Venus Fly Trap..?

[katsrevenge]

I have a Venus Fly trap. It was kind of a whim buy. They were 'fresh' and all trappy looking and I got one.

Has anyone ever had one? Right now it's under the plant light with my African Violets. I've been giving it snow-melt.. and it keeps catching the annoying tiny bugs that are with my violets. (I think they are fungus gnats. Harmless in the low numbers I have them in.. but still annoying.)


>I *think* it is getting enough light..? All the AVs are blooming-happy.

>If I treated tap water with fish water de-chorinator... would it be OK?

>It's kind of sprawling about. The leaves are short and fat. I know these are fall/summer leaves. It grew one long thinner leaf but it is not quite upright. Not enough light?

>It's in spag moss. Said moss is alive in part and thus good. Do I leave it sitting in water all the time?

>Should it be in some kind of terrarium?

>One of the new traps turned black before fully developing. What does this mean?

[Irene]

Originally Posted by katsrevenge

I have a Venus Fly trap. It was kind of a whim buy. They were 'fresh' and all trappy looking and I got one.

Has anyone ever had one? Right now it's under the plant light with my African Violets. I've been giving it snow-melt.. and it keeps catching the annoying tiny bugs that are with my violets. (I think they are fungus gnats. Harmless in the low numbers I have them in.. but still annoying.)


>I *think* it is getting enough light..? All the AVs are blooming-happy.

>If I treated tap water with fish water de-chorinator... would it be OK?

>It's kind of sprawling about. The leaves are short and fat. I know these are fall/summer leaves. It grew one long thinner leaf but it is not quite upright. Not enough light?

>It's in spag moss. Said moss is alive in part and thus good. Do I leave it sitting in water all the time?

>Should it be in some kind of terrarium?

>One of the new traps turned black before fully developing. What does this mean?

1) It does like light

2) It is recommended that they have rain water or reverse osmosis water or distilled water. No fertilizer.

3) They have a dormancy period in the winter. That may be why the leaves are not growing to their full potential right now.

4) One recommended way of watering is to put in a dish of water and let it soak up. Replace water when it is empty.

5) General consensus is no terrarium. They do not need the humidity like you would think.

6) The traps turn black when the plant goes through dormancy


Ok that is all stuff I gathered by looking around on the Internet, not from my personal experience. I do have VFT but got it just before it was time for dormancy. It's been outside since November. The leaves stop growing and turn black. It will come out of dormancy soon. I do bring it inside on the rare night that we have sub-freezing temps.

I live in SE NC, which is the area that VFTs grow naturally. Here, the dormancy starts in late November.

There are a lot of good websites for VFT and also lots of good videos on YouTube. I'd link some but I don't know if that's allowed

[katsrevenge]

I've probably read most of those sites anyways. :P

I've been doing most of what you said... just the trap going black worried me. Up here in PA it's too cold to treat it like ya'll can (I'm missing SC right now, heh) And no feeding it... it's feeding itself. Two traps full of bug right now.

I had it in sitting water.. but then I worried about drowning it. How deep can I have it soaking?

[Irene]

You went from SC to PA? Were you drunk?!

[katsrevenge]

LMAO!

No, my family is southern from way back, but we were raised in NY. When I was in high school.. we moved to SC, near Charlotte, NC. After 2 years my gram (in PA..she's from WV though) got sick... so we all moved back up north.

Now I'd love to move back.. (jobs are easier for college educated still or so I hear) but my long term BF thinks he'd get lynched as he's black, I'm white. I personally find this amusing simply because I've only ran into that crap in Ohio where he wants to move back to.

[Irene]

I agree. The black/white issue is not really an issue in the south anymore. Mostly it's people from the north who think it is. Tell your BF no one would bat an eye or really even care.

I had a BF from PA come visit me. He fancies himself to be a 'non-racist' northerner. However, he was quite unsettle by our demographics when he got here. For me, it's natural and lovely.

eta: Back to topic! It's probably not as easy to grow VFTs (or orchids for that matter) in PA as it is in SC. So, clearly, you need to move back to SC.

[katsrevenge]

I remember being startled by it when we first moved there. I went from 95% white/5% other (including all races) to almost 50%/50%. Up north it was/is this huge thing.. and down there it was nothing...example the Confederate flag was banned at my northern high school.. in SC everyone black, white and green had one somewhere on their car. I preferred the southern way.

We had more of an issue with our accents and lack of 'ma'mam and sir' use then with race (sibs are Native American)..but he doesn't believe me! I am and my fly trap/orchids suffer as a result, LOL.

[janet_a]

i kept my VF in a dish with R/O water only--the traps didn't close fast enough with mineralized water. it caught the odd bug now and then, but only lasted a couple seasons.

[Irene]

From what I've read, they don't live long if they don't go through their dormancy period.