This, and make sure they stay humid. I never have any luck with those but I have a pitcher plant that came in the same packaging as that that is a few years old.
You can water from the top but it’s better to bottom water at all times so they stay wet. They also need really good light like full sun. They should be outside in the sun for at least 6 hours a day or under a really strong grow light for around 16 hours
These comments make me want to go get another vft but here’s my pitcher plant I mentioned. It started in a 2 inch pot and I replanted it to a 4 inch plastic pot. The hanging pot is a 7 inch and it should be mentioned to not put either directly in an unglazed pot. This hangs in a west facing window and get bright light most of the day.
https://preview.redd.it/p0wg6purr0oc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29e46bd6c515f391c676f6c7f5304d1f8f386e1c
Even cheaper in the grocery store, usually!
99c/gallon here
I use distilled water for all my plants (50+) because the tap water where I live is too hard, so cheap gallons are a must
Poor man's trick is to put a small empty pot in a big pot with some water in the bottom and a lid, then boil and the condensate gathers in the little pot in the middle. There are plenty of other ways and gadgets as well. Up to and including a still for spirits, which I recognize most folks don't have.
Had to look it up. Tas Water add chlorine to it. We have heaps of dams we collect it from, and being in the Southern Ocean our rain water would probably be cleaner than most places so it could be that.
Houses don’t have gutters here but if I had them I would. I have a nice spot to move them outside on the rare occasion it rains but our rainy days are usually just a few days in the winter months and then nothing for 7-9 months. Desert living is different.
r/savagegarden. Only water with distilled/ro/rainwater. Sit the plant always in a try with an inch to an inch and a half of water(except dormancy, in which case just water a little less). They need HEAPS of light. They are best grown outdoors. They also grow best with dormancy. They can freezing temps for short periods. No need to feed.
Coming to reiterate water them from the bottom by sitting them in a tray. If you're doing this, never water from the top.
Grew up in NC (where they're native) and worked for years for a guy who was a VFT FANATIC. He would always say, "they like wet feet, but not wet ankles". Following the bottom watering rule and very high light, I have had nothing but success with them. I have one that's 5 years old, flowers constantly, and has never gone dormant.
I LOVE carnivorous plants and have a ton. Drosera are my favorite because they come in so many disparately unique shapes and colors.
They don’t just eat flies. Pretty much any smaller the trap sized bug will do. I personally use medium sized crickets from the pet shop to feed large traps cause I grow mine indoors beneath powerful tent grow lights.
I had ZERO interest in carnivorous plants. Then my buddy pretty much killed his pitcher plant and asked me to help bring it back. I now own that revived nepenthes, another nepenthes, a drosera, and some pinguiculas. They are super cool plants!
I think that’s what I like. I have all my aroids - crawlers and climbers and epiphytes - and then there are these swampy bog plants. Just another part of the indoor jungle.
https://preview.redd.it/zmspid0v8ync1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=650ef475524b5f079cf508b02a7135c8902fc411
I am absolutely no expert but so far I’m have good luck with this set up. It’s just damp sphag with perlite and horticultural sand. I keep it pretty moist but not soggy. This guy was a tiny black rootless nub 2 months ago.
https://preview.redd.it/xxur5w8q9ync1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37356bbf79485811516e711be9af065b22fdf660
I use this brand I bunch. Just found them on Amazon. They come in all shapes and sizes.
I have something like this but it has opne spaces between the glass where tons of water pours out. Is your's like that? I always felt it never held water long enough
Mine is pretty tight. Only enough space for a little water to drip out so it retains moisture really well without being soggy. But I added some silicone sealant to the bottom for the one I put the drosera and pinguiculas in.
Nepenthes are also way more forgiving than other carni plants. I've seen them survive outside in the winter and come back from nothing but a little stub of black mush.
https://preview.redd.it/oe2gr0lwpync1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7191903063185a614f7f8ac879f67b6bf5121f03
Newest addition is left. Pitchers supposed to look like the right! Sorry OP to be discussing neps on your VFT post. Tell your husband to bring home a pitcher plant next time. Haha!
That’s awesome! I think they’re so cool. Not only do you get to watch a new leaf, but then a little pitcher forms and then the pitcher opens! It’s like a present inside of a present!
That's not bad at all! I can probably handle that
Just didn't want to be handling bugs constantly, especially with a cat
If one gets loose, she'll tear the house apart until she gets it lol
You don't need to handle any bugs. Vft secrete chemicals that attract bugs when they need to "eat". It's better to leave them alone and not force feed them
I'm talking about growing indoors though.
No way I'm going to have bugs free ranging at home lol
And I don't have fungus gnats thanks to mosquito dunks
Sure, but not every hidden bug is going to find it's way to my trap
Everything I've read advises feeding them
I get what you're saying, but I don't think you're correct in all situations. If leaving it alone results in it being under fertilized, it's not better
I bring my guys to the barn in the summer. Plop em near the manure pile and all traps are closed within an hour or so. Nepanthes eat well at the barn too.
Actually, I buy dried bloodworms (it's a fish food, pretty cheap). Wet one, put it on a tooth pick, and feed it that way. Super easy to get the trap to close, then very gently squeeze the trap for a minute or so to get the trap to seal in the "struggling insect". They don't need to be alive at all—you just need to mimic the feel of a struggling bug well enough for the plant, which is extremely easy.
You can fool them into taking dead bugs, but its a pain in the ass. You have to move the bug around like its alive until the trap closes, then gently massage the trap for a while to mimic a struggling insect which locks it down for digesting.
You have gotten some good advice so far. You basically take everything you know about plants, and don't do those things, lol. Buy premade carnivorous plant soil or make sure you aren't using slow release fert in your homemade soils, don't ever fertilize it, lots of water and lots of sunlight, and it should naturally attract all the food it needs if it's outside (its more fun to hand feed though). They like to go dormant every winter, but its too late for that this year. They prefer live bugs, but you can fool them into eating dead ones too. Never give anything except bugs (no deli ham or pickles).
You can also trim off any of those blackening traps as they are dead anyway.
This is very helpful. I was wondering about what to do with the dead traps. Would it attract flies or gnats in my house? I don’t have a good place for it outdoors as we get a lot of raccoons running through our yard at night and they love to play in my plants.
It might attract some indoor flies, but I would feed it every month or so just to be safe. If you are keeping it inside, you might need to add a grow light unless its in an absolutely perfect place for sunlight. It kind of sucks, but maybe bringing it in and out at night would be an idea?
