I'm really not sure.🤔 It was a tiny thing on the sale table ( was for a terrarium) Asked a friend who grows cactus/succulent if she had any ideas, she was the one to say only rain water. I suppose on this window it never gets too hot or cold , has good light but not full sun all day, and when repotted only went up one size using the pot it was in to make the depression so as not to disturb the roots. Never water from the top, and catch it the odd insect ( it usually gets about one a week 😁)
Just looking whether there were any Venus Fly Trap threads, as no need for me to start another.
I have rather a lot of them - 100 or so - the result of dividing and also collecting and sowing the seed. And, more recently, from 'flower stem cuttings' (!) - more below.
I'm near Cambridge (UK), and the VFTs stay outside all year (yes - including the recent Feb 2021 cold snap) - I don't know how cold they can go, but I know there's no problem with the recent temperatures (which were -5C to -10C or so?). They look a mess in winter, but they are supposed to have a dormant period, so that's just how they are. I've heard of people in permanently hot climates who give them them a period in the refrigerator. They love full sun.
Same with Sarracenia pitcher plants like in the photo from @Bijdezee. Maybe not all species would be happy in the frost, but that one looks like it's either Sarracenia purpurea or a hybrid from it, which is very hardy. All mine live outside.
If your VFTs are outside, then there's no need to bother catching food for them - they do a great job by themselves. And I'd dispute the comment that they only catch crawling things. There are usually flies chancing their luck - attracted by nectar (or whatever it is) just inside the rims of the traps - landing on the traps until they touch the wrong part, and that's the end of them.
I grow them in peat, pots (mainly 2-inch, 50mm) stood in trays of rainwater. I might add sand/grit/perlite/whatever, but don't usually. Alternatives might work, provided acidic and low in nutrient. Really, I think the medium is just there to support the plant and to allow the water to percolate - I'm sure the recommended sphagnum moss would do this, but it isn't compulsory. I don't repot unless really needed, and then tend to divide them, but I do try to remove excess moss which tends to grow. When you dig them up, they hardly seem to have any roots, yet after repotting, they seem to grow a a bit strangely for a while - it could be disturbance, but as there doesn't seem to be anything to disturb, I wonder if the new compost - despite being peat - initially has more nutrient than the plants like, until it washes out.
Seed: There are a few threads with people growing supposed VFT seed and getting plants which are clearly not VFTs. The seeds are about 1mm, shiny black, pointed at one end. They germinate easily, get a pair of seed-leaves, and then the first leaf after that is a very small trap, so no doubt when you've got the right thing. Rather slow growing to begin with.
Flowers: I used to leave the flowers on, and indeed collected some seed. These days, I do usually cut off flower stems when all the plants grow them - pretty much all at the same time in spring. They do put a lot of effort into flower stems, and it might end the life of the flowering 'rosette', with offsets then taking over.
Cuttings: They'll grow from leaf-cuttings (stick a broken off leaf/trap in same kind of compost), but I'd read of flower-stem cuttings. When cutting off all these flowers, before the stem gets too long, I stick them vertically in the same compost, stood in water, and cover with a propagator top in a shady place. Plenty die, but some get shoots - sometimes below ground, and sometimes, rather surprisingly, halfway up the stem. I've tried placing the stems horizontally - they curl up away from the compost if you do that.
So there we are: not difficult given the right conditions, and far hardier than you might think.
So my VFT might have die back because I've let it flower? It does well during the summer, then seems to rest in winter, but now has two flower stems about 9 inches long and the flowers just opening. The plant has lost quite a few traps, after starting to grow again in January, so I think it's too late to save its energy @clarke.brunt Hopefully it will recover in the summer again.
Hi @purplerallim. From the progress in your photos, nobody could argue with whatever you're doing. I'd agree that probably no point removing flower stems when they're at the point of opening the flowers. I'm in two minds about the flower-removing thing: I used to leave them as being a natural part of what the plant does, but now tend to remove them as the flowers as nothing special and the leaves (traps) are what you grow it for. Of course it's a bonus if I can raise new plants from the removed stems. You might get seed - I don't know whether or not a different plant is needed for pollination. I never got much seed, even when there were lots of flowers. A well-pollinated flower eventually turns in a kind of disc with the black seeds visible on it (until they fall off) - think of a sunflower gone to seed, only much smaller!
I do believe (though it's by reading it, rather than trying it - I have no way to avoid them having a cool winter) that the winter rest is a help. Yours clearly knows what season it is - that's why the flowers are developing - I didn't know they'd develop this early with indoor cultivation. At this time of year (February), my plants outdoors look a mess. Most of the leaves are dead and black, and there are no functioning traps. If I was a beginner, I'd think they were in a bad way, but I know they'll be back to their usual in summer.
