FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Happy New Year. My kids and I are looking to do a venus fly trap project. My oldest has an interest and hey, they're pretty cool. Why not?

We live in Michigan, I have an old small aquarium that I could put a light in. I've read a bunch of helpful stuff, including here.

Any recomendations? A hardy breed to start with? How much light a day? The boy also wants to put a pitcher plant in, would that work?

Thanks.

Club Soda wrote:Happy New Year. My kids and I are looking to do a venus fly trap project. My oldest has an interest and hey, they're pretty cool. Why not?

We live in Michigan, I have an old small aquarium that I could put a light in. I've read a bunch of helpful stuff, including here.

Any recomendations? A hardy breed to start with? How much light a day? The boy also wants to put a pitcher plant in, would that work?

Thanks.

Welcome to the Fly Trap Care Forum.

The best Flytrap for a beginner would be a typical variety. Matt and Leah who run this forum operate the Fly Trap Store. Fly Trap Store They sell a variety of different types from typicals up to giant and exotic varieties. They have an online care info posted here, and here.

Lighting is where most people make their mistakes. Flytraps need a LOT of light. A T-8 fluorescent or 100Watt equivalent LED lamp should be within 6 inches of the plant. Lights should be timer controlled and give the plant 9 - 10 hours daily during Winter dormancy and 14 - 15 hours daily during the peak of Summer. Venus Flytraps are not Tropical plants. They need seasonal light and temperature changes to truly thrive.

Pitcher plants would grow well together with Flytraps. Personally, I'd recommend a Sarracenia purpurea. It is a low growing pitcher and has similar requirements for lighting, temperature and dormancy.

Sorry if I'm throwing too much info at you and putting you to sleep. I'd suggest finding "The Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato at your local library. It's probably the best overall book on growing Carnivorous Plants.

good growing,
Mike

Another thing to remember is that flytraps are not tropical plants and as such need a winter dormancy, the same goes with Sarracenia. If you're looking for a tropical plant, you'd be looking more for plants like Nepenthes, the tropical Drosera species, and the Mexican Pinguicula.

Venus Flytraps are native to the North Carolina/ South Carolina border so they do see freezes but maybe not nearly as prolonged or cold as yours, Sarracenia purpurea is native all the way up to Canada and there are sundews like Drosera intermedia and D. rotundifolia that grow in northern climates as well.
You could however grow the flytrap on a south or east facing windowsill! I'm sure someone with more cold experience will pop in with more advice soon enough