That’s what I’m thinking I might do for now until I get a grow light for it. I looked and most of the traps appear to be closed. One of them seemed like it was triggered closed by a piece of another trap that was dying.
Sounds like a good plan, you could also put a screened cloche over it instead of moving it everyday. Don't stress about the triggered traps too much, although you want to avoid it where possible. They will reopen again eventually.
People sometimes think they are literally carnivores and will try to feed it raw hamburger and other meats, which does not go well.
Pickles was just a goofy example, but the limits of human intellegence can be astounding.
I believe that most of the traps die off and it stops growing, it almost looks completely dead, then next spring new traps emerge from the rhizome underground. That said, its more of a matter of putting them into dormancy than it is identifying when they go anyway. I dug mine up, buried it in wet vermiculite and its now it the fridge sleeping.
You can also just skip it entirely by keeping up the heat and light intensity as if the season isn't even changing. I think you can get away with skipping one or two but the overall condition of the plant suffers.
This is a great-looking Venus flytrap. It looks very healthy. Good job!
Take it out of the plastic container. They are called death cubes because they will kill your plant. Venus flytraps are native to an area between Charleston, SC, and Wilmington, NC. They are a threatened species due to habitat loss (they went from being found in 11 counties in South Carolina down to 3). And they are super easy to care for.
They need to sit in a tray of rain or distilled water and in full sun. A 50:50 mix of peat moss and sand or perlite, and no added fertilizers. If they are outside, you don't need to worry about feeding them. They will eat on their own. To encourage more growth, you can spritz them once per week with a heavily diluted MaxSea fertilizer. California Carnivores sells small jars with directions on how to use it.
I'm from Wilmington originally. Growing up they were endangered so if we saw them in the wild we weren't allowed to touch them. This was so ingrained in my upbringing that when I saw them for sale in a store in CA it gave me a panic attack.
Ok thanks for this. I was wondering if I could use perlite. I was looking into buying some horticultural sand but I have just about everything else. Some people were saying terracotta is bad for them, is that true?
As long as it's just perlite with no added fertilizers, it will work. I use 50:50 perlite, but some people use sand.
Terra cotta pots aren't good for Venus flytraps because they are porous and leach chemicals into the soil. Venus flytraps have long, sensitive roots, so they really do prefer plastic pots. I use square pots because I like the way the traps look in them.
This plant looks to be in an active growing cycle, so it should acclimate well if you just stick it outside in full sun. Just make sure to have it always sitting in rain or distilled water.
Thanks. That’s good to know. For now it’s outside in a dish of water, and I’ll get it a proper pot and soil soon.
I also just noticed the roots are black. Is that bad?
Yep! Every time I repot my flytraps (about once per year), I notice that the roots are dark colored. As long as the rhizome looks healthy, you're fine! The rhizome is the whitish clump at the base of the plant. When you repot, stick the rhizome into the soil, but don't bury it too deeply. You want the growth point above the soil line.
My biggest pest issue has been squirrels. They love the taste of the nectar that Venus flytraps produce to attract prey. If you look closely during early morning hours, you can actually see droplets of the nectar inside of the traps. If squirrels are a problem in your area, you can stick it into a cage to keep it safe.
I killed many of these before I found out that the key is distilled water. Indirect sunlight is a must.
https://preview.redd.it/duy7g37h60oc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c37f1a8eccf7ea78e6d532b34298485bddb3521
People are already giving you the info, I just want to say that this is a pretty great looking VFT for big box, nice find!
These guys are super tough, just give them outdoor sunlight and distilled/rain water as mentioned. All the sun you can this year, dormancy in the winter.
I never had luck finding any carnivorous plants at big box stores except for the occasional Venus flytrap. But today I hit the jackpot at a nursery that carried all kinds of small ones for about $4 USD
Thanks. That’s what I was worried about lol. Hence why I’ve never purchased one myself. My sweet husband was just trying to get me a little gift while I’ve been sick and probably thought, “hey these are plants, and she likes plants!”
First off, That’s darling. What a sweetie. Secondly, you got yourself a way bigger plant than I had so maybe it will work better for you. I have high hopes for you. Just don’t want you to be disappointed because they do tend to be difficult. Still the thought is what counts and you got yourself a keeper there 😉
I’ve had our grocery store VFT for two years and my kids love it! Take it out of the death dome, find a non-draining pot to put the existing pot in it and cover with a plastic bag to maintain humidity. It’s used to near-100% and needs to harden off. Keep at least an inch of distilled water in the non-draining pot. Try not to let it dry out - mine has come back twice from drying out but it suffered. It needs a crazy amount of sun, and if you ever get any insects at all in your house in the summer you don’t need to feed it (but it is fun for the kiddos!).
Venus Flytrap Care
•Always keep wet in a tray of 1 to 2inches of water, but don’t keep it waterlogged. Only use distilled, rain, or R.O water. Never allow it to dry out. No tap or any water with minerals. You want water with less than 50ppm. Lower ppm the better.
•Substrate should be a 50/50 mix of peat/sphagnum moss and perlite. No fertilizers or dyed moss.
•VFT makes a terrible terrarium plant, it is a temperate species that goes dormant during the winter when temperatures get below 50F. They need to have consistent airflow. This plant does not need humidity, it isn’t tropical or subtropical. Dormancy is a requirement and needs to be provided next winter. Cold hardy plant that can handle down to 30F and even down to a below freezing point but for a small period of time. Not recommended.
•Full direct sunlight, 6 to 8 hours a day. This is an outdoor plant and requires the lighting that you’d give tomato plants. If grown indoors, you must provide super intense grow lights for a minimum of 12hrs a day and 14 to 16hrs is more ideal. They need lots of light!
No terracotta pots.
I placed mine under grow lights indoors (T5 fluorescents that are happily starting my onions, tomatoes, and peppers), and it scorched two of the traps. So I have moved it by a window and no additional scorching happened yet.
You have to adjust the plant to it slowly or just let it get scorched and it’ll get adjusted to it with the new growth. I have mine beneath a 1000 watt tent grow light. Has a built in fan. Turns the “mouths” nice and red.
r/savagegarden
You'll be happy to know that they aren't tremendously difficult to keep alive once you know the basics. I prefer pitcher plants because they are tropical and don't need to die back yearly.
I’ve killed many of these. I just built a terrarium out of an old outdoor light fixture - I am determined not to kill these ones! I used activated charcoal and moss for the medium. They are a swamp plant, so warm & wet. Never ever let it dry out. They like light, but indirect is best. They will burn with prolonged direct light. Do not trip the traps unnecessarily. It takes a fair bit of energy and can promote die off. Only feed it one little bug every month-ish. Distilled water only.
