Venus Fly Trap Flower - help!
Nefermery
12 years ago
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carnivoor
12 years agoNefermery
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Venus Fly Trap seedlings/backyard garden
Comments (4)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!...See MoreI don't think my venus fly trap is a venus fly trap
Comments (6)Most definitely NOT a VFT. I think you've got some kind of herb (maybe pineapple sage???) Did you end up with little red flowers? I want to try my hand at growing VFTs as well and have been reading up on how to germinate and grow these fascinating plants. Here's a link I found very helpful about how to grow these guys. I just ordered some seeds on eBay, so we'll have to wait and see what comes up. BTW, you should be able to find photos of actual VFT seedlings online. They look just like mini VFT. Here is a link that might be useful: Venus Flytrap Info...See MoreHelp Venus Fly Trap
Comments (11)Hello organic mathew, A 5 inch pot would be about perfect for a Venus Flytrap. As petiolaris and bob123how indicated, they do not like their roots drowned, but they like to have water ready for the taking with constantly moist soil. About 1/4 of the pot or less should be in water. I ususally place a 5 inch pot in 1 inch of water, then let the tray begin to dry between waterings, about every 3 days or so. In this case, it was leaf burn. Any plant that has been in low light conditions for several weeks will loose their ultraviolet resistance and experience leaf burn when placed back out into full sun. Slow adaptation is best in that you can place them in a morning sun window or in shade ouside the first week, a window that gets all day sun or partial shade outside the next week, and full sun after that. Several weeks of adaptation to stronger and stronger light intensity allows plants to build up a layer of resistance on their leaves (cuticle of waxy substance). Leaf burn is usually not deadly, but temperatures over 100 degrees can eventually harm and kill Venus Flytraps too, so make sure to keep them cooler than that in the hottest months....See MoreVenus Fly Trap help (I'm new)
Comments (32)suckerforroses: Patience is key to stratifying seeds of North American plants of any type. In any case, the Venus Flytrap seed should have sprouted by now. That terrarium kit is the worst idea I have seen in all my decades for North American carnivorous plants in any case. First off, it is not for beginners. Second off, carnivorous plant seed rarely take 100 percent, so you rarely have all of the species germinate. Third off, terrariums are the best way to kill carnivorous plants by promoting fungus, reducing the amount of sun they can recieve, and the drainage problems of terrariums promote bacterial infection to boot. Oh, one other point is that carnivorousplants take years to grow to a good size, so is also terrible for those of us with little patience. Some of the seeds might even take 6 months to actually sprout if at all. If you keep the kit, try stratifying them again for 8 weeks as carnivorousplants advised and then when you take it out of the fridge, ditch the terrarium top, drill some holes in the bottom and place it in a tray of 1 inch water under good window or florescent light and hope for the best. You can never tell how long the seeds they sent you in those little gimmick kits have been sitting around in cold strorage. The only stay viable for about a year or two. The Venus Flytrap seeds do not need stratification, but can survive cold overwintering, so it wont hurt anything to keep them cold, but that kit did not even tell you that the Flytrap seeds did not need stratification I bet. The other North Amrican seeds from the pitcher plants and sundews will need stratification for sure. Without cold, damp conditions their seed coats do not break down and allow them to germinate. If you are interested in growing carnivorous plants, get a real bargain by trading or asking for plants from growers here or by buying from a specialist nursery and obtaining adult plants with no nonsense instructions or silly terrariums to start with. Not many carnivorous plants need a terrarium to grow well (only a few of the finicky tropicals) in most environments....See Morepetiolaris
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