt expose them to strong light or you will burn them but not to dim that it will slow their hardening.

One thing, the plants will be under a hormonal high and will be producing many small leaves and traps and that might give you the wrong impressions that they are ready. That will eventually wear off so you have to be patient when you acclimatize them to your environment inside your room. It shouldn't take more then two weeks but don't expose them outside yet, you have to do it slowly and look out for shock and wilted leaves. This will take time to hardened them off so be patient.

Good luck and happy growing!
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No black light. The plant should be acclimated to OUTDOOR Full Sunlight. NO GARDEN SOIL, it'll die. Use a 50/50 mix of peat moss and perlite (NOT Miracle grow!). Use rainwater or Distilled water only, NO TAP water. Google Venus Flytrap care and read as much as you can.
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The advice of not letting your VFT flower is always suggested because most people are not experienced or are new in growing CP, so these people barely have their VFT thriving. Flowering takes a lot of energy and if your plant is week, it can die. But if you have your plant growing very vigorously, theres no problem. I always let them flower, never had problems. When I was a beginner, of course I lost my pants until I was told to cut them off. Now I have no worries letting them flower. I had one VFT grow a flower stalk this late of the year but once I started to induce dormancy, the stalk aborted and died. That VFT is now dormant. To induce dormancy, just place it in a cool part of your house and give it less light. Now, most summer leaves will die and stop functioning, also your VFT will start to produce some smaller traps with sluggish movement if you trigger them. Those are winter leaves. Once the plant is dormant, cut down on the amount of water, just keeps its media moist to keep the bulb from drying out. I keep my dormant bulbs in a pot and simply place it in the coolest room next to a window. They will receive some sunlight but its not enough photoperiod to break their winter dormancy. I always let my VFT grow on the same media for 2 years before transplanting them on a fresh media. Or you can dig out your bulbs after it has become dormant, cut the old leaves to avoid rot, wrap it with moist LFS moss to keep the bulbs from drying out, place it in a Ziploc bag, and then put it in the fridge (not the icebox!). Always check now and then to make sure you keep the LFS moss moist but not wet and you can check on the condition of your bulb. The bulb should be white and crispy. Come spring you can plant them on fresh media to begin its new growth season. Good luck!
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Your plant may have flowered if your lights are running more than 12 hours a day. It thinks its spring. Would have to disagree regarding the suitability of venus flytraps for terrariums. Given sufficient light they do quite well in a terrarium, although I always suggest keeping them in pots in the terrarium to allow for sufficient drainage. I have a few dozen that I produced in vitro that have been growing in terrariums now for about 5 years. Unlike some that I've bought in the past, the ones out of culture seem to be quite happy without experiencing dormancy. Perhaps it has to do with how they were raised. I give most of them 14 hours of bright fluorescent light each day, although I have a few that I keep on a windowsill and those undergo a muted dormancy each winter. They go outside in summer once the days are long enough. One way that you can satisfy dormancy is to put the pots in plastic bags and pop them in a fridge for a few months. I do this with my northern pitcher plants to get them to flower. Kept at 34 degree F for about 3 months the leaves remain green and the plants will flower when taken out. Considering that yours has decided to flower it might be better to allow it to continue growing after removing the flower stalk. As long as it keeps producing new leaves large enough to replace any that turn black it should be fine. Progressively smaller leaves indicate it is declining or going into dormancy
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hi I dont know if you have been on www.plant-traders.co.uk but i know there is a guy on there who has a large collection of carniverous plants. I have a few different types of peppers if you are interested thanks
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petiolaris
16 years ago
As to soil media, I would mix sand and peat and add LFS (long fibered sphagnum) on top
rondon
Original Author
16 years ago
Here's an added message from RONDON:
These are very young tissue culture plantlets, not more than a month old. I am looking for procedures to promote their growth once I remove them from the gooey agar jelly and plant them in pots with a 50/50% mix of sphagnum peat moss and perlite. I need specific info on artificial and actual lighting, temps, aeration and fungicide treatment which I understand go hand-in-hand.
Thax for any good info!

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