Question about my Venus Fly Trap

16 years ago

I have this VFT that I've had for 3 years. Last year it grew huge traps, they were a little smaller than the size of a quarter when they were open. Color was good, nice and red like they should be. I keep it under a grow light in an aquarium that I made into an terrium. It is in there with 2 other VFT's, a purple pitcher plant, and a cobra lilly that I just picked up. The VFT has grown long leaves this year but the traps are very small, like about the half the size of a pencil eraser, and do not open. It also looks kind of wilted, but I keep the soil very moist with distilled water. The soil is a mixture of spangum moss, perlite, and silica sand. Also it did not go dormant last year. I do love this plant,I'm try to do everythig I can to save it. Any help would be greatly appricated.

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Comments (9)

mutant_hybrid
16 years ago
Hello dano4163,

What you are describing is the typical signs of a plant weakening from low light conditions and not going through proper dormancy in a terrarium. For the first couple of years of a Venus Flytrap's life, you can grow it under artificial light as it is quite small and gets more light for it's size than an adult. Once they grow larger, they weaken in such artificial light over time. Eventually, they begin to grow very long thin petioles and tiny trap leaves as they try to reach out and find the light.

The soil and water sound good, however; the terrarium is another aspect of the problem. Terrariums reduce the amount of light you can give the plants as full sun would steam the terrarium like a pressure cooker and encloses the plants in a humidity high area that weakens their leaves and encourages mold, something that affects carnivorous plants all too easily.

If I were you, I would open up the terrarium a little every 3 days until the cover is completely off and the plants are adapted to regular household humidity after two weeks time, then repot them. Use 5-6 inch or larger pots with drainage holes according to plant size, and use a large tray under the pot to hold excess water. Place the plants in a sunny east or west window the first week, in a south window the second week, then place them outside if you can in full sun so they can grow properly.

I do not know if your sick flytrap will survive as it is already very weak from light starvation, but you never know. In that plant's case, you might get it out of the terrarium right away so you can repot it and place it in a good sunny window while you adapt it to low humidity with a plastic bag or cover of some kind. Just remove the cover slowly over two weeks until the plant is exposed to household air and do not place it a direct sun window while it has a cover as that would cook the plant. Hopefully it will hold on till you can get the cover off.

All of the plants you named are temperate North American species that grow well in zone 7-9 so long as temperatures do not go above 100 degrees or below 30 degrees for too long. Pots are less insulating than being planted in the ground, so plants can't withstand such low temperatures as they can in the wild. all of those plants can adapt to low humidity and will be healthier without the terrarium. All of those plants prefer and actually need full sun to grow properly. If you can't provide full sun, a south facing window and supplemental florescent light above them will have to do. Basically, growing temperate carnivorous plants indoors would be like trying to grow tomatos and roses inside all year round. Maybe you should try some tropical sundews, butterworts, and Nepenthes. They would grow well indoors.