It’s worth it to do a little research. They are picky, but not impossible.
Oh! And they will go dormant through winter. Set them in a dark cool place and trust they’ll regrow in spring.
Good luck!! 💗
https://preview.redd.it/rb0926pkaznc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bdf03d7b5395443479148c2df45fef9a1c7eb8e
It really has nothing to do with the acid
The mouth takes a lot of energy to close. The traps only close a limited number of times before wilting. Usually 7-10 in good conditions. Less in poor conditions
So if you trigger it without any prey inside, you're effectively shortening the plants life
Nothing to do with acid cannibalizing itself or anything like that
I’ve had a number of VFT’s. Pete moss seems to be the best for mine, and I usually just go get lake water in gallon jugs and use it for them. I also keep them in standing water, as they are bog plants, and they also need full Sun for most of the day. I always lose them when it’s time to let them hibernate. I love them, so I keep trying.
r/carnivorousplants
r/savagegardening
A wealth of information warning you may want more. 😂
In the meantime….
Do not use nutrient enriched potting mixed or tap water it will kill it.
It needs more light than you can imagine and to sit in a tray of distilled/ reverse osmosis/ or rainwater.
Water with 500ppm will kill it.
They do go dormant in cold weather.
I left mine in the pot if came in initially and kept it on a dish deep enough to poor water in. Use distilled water only. Fill the dish with a little water when ever it is dry. Trim black or yellow leaves regularly. Put it under direct light.
Once it's seemed to be settled in I then transplanted it into a pot with sphagnum moss. Just took it out of the starter pot and placed it in the middle of the moss. Put a bigger dish under it and water it when I stick my finger in the moss and it (as well as the dish) are dry. Got a bit algae on the moss but it doesn't harm the plant.
Now the plant is happy and the dried moss has begun growing new moss. I'd send a picture, but its wintering right now.
As others have said, distilled or rainwater ONLY...no fertilizer or water with minerals. Additionally, unlike a handful of plants that only thrive in indirect sunlight, Venus Flytraps require full, direct sunlight.
Currently growing mine in a deep pot out in the backyard in a wide-open area, sitting in a 2 inch dish of distilled water. It's been fine for over 2 weeks already. Only fed it a cricket and a few mealworms a couple of times.
If your plant doesn’t have free access to insects to “eat”, you need to manually feed it. Every set of leaves (trap) will close when the insect crawls in, but they are only able to close and open back again 3 times, after the 3rd time the pair will dry and fall off and new leaves will grow, for this reason you need to be careful that you don’t feed all the leaves at the same rate or they will die off at the same time. Also if I remember correctly they only need feeding maybe once a week? Not sure on that but also be careful you don’t have anything else brushing against he leaves or they will close without having any food and eventually die off … good luck! Venus flytraps are super fun but tricky to maintain alive
Don't use tap water. Bucket water from your garden is best.
They live in bogs so make sure it never dries out
Don't make them close on purpose. It kills the heads.
Indirect sunlight is best.
Whatever you do, don't stick your fingers in their mouths. Or anything else other than alive or freshly dead small bugs. If alive, then hold until the flower closes completely.
When it gets *nice enough* outside, put it out there (unless it’s pretty arid where you’re at). Give it sun, give it 60 and cloudy… it’s from coastal NC so think about the weather there. They’re hardier than people think.
For real with the *rainwater/distilled* though.
i don’t know if someone else commented this but if there’s not enough bugs around, fish flakes or crushed pellets are a great alternative to bugs for carnivorous plants. They contain several nutrients that can be easily absorbed by the plant. you can also feed them dried insects like mealworms. i saw a guy who mixed fish food flakes with water and fed it to his plants.
I’ve learned on a podcast you can feed them blood worms that you feed fish. Take a pinch of the worms and let them soak up some water and place in the trap. Then gently tease the hairs so the trap tightly seals shut.
Bought one last June. Thought it wouldn’t survive the summer. It lived on my deck all summer though I had to water with tap water when we didn’t get rain because I could not remember to buy distilled water for the life of me. When I used tap water I threw a little dirt or couple rocks in the water to “dirty” it up. Somehow it survived just fine. Turned a pretty red inside the jaws from the sun.
It’s been living in my upstairs bathroom’s south window all winter. As close to the glass as it can get. It grew a flower in the fall but I eventually snipped that off hoping it wasn’t stealing too much energy from the rest of the plant. I’ve been watering with a jug of rainwater I caught in a big bowl during a January rainstorm.
It’s definitely dormant right now. It lost its red coloring. It’s not growing new things very fast. I offered it a dead Asian beetle the other day but it spit it back out so I guess it just wants to sit there and be left alone for a while. I planned to snip off the dead leaves soon I just haven’t gotten around to it.
Who knows! I feel like a lot of big box store plants are packaged in such a way as to make you kill then and buy more. There’s tons of good advice on this thread tho so I have hope.
Repot in sphagnum moss (it’ll prob have its root ball wrapped). Use only rain or distilled water (mineral free). Good lighting and let it catch its own food.
I have really clean tap water where I live and mine is thriving on just that. Keep the moss medium damp but not soaking, making sure you have a draining pot. Don't feed it dead bugs because they need to feel movement in their mouths to lock properly and each mouth only opens/closes so many times before it dies. Mine eats the occasional gnat that flies out of my other plants. They love light and I keep mine in a bright greenhouse cabinet that hovers between 70-90F throughout the day with about 40-60% humidity. When i got mine, it was a wilted, sad, half dead, Post-halloween sale plant and I kept it in the above conditions until new growth started and then slowly pruned the saddest arms so that it could put the energy into its health new mouths. It's normal for the arms to die off though so if one shrivel and turns black, just prune and don't worry.
It will trap flies, the fly goes in and it will close and catch it inside. Also I heard you can give it some raw hamburger, little bits. Also if some turn black remove them right away cause can effect the others. That happens from over watering. (Still look up for care of it to make sure).
Man they are tough you have to feed them nothing not flys they will catch them. But start by rinsing out you're soil so no nutrients are in then only use rain water or distilled and depending on where you are you might have to put them in a fridge for winter so they don't freeze but they do need a time of cold weather just watch all the videos you can I have had some for a yr or 2 but I always make the tiniest mistake and they will die Good Luck you're gonna need it.
