I realize that it has been at about 5 years since this post has been put up haha, I had a question on what I should do if my VFT flowers, I do not want it to flower because it makes the plant very weak and most VFT die after flowering. I found this after surfing the web for about an hour yet, I haven't found an answer. Do NOT put your VFT in a dark area with no sunlight, it will die. It will continue trying to do photosynthesis, and furthermore, like I said it will die. Instead, put a sealed bag over it and put it in the fridge over the winter, NOT the freezer. Make sure to keep the soil moist. http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2380.html I have read this entire site and it has helped me in many ways. I hope that if you have any questions it'll help, and also, should I cut the stem before it flowers? :P

So i am moving my VFT outside and hardening it off. it seemed to be doing okay indoors for a few months but then the leaves started turning black and mushy and dying. i am trying to save it. there are still quite a few green leaves and stems on it. Ive only had it about 5 months and it is in the small plastic pot that it came in with that same potting soil. i water it with only distilled water keeping the soil moist. i read that they need high humidity levels and that they normally live in bogs so its pot should be submerged several cm in distilled water at all times mimicking it’s natural habitat. I’m not sure where i read this but i have been doing this. Now im worried that i have drowned my plant. should i repot it in perlite and sphagnum moss and move it outdoors?

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!

you would need Pure Sphagnum PEat for soil, with either half perlite or half sand. Use only Pure WAter, and sence you just purchased it im guessig its kind of weak for a VFT, so i dont know that you want it going dormant it could die. So use artificial light I dont know to much on that but some one ealse should and will fill you in, but basicaly a couple Cool flourecent light bulbs, and a timer works good, they like lots of light, probably bout 12 or more hours of light to get good coloration. But being inside it wont get great coloration. As for puttingit inside, dont just take of the Plastic dome, slowly take it off, prop up one side a lil bit for 2 days the other side for 2 days so on and so forth till you prop all sides off, then you leave that their for about 3 days then take it off, this is what has worked for me. You would want about a 6 inch Pot. And would probably want to have about 2 inches in standing water letting the water table change from time to time, and its ok to flood it once or twice not to often. Some one will fill you in more detailed if i missed any thing. Cheers n good luck