Good luck with your plants.
dano4163
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you very much for the reply. I will try this, I hope that it can be saved. I'm gonna do all that I can. Once again thanks very much.
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Hey aashishkabob, Congrats on the new purchase of your new VFT. I read that your plant's traps aren't deep red like the ones' you've seen in books or pictures on-line. Venus' flytraps will only make reddish traps if they are grown under good lighting. Meaning, they will only make healthy, big red traps if you grow them in a sunny location. Good thing you clipped off that flower stalk, Unless you are truly experienced growing these magnificent plants, stay away from allowing it to flower. Venus' flytraps don't die after flowering. as long as they get good lighting, they will grow Healthy. I live in california, i grow my venus' flytraps outside all year round. Some plants i grow them in my windosill. If your plant is not going dormant, it's Ok. most likely it's confused since it has been growing in that plastic container. remove all the coverings around the plant. Any type of Dome, or plastic cover or plastic cup that covered your plant.. it's best to get rid of it. If it came in a small plastic pot, then it will grow fine there. If your plant chooses to keep on growing, don't force it to make it go dormant. just keep on growing it. You may give it a proper dormancy next fall. Dormancy isn't only about temperature, but also about Light. as winter arrives, days become shorter and colder. flytraps rely on sunlight in order for them to grow properly. If you don't have a proper place to grow your plants outside, You may grow your VFT in a sunny windowsill. If a sunny windosill is not available, You may grow your plant under flourecent lights. a 40 Watt lightbulb is sufficient. My plants usually get 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight during the growing season(february through october) Or if they are grown under lights, they will need about 16 hours of artificial lighting daily during the growing season. To water your plant is easily, Simply fill in a small type of shallow saucer with Purified water only, then after filling the saucer with water, slowly summerge your plant's pot into the water. this way, its soil will always be moisten at all times. Here's an example how i water my VFTs, i fill in purified water into the saucer, then i summerge its pot into the water to keep its soil always moisten during the growing season. Never allow its soil to dry out: Venus' flytraps Prefer Being watered with Purified water, reverse osmosis water, rain or clean water. No tap water. VFTs prefer medias/soils such as: *sphagnum Peatmoss mixed with perlite. *long fibered sphagnum moss *sphagnum Peat moss alone. No regular potting soil for these plants. as regular potting soil contains hidden fertilizers and are much mor suitable for regular house plants. venus' flytraps aren't compatible with fertilizers. their roots burn easily. Make sure to provide good lighting for your plant. Always keep its Soil moisten at all times. This is a picture of my flytraps that i grow outside. I allow them to flower every season. they get about 4 to 6 hours of full sunlight during the growing season.
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Hello sutalli, Venus Flytraps are North American plants that go dormant in the winter and are best grown outside in full sun. They are just like any other plant except they require acid soil (sphagnum peat moss in the dry bales and regular perlite or horticultural sand with no additives to any ingrediants in 50/50 mix of moss to whichever drainage material you choose), no fertilizer in their soil media, and soft water like distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water. Hard water, fertilizer, copper based, and soap based products would all be harmful to the plant as would any salts or minerals that add calcium, magnesium, potassium and such, not to mention the non-mineral nitrogen byproducts in fertilizer, to their soil. It is safe to say that almost all carnivorous plants are deadly allergic to fertilizers in their soil. Venus Flytraps live in peat bogs in North Carolina, getting full sun, temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer max and down to 30 degrees or so in winter. From November to February they go dormant and rest, living off of their rhizome like root starch reserves, sometimes called a bulb. You could make a mini bog for them by digging up a section of ground, placing a pool liner in it, and filling it with the acid soil mix. You could create a water section with stones or other materials, like ceramic or plastic, just make sure that they do not have any dangerous minerals like lime that cement or some other materials might have. That water section could be like a moat around the plants or on one side of the bog setup. Just make it so that it is well drained and does not waterlog the plants. You might just bury the pots in the bog so you could dig them up whenever you want. The winters in Georgia get a little colder than in North Carolina, so you might want to think about mulching or covering the plants during really cold winter days below 30 degrees to keep them from freeze drying. What type of pitcher plants did you buy? There are five different genera of pitcher plants. There are the North American Sarracenias and Darlingtonias, Asian Nepenthes, Australian Cephalotus, and South American Heliamphora. Each has it's own environmental quirks. The Sarracenias are temperate plants like the Venus Flytrap and can be placed in almost identical conditions except the Sarracenias like even more water. Venus Flytraps like their soil always moist, but their roots above the water line. Sarracenias like their root tips right in the water and their soil very damp. Other than that, they go dormant and like full sun like Venus Flytraps. Nepenthes are tropicals, so would require very different conditions. In any event, the last place a Venus Flytrap should be is in a terrarium inside. They can adapt to low humidity just fine and need bright light. Closed terrarium conditions also increase the risk of mold and infections. More Venus Flytraps die in terrariums inside than in pots outside. The reason that people think that Venus Flytraps are tropicals is that the hardware stores often sell those weak little flytraps in the barely lit indoors tropical section with humidity domes over them. A couple of weeks after buying them, they often die from light starvation and mold infection. What company did you buy them from?
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tommyr_gw Zone 6
16 years ago
I agree with Mutant.

Tom
jonocross
16 years ago
Yep, good advice. Personal curiosity, where in Ohio are ya? :-) It's alwasys good to see another Ohioan post.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aracknight's Deadly Delights
dano4163
Original Author
16 years ago
About 40 miles south of Toledo.
purplemonkeydishwash
16 years ago
Is filtered and boiled tap water good enough for my VFT?
johnnyb
16 years ago
Boiled water - no, actually worse than regular tap water (you are concentrating the metal ions in the water like Calcium, Magnesium, etc that cannot be boiled out)

Filtered - maybe, depends how bad the original water was (how much dissolved solids)...then again, filters probably won't remove things like Flourine. But this is better than regular tap water.
mutant_hybrid
16 years ago
Yeah contrary to popular belief, it is not the chlorine so much as the minerals that hurt carnivorous plants, and the gas is all that would be reduced by boiling or sitting the water out in sun for 24 hours. Now if you have a steam distillation rig, that would work as the boiled off water would be recaptured and condensed in a seperate container and the minerals would be left behind in the original container.

Filters could be used, but they would have to be similar to those used in reverse osmosis units to get rid of enough of the minerals to make the water useable (carbon filtration and deionization and such).
dano4163
Original Author
16 years ago
Taking my VFT out of the terrarium today and repoting it. I hope it makes it. Thanks for all the help. I'm also removing all the other plants to.

Question about my Venus Fly Trap

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Question about my Venus Fly Trap

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mutant_hybrid

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