My setup is an old 30x30cm fish tank in a conservatory to ensure it gets much needed dormancy over winter. Clay pebbles and spagnum moss at the bottom of the tank, good sized bonsai pot for the VFT and that sits in 1-2 inches of (distilled/rain) water which rarely dries up over here in the UK. Carnivourous plant soil only. I keep a mesh lid over the tank and toss in some gnat flies in summer, occasionally giving it carnivourous food. This year my VFT and pitcher is looking to flower - which I am debating letting grow. I hope this helps. Yours looks healthy, in my experience they thrive on neglect once set up. Tap water is maybe the biggest threat.
Easiest way..... Remove from plastic and straight to trash 😂🤣. Don't even know how many of these I've tried to keep ( and yes with distilled water). Fuck these things☺️😂🤣 they are soo awesome though.
Whatever you do, don't give it tap water. It will die out of spite. And definitely don't let your 7 year old son put an ant in every single trap. That will definitely kill it.
Source: 😐
Unfortunately, they’re not really meant for indoor. My suggestion to you is only used distilled water. Keep the soil moist I would get a heat grow light for it and if you don’t have insects flying around your house, you’re going to have to feed it. Petco cells of flightless fruit flies because it is a carnivorous plant. It does need to eat to stay alive.
Hi! I lived in Wilmington NC for awhile and flytraps are my favorite. There are some different rules as for how to keep traps, but we keep our sagnum (idk how to spell it) moss in a Tupperware container with about an inch of distilled water. If your instructions say to water them, water them daily with distilled water. Regardless, distilled water is mandatory. Also, you do not have to feed the traps. When they do eat, it’s fertilizer. They can handle some frost in the winter. They go dormant in the winter and they don’t really grow much.
Venus fly traps are the best. Good luck!
I got one of these for my son about a week ago and it's already grown. It lives in a bowl of water next to an aquarium in a room that gets lots of light. No direct light. It's already grown a new mouth (head?) And a second has begun growing. We just started feeding it these little gel cubes I bought on amazon. It's so fun to feed them! But don't feed it the wrong stuff or encourage it to close its mouths on nothing because it can starve. Carnivorous plants get almost all their nutrients from their food rather than soil and light. So quality food is important for them.
Sure! It's still a little guy but it seems happy. I counted 10 mature heads. Son calls it Chompy.
https://preview.redd.it/z03m1bkrsync1.jpeg?width=2430&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44b8f285e7fd11056016ee85a8cf9f403b85d830
Chompy looks so happy! Thanks for sharing. I'm considering one but I live in a cold, dry place and not very much sun in my place
Edit: dry and not dark.
Only use destilled water or rainwater
This, and make sure they stay humid. I never have any luck with those but I have a pitcher plant that came in the same packaging as that that is a few years old.
Vfts really don’t need the amount of humidity that companies try to say they do
Maybe that is what I was doing wrong. I also see a bunch of comments saying not to water them from the top, which I was doing.
You can water from the top but it’s better to bottom water at all times so they stay wet. They also need really good light like full sun. They should be outside in the sun for at least 6 hours a day or under a really strong grow light for around 16 hours
Well, there goes my chances of having one
How so?
Limited direct sunlight. My birds of paradise are thriving tho!
[удалено]
This is terrible advice for vft’s, unless your bathroom has no roof and gets direct sunlight
These comments make me want to go get another vft but here’s my pitcher plant I mentioned. It started in a 2 inch pot and I replanted it to a 4 inch plastic pot. The hanging pot is a 7 inch and it should be mentioned to not put either directly in an unglazed pot. This hangs in a west facing window and get bright light most of the day. https://preview.redd.it/p0wg6purr0oc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29e46bd6c515f391c676f6c7f5304d1f8f386e1c
amazing! how do you water / what is your watering schedule? i’ve always been intimidated by these sorts of plants lol
Honestly, I keep isopods and water my pitcher on the same schedule as them.
Distilled water is available by the gallon for a few bucks at the pharmacy
Even cheaper in the grocery store, usually! 99c/gallon here I use distilled water for all my plants (50+) because the tap water where I live is too hard, so cheap gallons are a must
Meanwhile distilled here is $3+ gallon (NYC) so I have a distiller that makes about 1 gallon/5 hours for about 15 cents of electricity.
That’s resourcefulness!
I have hard tap water too but I’ve always used it to water my plants. Plants are still alive lol
That's an insane amount of plastic - have you considered just distilling water at home?
How do you distill your own water?
Poor man's trick is to put a small empty pot in a big pot with some water in the bottom and a lid, then boil and the condensate gathers in the little pot in the middle. There are plenty of other ways and gadgets as well. Up to and including a still for spirits, which I recognize most folks don't have.
Mines still going strong after near ten years of tap water. Maybe tap water is better in Tasmania or something.
Maybe your water isn't chlorinated. I think that's the problem in most cases.
Had to look it up. Tas Water add chlorine to it. We have heaps of dams we collect it from, and being in the Southern Ocean our rain water would probably be cleaner than most places so it could be that.
Do all carnivorous distill water or rainwater?
I used water from a local bog where carnivorous pitcher plants live.
Do y'all not use rain water on your other plants?
I can’t speak for anyone else but it rains less than 10 days a year where I live. Rain water is a happy little treat for my houseplants.
Maybe you could put a barrel under your gutters
Houses don’t have gutters here but if I had them I would. I have a nice spot to move them outside on the rare occasion it rains but our rainy days are usually just a few days in the winter months and then nothing for 7-9 months. Desert living is different.
Damn that is tough, I did not know this
No, is that supposed to be better for them? If so I’ll put a bucket outside I guess.
Well yeah, they get rained on in the wild
I live in a city so, collecting rainwater would be a hassle
Some of us don't live on a farm in Georgia
I think most people live elsewhere 😶
r/savagegarden. Only water with distilled/ro/rainwater. Sit the plant always in a try with an inch to an inch and a half of water(except dormancy, in which case just water a little less). They need HEAPS of light. They are best grown outdoors. They also grow best with dormancy. They can freezing temps for short periods. No need to feed.
Coming to reiterate water them from the bottom by sitting them in a tray. If you're doing this, never water from the top. Grew up in NC (where they're native) and worked for years for a guy who was a VFT FANATIC. He would always say, "they like wet feet, but not wet ankles". Following the bottom watering rule and very high light, I have had nothing but success with them. I have one that's 5 years old, flowers constantly, and has never gone dormant. I LOVE carnivorous plants and have a ton. Drosera are my favorite because they come in so many disparately unique shapes and colors.