Thought I'd add a photo of a Venus Fly Trap 'flower-stem cutting'. This is August, a few years ago, showing plantlets starting to develop on the side of a flower-stem, which was removed and stuck in compost a few months before. Sometimes shoots develop at soil level, which is more useful. With them up in the air like this, then I'd eventually lay them stem down, or else it rots at ground level and falls over anyway - I don't think the stem ever puts out roots of its own - it just develops these plantlets which eventually root. What a weird plant all round - not only with motile leaves which trap insects, but also shoots developing in the most unlikely places...
Just looking whether there were any Venus Fly Trap threads, as no need for me to start another.
I have rather a lot of them - 100 or so - the result of dividing and also collecting and sowing the seed. And, more recently, from 'flower stem cuttings' (!) - more below.
I'm near Cambridge (UK), and the VFTs stay outside all year (yes - including the recent Feb 2021 cold snap) - I don't know how cold they can go, but I know there's no problem with the recent temperatures (which were -5C to -10C or so?). They look a mess in winter, but they are supposed to have a dormant period, so that's just how they are. I've heard of people in permanently hot climates who give them them a period in the refrigerator. They love full sun.
Same with Sarracenia pitcher plants like in the photo from @Bijdezee. Maybe not all species would be happy in the frost, but that one looks like it's either Sarracenia purpurea or a hybrid from it, which is very hardy. All mine live outside.
If your VFTs are outside, then there's no need to bother catching food for them - they do a great job by themselves. And I'd dispute the comment that they only catch crawling things. There are usually flies chancing their luck - attracted by nectar (or whatever it is) just inside the rims of the traps - landing on the traps until they touch the wrong part, and that's the end of them.
I grow them in peat, pots (mainly 2-inch, 50mm) stood in trays of rainwater. I might add sand/grit/perlite/whatever, but don't usually. Alternatives might work, provided acidic and low in nutrient. Really, I think the medium is just there to support the plant and to allow the water to percolate - I'm sure the recommended sphagnum moss would do this, but it isn't compulsory. I don't repot unless really needed, and then tend to divide them, but I do try to remove excess moss which tends to grow. When you dig them up, they hardly seem to have any roots, yet after repotting, they seem to grow a a bit strangely for a while - it could be disturbance, but as there doesn't seem to be anything to disturb, I wonder if the new compost - despite being peat - initially has more nutrient than the plants like, until it washes out.
Seed: There are a few threads with people growing supposed VFT seed and getting plants which are clearly not VFTs. The seeds are about 1mm, shiny black, pointed at one end. They germinate easily, get a pair of seed-leaves, and then the first leaf after that is a very small trap, so no doubt when you've got the right thing. Rather slow growing to begin with.
Flowers: I used to leave the flowers on, and indeed collected some seed. These days, I do usually cut off flower stems when all the plants grow them - pretty much all at the same time in spring. They do put a lot of effort into flower stems, and it might end the life of the flowering 'rosette', with offsets then taking over.
Cuttings: They'll grow from leaf-cuttings (stick a broken off leaf/trap in same kind of compost), but I'd read of flower-stem cuttings. When cutting off all these flowers, before the stem gets too long, I stick them vertically in the same compost, stood in water, and cover with a propagator top in a shady place. Plenty die, but some get shoots - sometimes below ground, and sometimes, rather surprisingly, halfway up the stem. I've tried placing the stems horizontally - they curl up away from the compost if you do that.
So there we are: not difficult given the right conditions, and far hardier than you might think.
I didn't know I wanted a Venus fly trap until I read this!
They are great plants for a kitchen or bathroom, as they like the moist air @Dahliadelights they don't need too much fussing with, just catch them the odd fly. 😆
Probably killing them with kindness @Dahliadelights 😁 most thrive on neglect 😆 you might like to try a maidenhair fern, they look lovely on a windowsill. September 2019 Now. As you see not too fast growing, and as long as its watered into the base, all it needs is the dead stems cutting off every so often.😁
Posts
It was a tiny thing on the sale table ( was for a terrarium) Asked a friend who grows cactus/succulent if she had any ideas, she was the one to say only rain water. I suppose on this window it never gets too hot or cold , has good light but not full sun all day, and when repotted only went up one size using the pot it was in to make the depression so as not to disturb the roots. Never water from the top, and catch it the odd insect ( it usually gets about one a week 😁)
This is the plant today.
In this closer photo you can see the die back I will remove, but also the new growth from the last month.
September 2019
Now. As you see not too fast growing, and as long as its watered into the base, all it needs is the dead stems cutting off every so often.😁