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Carnivorous Plants

I don't think my venus fly trap is a venus fly trap

9 years ago

Hi,

I'm just new to this and was given a "venus fly trap" to grow in one of those cheap gift sets.
Now I've put it all together and these bad boys have been growing for probably over a month. I can't see any sign of a carnivorous head on it and also it looks about as far away from a venus when I compare it to any videos or pics online.

Can anyone let me know if it is one, alternatively can you tell me if, like I think, it isn't?

Thanks,
Baigers

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Comments (6)

tommyr_gw Zone 6
9 years ago
No, it's NOT a Venus flytrap. Not sure what it is but it's not a Flytrap that's for sure.
hatter101
8 years ago
I have been growing the exact same plant for over 4 months waiting to see a fly trap develop. Like you I'm also new to them and found this forum when I started to question the plants true identity.

Did you have any luck finding out what plant it is? Mine looks exactly the same as yours, even only got 3 plants from the seven seeds. Pot looks the same to. I'm guessing someone is selling these dodgy venus fly traps worldwide.
Bit of a shame really as I was getting a little enjoyment out of it. Be nice to at least know what I'm growing now.

Nige
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It also looks saveable to me. My advice would be to repot. I keep my Venus fly traps in pure sphagnum. Home Depot carries a bag for$5. For aesthetic reasons, and practicality, I like to keep my carnivorous plants in clear glass containers. I've found that those small clear $4 fish bowls from Michaels make great containers. It allows me to check the moisture levels at all times at a glance. But it's not needed. I personally use RODI water from a local fish store. but whatever you use make sure it's pure. I water when the moss is damp but not dry. Every month I drop about 3 pillbugs in each container and let them crawl into a random trap. Lastly is light. Fly traps like a lot of light. I keep mine in full sun outside. They get 8 hours of direct sun. So put them in the brightest spot available, and get a light. I personally use the Jansjo desk reading lamp from Ikea. it costs $8 and has worked for a variety of my growing needs. a desk lamp with the right bulb works just as well. anything else.... hmm... brightest spot, media, watering... Ooh. And I'm sure you know but they need a winter rest.
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What happened is that you dropped a dead bug. The bug did trigger the trap to close over it but it didn't do anything else to indicate to the trap it caught something. It is the stimuli of the bug moving inside the trap that educes the trap. to go into the the digestive phase. When the bugs moves inside the closed trap, it keeps on brushing against the trigger hair. The trigger hair isn't just only the cause the trap to close. It also send single to the trap that it had captured a live digestible prey. That's what allows a trap to distinguish between a live nutritious prey from inanimate debris. That way the trap doesn't expand needlessly digesting debris with no nutritional value. That's why your trapped opened again, there was no further stimuli from the dead bugs because they weren't moving, so the trap had no reason to stay close & digest it. It opened up again.
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50/50 sphagnum peat/perlite or silica sand. You can also use LFS (long fiber sphagnum) by itself but IMO the roots will intertwine in it and make it harder to separate them if you ever do a complete media change which is recommended every 2-3 years due to mineral buildup. Yes you're going to have to use distilled or RO water if you don't save rain water. I now save water via a 55 gallon drum. It is possible to distill your tap water but hardly worth it. It will cost more in gas/electricity than just buying the water.
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I would suggest either putting it in the fridge where temperatures are cooler, or just setting it outdoors if temperatures reach the 40-50F temperature range because venus fly traps and some other carnivorous plants need a dormancy cycle in order to thrive and put out more traps. I think the chilling requirement is 8 weeks for VFTs, but you should check the internet to find out. I'm in a cool climate so I put mine under tarps where they get near 20 weeks of chilling hours, but they need the rest at this time of the year in order to restore their growth hormones required for further production. Here is a link that might be useful:
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hatter101
8 years ago
Here's a picture of the kit I bought, was yours the same
tommyr_gw Zone 6
8 years ago
Flytraps make traps literally within a week or 2 of sprouting. They are MINI but functional. FYI.
Eluhy
8 years ago
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
DavidL.ca
8 years ago
0.0 This is sad but borderline hilarious.... Sorry to break it to you but that is definitely NOT a venus flytrap! As others have already mentioned, the plants grow out tiny traps in early stages of growth, and you should be able to say "hey there little flytrap" within weeks! You should definitely try to get reimbursement of some sort, that's such terrible thing to do to customers!

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