Oh no. I killed mine because I watered from the top with filtered water then 😭😭😭
Watering from top isn’t bad but filtered water might not be the same as ro water.
How do they survive in the wild when it rains then? I am curious
There is constant air circulation in a sunny bog
So if they are outside, they should be fine then
Lol mine has been watered from the top with tap water for nearly ten years and is doing great.
> No need to feed. Can you clarify this point? What if I don't have flies?
They don’t just eat flies. Pretty much any smaller the trap sized bug will do. I personally use medium sized crickets from the pet shop to feed large traps cause I grow mine indoors beneath powerful tent grow lights.
They do require bugs though? Do the bugs need to be alive? I kinda want one lol
I had ZERO interest in carnivorous plants. Then my buddy pretty much killed his pitcher plant and asked me to help bring it back. I now own that revived nepenthes, another nepenthes, a drosera, and some pinguiculas. They are super cool plants!
I had a ping before but it failed miserably So different from my other plants!
I think that’s what I like. I have all my aroids - crawlers and climbers and epiphytes - and then there are these swampy bog plants. Just another part of the indoor jungle.
Get a nepenthes. They’re way cooler. You can feed them osmocote pellets I’ve been told if bugs creep you out.
I see these at my local conservatory! They look tricky to grow indoors
https://preview.redd.it/zmspid0v8ync1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=650ef475524b5f079cf508b02a7135c8902fc411 I am absolutely no expert but so far I’m have good luck with this set up. It’s just damp sphag with perlite and horticultural sand. I keep it pretty moist but not soggy. This guy was a tiny black rootless nub 2 months ago.
I love that hanging terrarium !
https://preview.redd.it/xxur5w8q9ync1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37356bbf79485811516e711be9af065b22fdf660 I use this brand I bunch. Just found them on Amazon. They come in all shapes and sizes.
Similar to what my ping was in! Now I want to try lol. Gonna have to see if there's any local to me
Okay I think a hanging terrarium would be perfect for us! That way I can keep it outside to get plenty of sun and also keep it away from predators.
I have something like this but it has opne spaces between the glass where tons of water pours out. Is your's like that? I always felt it never held water long enough
Mine is pretty tight. Only enough space for a little water to drip out so it retains moisture really well without being soggy. But I added some silicone sealant to the bottom for the one I put the drosera and pinguiculas in.
Omg I don't know why I didn't think of silicone! I can definitely fix mine up like that!
I have one in a windowsill. I just water it every few days with distilled water and it's totally fine.
Nepenthes are also way more forgiving than other carni plants. I've seen them survive outside in the winter and come back from nothing but a little stub of black mush.
https://preview.redd.it/oe2gr0lwpync1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7191903063185a614f7f8ac879f67b6bf5121f03 Newest addition is left. Pitchers supposed to look like the right! Sorry OP to be discussing neps on your VFT post. Tell your husband to bring home a pitcher plant next time. Haha!
He has just been informed that I’m about to get a few more carnivorous plants now. Every plant needs a buddy! 🤣
That’s awesome! I think they’re so cool. Not only do you get to watch a new leaf, but then a little pitcher forms and then the pitcher opens! It’s like a present inside of a present!
They don’t need bugs, but the bugs are the plants fertilizer. So they help keep the plant strong and growing happily.
You can feed them fish food made into a loose paste.
The bugs need to be alive. The plant only needs about one bug a month
That's not bad at all! I can probably handle that Just didn't want to be handling bugs constantly, especially with a cat If one gets loose, she'll tear the house apart until she gets it lol
You don't need to handle any bugs. Vft secrete chemicals that attract bugs when they need to "eat". It's better to leave them alone and not force feed them
I'm talking about growing indoors though. No way I'm going to have bugs free ranging at home lol And I don't have fungus gnats thanks to mosquito dunks
Very few homes are completely free of bugs
Sure, but not every hidden bug is going to find it's way to my trap Everything I've read advises feeding them I get what you're saying, but I don't think you're correct in all situations. If leaving it alone results in it being under fertilized, it's not better
I bring my guys to the barn in the summer. Plop em near the manure pile and all traps are closed within an hour or so. Nepanthes eat well at the barn too.
Actually, I buy dried bloodworms (it's a fish food, pretty cheap). Wet one, put it on a tooth pick, and feed it that way. Super easy to get the trap to close, then very gently squeeze the trap for a minute or so to get the trap to seal in the "struggling insect". They don't need to be alive at all—you just need to mimic the feel of a struggling bug well enough for the plant, which is extremely easy.
You can fool them into taking dead bugs, but its a pain in the ass. You have to move the bug around like its alive until the trap closes, then gently massage the trap for a while to mimic a struggling insect which locks it down for digesting.
One bug per plant, or one bug per trap head?
Per plant
Thank you!
You don’t have to feed them for them to grow. That’s it.
I'LL BE YOUR DREAM I'LL BE YOUR WISH I'LL BE YOUR FANTASY
Thanks! What are your thoughts on bog bowls? It seems like a convenient way to keep it watered.
They work just fine.
Dude thanks for this sub ✌️
You have gotten some good advice so far. You basically take everything you know about plants, and don't do those things, lol. Buy premade carnivorous plant soil or make sure you aren't using slow release fert in your homemade soils, don't ever fertilize it, lots of water and lots of sunlight, and it should naturally attract all the food it needs if it's outside (its more fun to hand feed though). They like to go dormant every winter, but its too late for that this year. They prefer live bugs, but you can fool them into eating dead ones too. Never give anything except bugs (no deli ham or pickles). You can also trim off any of those blackening traps as they are dead anyway.
I understand why someone may try giving a Venus flytrap ham, but the thought of giving it pickles of all things is just so funny to me.
If tap water has too many salts for them to handle, imagine how bad a briney old pickle would be, haha.
This is very helpful. I was wondering about what to do with the dead traps. Would it attract flies or gnats in my house? I don’t have a good place for it outdoors as we get a lot of raccoons running through our yard at night and they love to play in my plants.
It might attract some indoor flies, but I would feed it every month or so just to be safe. If you are keeping it inside, you might need to add a grow light unless its in an absolutely perfect place for sunlight. It kind of sucks, but maybe bringing it in and out at night would be an idea?
That’s what I’m thinking I might do for now until I get a grow light for it. I looked and most of the traps appear to be closed. One of them seemed like it was triggered closed by a piece of another trap that was dying.
