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Written by Matt
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Saturday, 24 May 2008 14:44 |
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Welcome to FlyTrapCare.com, your ultimate destination for all things related to Venus Fly Traps, or Dionaea muscipula. Read through the articles here to learn how best to care for your Venus Fly Trap. Join the Forum and ask any questions you have or help others grow their Flytraps!
Once you join the forum, don't forget to check out the Carnivorous Plant Community and upload your avatar image and update your profile. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 04 June 2009 16:06 |
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Written by Matt
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Friday, 04 April 2008 12:19 |
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The Venus Fly Trap, Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant native to the bogs and swamplands of North and South Carolina. It preys on insects with its uniquely shaped terminal portion of its leaves. The leaf has two primary regions: a broad flat typical leaf-like region called the leaf-base that is capable of carrying out photosynthesis and grows out of the ground, and the trapping mechanism, called the leaf-blade or lamina, at the end of the leaf that is composed of two lobes with hinged together by a midrib. Each trap usually has between two and five "trigger" hairs on each lobe with three trigger hairs on each lobe being normal. The edge of the trap is lined with teeth or finger-like cilia that lace together when the trap shuts. The leaf-base and leaf-blade (trap) are joined together by what is referred to as the petiole.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 March 2009 15:00 |
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Written by Matt
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Sunday, 06 April 2008 10:25 |
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Venus Fly Traps need three basic things to flourish:
If you provide each of these three things in the proper way, you will have a healthy, happy little Venus Fly Trap as you see below in the photo. Please read the above articles in detail, but I will give a brief summary here of what a Venus Fly Trap needs.
Give them as much light as you can. Direct bright sunlight at least four hours a day is best. Water them with pure water, either distilled, rain water, or other water that has a low concentration of dissolved solids. Plant them in a proper mix of nutrient poor medium. Most people use peat, sphagnum moss, sand and perlite in some combination.
If possible, keep the ambient humidity high, though this is not critical. Venus Fly Traps can thrive in low humidity. Just be sure to keep their soil damp at all times when the humidity is low.
If you are growing your plant in less than ideal conditions, or you just want the biggest traps possible, it's best to not let them flower. Try to cut the flower stalk off as soon as you notice it. Flowering robs the plant of precious energy that it could otherwise use to make itself larger or produce better leafs and traps. Also, as a flytrap grows, it will form little offshoots with a second rosette of leaves. This offshoot will eventually form its own root system. Then, when you go to repot your venus fly trap you can gently pry the two rosettes apart and have 2 separate plants. If you cut the flower off, the plant will be more likely to form separate rosettes. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 March 2009 15:01 |
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Written by Matt
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Sunday, 30 March 2008 13:34 |
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Using pure water is essential to the health of a Venus Fly Trap. In general, tap water is not a good idea. The dissolved solids that are in tap water - namely sodium, calcium, alkaline salts, sulfur, chlorine and magnesium - are detrimental to the health of your Dionaea. Although it may not be immediately apparent with a few waterings, over time, the dissolved solids will begin to build up in the soil and can lead to a sickly looking plant and eventually death of the plant.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 15 July 2010 06:24 |
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Written by Matt
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Sunday, 30 March 2008 13:10 |
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Adequate lighting is very important to keeping a Dionaea muscipula healthy. During their active growing season, Venus Fly Traps should receive a minimum of 12 hours of light (also known as a 12 hour photoperiod) with a minimum of 4 hours of direct sunlight, if you're growing your Venus Flytraps outside. In general, the more direct light the plant receives the healthier the plant will be.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 16 January 2010 07:42 |
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Written by Matt
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Sunday, 30 March 2008 14:31 |
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It is very important to use nutrient POOR soil to grow Venus Flytraps. Regular potting soil will burn the roots and kill the plant very quickly. Fertilizing Venus Fly Traps is also not recommended. The fertilizer will burn the roots and likely kill the plant. Some experts use extremely diluted fertilizer and apply it only to the leaves of the plant, but this is risky for a beginner and not recommended.
Dionaea aren't very picky about the medium you use. Perhaps the easiest medium to use is simply pure peat moss. This dead, milled version of peat moss is typically sold in large bales at virtually any retailer that carries potting soil. It seems that the most widely accepted medium to use is a 1:1 mix (in terms of volume) of peat and perlite. When choosing a brand of peat moss, any type will do as long as it isn't enriched. Be sure to stay away from brands like Miracle-Gro and Scott's because they contain fertilizer that will burn the roots of your plant and eventually kill it.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 09:44 |
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Written by Matt
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 16:08 |
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Please proceed to read this topic all the way through, but also be sure to check out the Venus Fly Trap Dormancy frequently asked questions page.
Most inexperienced Venus Fly Trap growers make the assumption that Dionaea muscipula are tropical plants and that they should be kept in warm growing conditions year round. However, the truth is that Venus Fly Traps are very hardy perennial plants. This means that they grow and bloom over the spring and summer and then die back every winter, growing back in the spring from their energy reserves saved up in the rhizome or root-stock. They can withstand frost and light freezes. Freezes that last an extended period of time can kill Venus Fly Traps however.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 March 2009 15:00 |
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