Venus Fly Traps (Dionaea Muscipula) - Anyone keep them?

[d_brennen]

Had a couple of them as a boy, decided to give it another go. My previous plants died after a few months which I put down to my low attention span as a child. Saw a couple of pots of them in B&Q for just under £4. They all looked a bit sorry, yellowing leaves and bits of rot. Being the soppy type I decided to rescue one

Should have taken a pic of it before but he's looking much healthier now, just 5 days later. Fed it a couple of ants and a spider:



Next job is to knock together a small greenhouse type box to keep the humidity up

Anyone else here keep fly traps?

 

[Orcish-Horde]

Am trying to grow some from seed without much luck, make sure to only water them with rain water. Tap water is not good for them.

 

[d_brennen]

Yeah, I know. I've been using distilled water. I think B&Q were watering them with tap water. Did you get one of those gift kits? Been reading around and the success rates on those are quite low

 

[Lowe]

I've had success in the past but I made the mistake of letting it flower. Plant died within a couple of weeks, it really takes it out of them. Be sure to snip any flower stalks off pronto!

 

[Orcish-Horde]

I got my seeds from here, its a great shop for interesting and novel seed/plants.

http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/

 

[fidget]

I used to have them. One important thing is not to trigger the traps artificially as this will eventially kill the "leaf".

Also make sure you cut off any dead or dying leaves as this can kill the plat too.

Oh and always use purified or distilled water with them. Tap water will slowly kill them.

 

[Moley]

I would add that you don't need to keep them in a greenhouse box for humidity as most of these plants actually grow in temperate climates just like our own. You should keep them well watered with either rain water or distilled water and keep them outside in a nice sunny area - they need direct sunlight to be healthy. If the inside of the leaves isn't red then they aren't getting enough sun - put them outside and keep them watered and in a week you should see a nice healthy change.

 

[Mat]

Loads of direct light, as much as you can get! That is the most important thing.

I keep mine in about 0.5 - 1cm of rain water at all times (along with my Sarracenia) and as has already been said, if you let it flower, it will go into a period of dormancy (if it doens't die!) for some time so pinch off the flower stem as soon as it starts to grow. It will also need a cold period over winter...

Check out this site too, it's very useful:

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq2000.html

 

[d_brennen]

I would add that you don't need to keep them in a greenhouse box for humidity as most of these plants actually grow in temperate climates just like our own. You should keep them well watered with either rain water or distilled water and keep them outside in a nice sunny area - they need direct sunlight to be healthy. If the inside of the leaves isn't red then they aren't getting enough sun - put them outside and keep them watered and in a week you should see a nice healthy change.

Read a lot of contradictory advice online. Some say that they don't like too much direct sun light, some say as much as possible! I also read they do like a bit of humidity but if I can get away with windowsill, all the better.

 

[Dutch Guy]

We tried a few as one of our sons likes those plants but they never really worked well, thay all died after a while but looking at the replies it needs specific attention.

 

[Mr-White]

I kept some last year and they grew really fast in the sun, they then all died off and then the seeds I planted didn't grow. I think the soil may have been too wet :-/

MW

 

[Moley]

In my time I have kept Venus flytraps, Sundews and Pitcher plants all of which thrived outdoors - until I moved house and the new garden didn't have as much insect life as the old one.

Lots of sun, keep well watered and put somewhere where there are a lot of bugs flying around and you'll do fine.

 

[Soviet]

I've had one for a year now, bought it online already grown (can't remember the website) I just give it de-ionised water, cut the flowers off, and leave it on my windowsill which gets a fair amount of sun and it's been doing quite well.

Edit: Think it was this site http://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/

 

[Dewotter]

I had one of those B&Q pots. Problem I found was that while it had many heads they were all very small and many flies were bigger than them.

 

[Tachyon]

I currently have a few carnivorous plants, only one is a venus fly trap although have had quite a few more in the past. Fly traps are pretty easy to keep, I let mine sit in rain water all the time, plenty of sunshine.
Went through a phase where I had quite a few plants and some of them are amazing, my favourites are probably the sundews with the tiny blobs of "glue" on their leaves.
It's remarkable how well they can catch insects, nature is pretty cool. I got my from www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk and recommended them.

 

[Ice Globe]

I used to have one but it never developed many "traps" and after the ones which were there died (presumably over time) there were none to replace

 

[d_brennen]

Picked a lot og the dead and dying leaves out, been watering it with distilled water, lots of sunlight (Belfast weather permitting) and have fed him a few stay insects (including, somewhat ironically, a spider ) and its looking much heathier

The leaves are a lot greener than when I got it and the insides of the traps are now a more vicious looking red Lots of leaves coming through as well which is nice.