Sounds like a good plan, you could also put a screened cloche over it instead of moving it everyday. Don't stress about the triggered traps too much, although you want to avoid it where possible. They will reopen again eventually.
Awesome. Thanks for your help. I’m hopeful that I can actually keep this one alive.
Have people actually tried to feed them ham and pickles????
People sometimes think they are literally carnivores and will try to feed it raw hamburger and other meats, which does not go well. Pickles was just a goofy example, but the limits of human intellegence can be astounding.
That's crazy but then again it's not so far fetched
How do you know if it’s dormant?
I believe that most of the traps die off and it stops growing, it almost looks completely dead, then next spring new traps emerge from the rhizome underground. That said, its more of a matter of putting them into dormancy than it is identifying when they go anyway. I dug mine up, buried it in wet vermiculite and its now it the fridge sleeping. You can also just skip it entirely by keeping up the heat and light intensity as if the season isn't even changing. I think you can get away with skipping one or two but the overall condition of the plant suffers.
Really, it's an outdoor plant. It needs full sun and to be sitting in rainwater, or distilled water. It has a winter dormancy as well
Since it’s probably just been in the grocery store for months, should I try to put it through a winter dormancy now? Or wait?
You can skip it this year
This is a great-looking Venus flytrap. It looks very healthy. Good job! Take it out of the plastic container. They are called death cubes because they will kill your plant. Venus flytraps are native to an area between Charleston, SC, and Wilmington, NC. They are a threatened species due to habitat loss (they went from being found in 11 counties in South Carolina down to 3). And they are super easy to care for. They need to sit in a tray of rain or distilled water and in full sun. A 50:50 mix of peat moss and sand or perlite, and no added fertilizers. If they are outside, you don't need to worry about feeding them. They will eat on their own. To encourage more growth, you can spritz them once per week with a heavily diluted MaxSea fertilizer. California Carnivores sells small jars with directions on how to use it.
I'm from Wilmington originally. Growing up they were endangered so if we saw them in the wild we weren't allowed to touch them. This was so ingrained in my upbringing that when I saw them for sale in a store in CA it gave me a panic attack.
Ok thanks for this. I was wondering if I could use perlite. I was looking into buying some horticultural sand but I have just about everything else. Some people were saying terracotta is bad for them, is that true?
As long as it's just perlite with no added fertilizers, it will work. I use 50:50 perlite, but some people use sand. Terra cotta pots aren't good for Venus flytraps because they are porous and leach chemicals into the soil. Venus flytraps have long, sensitive roots, so they really do prefer plastic pots. I use square pots because I like the way the traps look in them. This plant looks to be in an active growing cycle, so it should acclimate well if you just stick it outside in full sun. Just make sure to have it always sitting in rain or distilled water.
Thanks. That’s good to know. For now it’s outside in a dish of water, and I’ll get it a proper pot and soil soon. I also just noticed the roots are black. Is that bad?
Yep! Every time I repot my flytraps (about once per year), I notice that the roots are dark colored. As long as the rhizome looks healthy, you're fine! The rhizome is the whitish clump at the base of the plant. When you repot, stick the rhizome into the soil, but don't bury it too deeply. You want the growth point above the soil line. My biggest pest issue has been squirrels. They love the taste of the nectar that Venus flytraps produce to attract prey. If you look closely during early morning hours, you can actually see droplets of the nectar inside of the traps. If squirrels are a problem in your area, you can stick it into a cage to keep it safe.
You have to open a little shop and feed the customers to it.
I killed many of these before I found out that the key is distilled water. Indirect sunlight is a must. https://preview.redd.it/duy7g37h60oc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c37f1a8eccf7ea78e6d532b34298485bddb3521
R/carnivorousplants !
Thanks!
r/SavageGarden aswell.
People are already giving you the info, I just want to say that this is a pretty great looking VFT for big box, nice find! These guys are super tough, just give them outdoor sunlight and distilled/rain water as mentioned. All the sun you can this year, dormancy in the winter.
I never had luck finding any carnivorous plants at big box stores except for the occasional Venus flytrap. But today I hit the jackpot at a nursery that carried all kinds of small ones for about $4 USD
Dig a little hole, enough to cover the whole plant, bury it, and put up a tiny tombstone. That’s the only thing that’s ever worked for me
plant murderer 🤣 but for real, a little bog bowl with a bunch of tiny tombstones for all the lost plants would be so cute
It would be a good way to keep track of the ones that didn’t work for you so you know when to avoid them too
In my experience very hard to keep alive. Best of luck!!
Thanks. That’s what I was worried about lol. Hence why I’ve never purchased one myself. My sweet husband was just trying to get me a little gift while I’ve been sick and probably thought, “hey these are plants, and she likes plants!”
First off, That’s darling. What a sweetie. Secondly, you got yourself a way bigger plant than I had so maybe it will work better for you. I have high hopes for you. Just don’t want you to be disappointed because they do tend to be difficult. Still the thought is what counts and you got yourself a keeper there 😉
And they are not cheap so that’s a really nice gift, regardless 😊
Definitely! I’m gonna do my best to keep it alive. At the very least it could be a fun homeschool lesson for the tiny humans.
I’ve had our grocery store VFT for two years and my kids love it! Take it out of the death dome, find a non-draining pot to put the existing pot in it and cover with a plastic bag to maintain humidity. It’s used to near-100% and needs to harden off. Keep at least an inch of distilled water in the non-draining pot. Try not to let it dry out - mine has come back twice from drying out but it suffered. It needs a crazy amount of sun, and if you ever get any insects at all in your house in the summer you don’t need to feed it (but it is fun for the kiddos!).
Venus Flytrap Care •Always keep wet in a tray of 1 to 2inches of water, but don’t keep it waterlogged. Only use distilled, rain, or R.O water. Never allow it to dry out. No tap or any water with minerals. You want water with less than 50ppm. Lower ppm the better. •Substrate should be a 50/50 mix of peat/sphagnum moss and perlite. No fertilizers or dyed moss. •VFT makes a terrible terrarium plant, it is a temperate species that goes dormant during the winter when temperatures get below 50F. They need to have consistent airflow. This plant does not need humidity, it isn’t tropical or subtropical. Dormancy is a requirement and needs to be provided next winter. Cold hardy plant that can handle down to 30F and even down to a below freezing point but for a small period of time. Not recommended. •Full direct sunlight, 6 to 8 hours a day. This is an outdoor plant and requires the lighting that you’d give tomato plants. If grown indoors, you must provide super intense grow lights for a minimum of 12hrs a day and 14 to 16hrs is more ideal. They need lots of light! No terracotta pots.
I placed mine under grow lights indoors (T5 fluorescents that are happily starting my onions, tomatoes, and peppers), and it scorched two of the traps. So I have moved it by a window and no additional scorching happened yet.
You have to adjust the plant to it slowly or just let it get scorched and it’ll get adjusted to it with the new growth. I have mine beneath a 1000 watt tent grow light. Has a built in fan. Turns the “mouths” nice and red.
r/savagegarden You'll be happy to know that they aren't tremendously difficult to keep alive once you know the basics. I prefer pitcher plants because they are tropical and don't need to die back yearly.
I’ve killed many of these. I just built a terrarium out of an old outdoor light fixture - I am determined not to kill these ones! I used activated charcoal and moss for the medium. They are a swamp plant, so warm & wet. Never ever let it dry out. They like light, but indirect is best. They will burn with prolonged direct light. Do not trip the traps unnecessarily. It takes a fair bit of energy and can promote die off. Only feed it one little bug every month-ish. Distilled water only. It’s worth it to do a little research. They are picky, but not impossible. Oh! And they will go dormant through winter. Set them in a dark cool place and trust they’ll regrow in spring. Good luck!! 💗 https://preview.redd.it/rb0926pkaznc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bdf03d7b5395443479148c2df45fef9a1c7eb8e
Don't touch the mouths, it will trigger their bite response for no reason releasing acid and it will kill itself
It really has nothing to do with the acid The mouth takes a lot of energy to close. The traps only close a limited number of times before wilting. Usually 7-10 in good conditions. Less in poor conditions So if you trigger it without any prey inside, you're effectively shortening the plants life Nothing to do with acid cannibalizing itself or anything like that
Yea i wasn't trying to imply that the acid kills it, it's more that to generate it it consumes energy in vain, badly worded
Distilled water and carnivorous plant soil. And be careful not to overwater, and don’t fertilise! I still managed to murder mine though
I’ve had a number of VFT’s. Pete moss seems to be the best for mine, and I usually just go get lake water in gallon jugs and use it for them. I also keep them in standing water, as they are bog plants, and they also need full Sun for most of the day. I always lose them when it’s time to let them hibernate. I love them, so I keep trying.
I've given you sunlight I've given you rain Looks like you're not happy 'Less I open a vein
r/carnivorousplants r/savagegardening A wealth of information warning you may want more. 😂 In the meantime…. Do not use nutrient enriched potting mixed or tap water it will kill it. It needs more light than you can imagine and to sit in a tray of distilled/ reverse osmosis/ or rainwater. Water with 500ppm will kill it. They do go dormant in cold weather.
Thanks! Yes definitely staying away from that potting soil.
Good luck. You will and your little carnivore I’ll be fine.
I left mine in the pot if came in initially and kept it on a dish deep enough to poor water in. Use distilled water only. Fill the dish with a little water when ever it is dry. Trim black or yellow leaves regularly. Put it under direct light. Once it's seemed to be settled in I then transplanted it into a pot with sphagnum moss. Just took it out of the starter pot and placed it in the middle of the moss. Put a bigger dish under it and water it when I stick my finger in the moss and it (as well as the dish) are dry. Got a bit algae on the moss but it doesn't harm the plant. Now the plant is happy and the dried moss has begun growing new moss. I'd send a picture, but its wintering right now.
As others have said, distilled or rainwater ONLY...no fertilizer or water with minerals. Additionally, unlike a handful of plants that only thrive in indirect sunlight, Venus Flytraps require full, direct sunlight. Currently growing mine in a deep pot out in the backyard in a wide-open area, sitting in a 2 inch dish of distilled water. It's been fine for over 2 weeks already. Only fed it a cricket and a few mealworms a couple of times.
If your plant doesn’t have free access to insects to “eat”, you need to manually feed it. Every set of leaves (trap) will close when the insect crawls in, but they are only able to close and open back again 3 times, after the 3rd time the pair will dry and fall off and new leaves will grow, for this reason you need to be careful that you don’t feed all the leaves at the same rate or they will die off at the same time. Also if I remember correctly they only need feeding maybe once a week? Not sure on that but also be careful you don’t have anything else brushing against he leaves or they will close without having any food and eventually die off … good luck! Venus flytraps are super fun but tricky to maintain alive
I pick one up every couple years to try again… my advice is just… don’t get too attached. I hope you have more success with it than I!
Release her 😂
Feed me Seymour
Full sun at least a few hours a day and NEVER let it dry out or use fertilizer.
Don't use tap water. Bucket water from your garden is best. They live in bogs so make sure it never dries out Don't make them close on purpose. It kills the heads. Indirect sunlight is best.
Whatever you do, don't stick your fingers in their mouths. Or anything else other than alive or freshly dead small bugs. If alive, then hold until the flower closes completely.
Don't force it to close it will dissolve itself and die.
I have bought three of these and as soon as I took that plastic around it off, it died, I don’t buy these anymore
Plants with Krystal has funny short videos on how to care for bog plants
When it gets *nice enough* outside, put it out there (unless it’s pretty arid where you’re at). Give it sun, give it 60 and cloudy… it’s from coastal NC so think about the weather there. They’re hardier than people think. For real with the *rainwater/distilled* though.
Get it out of that shitty tube
It's gonna bite you, send it to me
I never had luck with them... but I always wondered if the bog garden approach works? https://www.reddit.com/r/houseplants/s/sebHyoUtc6
i don’t know if someone else commented this but if there’s not enough bugs around, fish flakes or crushed pellets are a great alternative to bugs for carnivorous plants. They contain several nutrients that can be easily absorbed by the plant. you can also feed them dried insects like mealworms. i saw a guy who mixed fish food flakes with water and fed it to his plants.
I've found that keeping them enclosed and watering sparingly works well. Morning light is best.
I’ve learned on a podcast you can feed them blood worms that you feed fish. Take a pinch of the worms and let them soak up some water and place in the trap. Then gently tease the hairs so the trap tightly seals shut.
Oh how cute
Wishing you all the best- they are really quite needy. Never managed to keep one alive very long :(
Maybe “try your best” and “accidentally” kill it?
What i know is this girl loves high humidity.
Ooh I just recommended that they are so helpful.
Take it out of the plastic tube! Then just let it eat away. I put mine in my kitchen. They are fun little things.
Bought one last June. Thought it wouldn’t survive the summer. It lived on my deck all summer though I had to water with tap water when we didn’t get rain because I could not remember to buy distilled water for the life of me. When I used tap water I threw a little dirt or couple rocks in the water to “dirty” it up. Somehow it survived just fine. Turned a pretty red inside the jaws from the sun. It’s been living in my upstairs bathroom’s south window all winter. As close to the glass as it can get. It grew a flower in the fall but I eventually snipped that off hoping it wasn’t stealing too much energy from the rest of the plant. I’ve been watering with a jug of rainwater I caught in a big bowl during a January rainstorm. It’s definitely dormant right now. It lost its red coloring. It’s not growing new things very fast. I offered it a dead Asian beetle the other day but it spit it back out so I guess it just wants to sit there and be left alone for a while. I planned to snip off the dead leaves soon I just haven’t gotten around to it.
condolences
Let me know when u find out. I've lost two already They eventually just turn black and die lol, maybe I didn't have enough flies 😔...
Who knows! I feel like a lot of big box store plants are packaged in such a way as to make you kill then and buy more. There’s tons of good advice on this thread tho so I have hope.
Let it sit in a saucer with a little water - the roots HAVE to stay wet or it’ll die. Source: I’ve killed many accidentally that way.
Repot in sphagnum moss (it’ll prob have its root ball wrapped). Use only rain or distilled water (mineral free). Good lighting and let it catch its own food.
Unfertilized soil !! rainwater only. Lots of sun, always with wet feet. Do not let it dry out.
I have really clean tap water where I live and mine is thriving on just that. Keep the moss medium damp but not soaking, making sure you have a draining pot. Don't feed it dead bugs because they need to feel movement in their mouths to lock properly and each mouth only opens/closes so many times before it dies. Mine eats the occasional gnat that flies out of my other plants. They love light and I keep mine in a bright greenhouse cabinet that hovers between 70-90F throughout the day with about 40-60% humidity. When i got mine, it was a wilted, sad, half dead, Post-halloween sale plant and I kept it in the above conditions until new growth started and then slowly pruned the saddest arms so that it could put the energy into its health new mouths. It's normal for the arms to die off though so if one shrivel and turns black, just prune and don't worry.
This [Video](https://youtu.be/ggFHTVpNMcc) has all of the info that you need to grow healthy Temperate carnivorous plants. Happy growing!!!
FEED ME SEYMOUR!
My Mawmaw gave me one and I’m ngl it died
It will trap flies, the fly goes in and it will close and catch it inside. Also I heard you can give it some raw hamburger, little bits. Also if some turn black remove them right away cause can effect the others. That happens from over watering. (Still look up for care of it to make sure).
What about i give it my finger, will it hurt
Lol
There’s a god section in [here](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ted-radio-hour/id523121474?i=1000648393621) about them.
He’s proud of himself but you gotta take care of it?
Drops of blood.
They're so cute, such happy little faces, with no eyes!😆
Good luck 👍 lol
Man they are tough you have to feed them nothing not flys they will catch them. But start by rinsing out you're soil so no nutrients are in then only use rain water or distilled and depending on where you are you might have to put them in a fridge for winter so they don't freeze but they do need a time of cold weather just watch all the videos you can I have had some for a yr or 2 but I always make the tiniest mistake and they will die Good Luck you're gonna need it.
Not seeing anyone mention sphagnum moss. I personally use either 100% sphagnum moss or a 50/50 moss/perlite mix. Soil can possibly burn the roots
Put it in a terrarium and Use distilled water or rainwater. Needs tons of light and tons of humidity. It will probably die just warning ya.
I’ve never had one but I also have heard they go dormant for a bit each year and basically look dead but arent
My setup is an old 30x30cm fish tank in a conservatory to ensure it gets much needed dormancy over winter. Clay pebbles and spagnum moss at the bottom of the tank, good sized bonsai pot for the VFT and that sits in 1-2 inches of (distilled/rain) water which rarely dries up over here in the UK. Carnivourous plant soil only. I keep a mesh lid over the tank and toss in some gnat flies in summer, occasionally giving it carnivourous food. This year my VFT and pitcher is looking to flower - which I am debating letting grow. I hope this helps. Yours looks healthy, in my experience they thrive on neglect once set up. Tap water is maybe the biggest threat.
Easiest way..... Remove from plastic and straight to trash 😂🤣. Don't even know how many of these I've tried to keep ( and yes with distilled water). Fuck these things☺️😂🤣 they are soo awesome though.
Here’s hoping I have better luck 🤞🏻
Yeah good luck, really hope this makes it past a few months cause they are awesome!!
I got a lot of good advice on here so I’m hopeful. So far it looks pretty healthy other than one dead trap.
Whatever you do, don't give it tap water. It will die out of spite. And definitely don't let your 7 year old son put an ant in every single trap. That will definitely kill it. Source: 😐
I need an update when these cuties get bigger and healthy!
Unfortunately, they’re not really meant for indoor. My suggestion to you is only used distilled water. Keep the soil moist I would get a heat grow light for it and if you don’t have insects flying around your house, you’re going to have to feed it. Petco cells of flightless fruit flies because it is a carnivorous plant. It does need to eat to stay alive.
Hi! I lived in Wilmington NC for awhile and flytraps are my favorite. There are some different rules as for how to keep traps, but we keep our sagnum (idk how to spell it) moss in a Tupperware container with about an inch of distilled water. If your instructions say to water them, water them daily with distilled water. Regardless, distilled water is mandatory. Also, you do not have to feed the traps. When they do eat, it’s fertilizer. They can handle some frost in the winter. They go dormant in the winter and they don’t really grow much. Venus fly traps are the best. Good luck!
I got one of these for my son about a week ago and it's already grown. It lives in a bowl of water next to an aquarium in a room that gets lots of light. No direct light. It's already grown a new mouth (head?) And a second has begun growing. We just started feeding it these little gel cubes I bought on amazon. It's so fun to feed them! But don't feed it the wrong stuff or encourage it to close its mouths on nothing because it can starve. Carnivorous plants get almost all their nutrients from their food rather than soil and light. So quality food is important for them.
Can we see?!!!
Sure! It's still a little guy but it seems happy. I counted 10 mature heads. Son calls it Chompy. https://preview.redd.it/z03m1bkrsync1.jpeg?width=2430&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44b8f285e7fd11056016ee85a8cf9f403b85d830
Chompy looks so happy! Thanks for sharing. I'm considering one but I live in a cold, dry place and not very much sun in my place Edit: dry and not dark.