FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi All

I bought a baby venus fly trap from a garden centre here in Spain.

It was in a very small pot - with many baby heads on the way and some about 4 small heads that were growing.
Anyway - took it home - watered it regularly with rain water from the bottom up of the pot.
We were feeding it live ants - and the occasional wasp - and even a garden worm.
It was all doing well.
Found a place doing live meal worms - i think thats what they are - small white caterpillar looking things - they were in a pet shop near the reptiles section.

Anyway - I had been successfully feeding the heads a worm regularly.
The fly trap flourished - it was sprouting a lot of new heads and the existing heads were getting bigger.

But then I noticed a change - some of the heads with the worms were staying shut but then rotting while still shut.
I cut a few of these back after the rot started to go down the arm.

But the plant was still throwing a a lot of new heads and was happy.

Then after a few more weeks - it had not got any larger but it had thrown out a very long arm that seemed to get longer and longer and finally we could see it change into flowers.

The flowers are now open
The fly trap - has stopped throwing out many new heads - the new heads that it is throwing out are very small and when they open - the dont seem to close properly so i cant feed them.

Can you tell me what im doing wrong please?

Thanks

Mo

A picture would be great to let you know how well your plant is doing

The production of a flower stalk is very stressful for the plant and will spend nearly all of its energy to produce the flower. Most growers will cut the flower as soon as it appears so the plant does not waste energy on flower production. If it already has a white flower you are probably too late to cut it and make any difference. Now you can research how to pollinate the flower or cut it into a few pieces and make another plant.

You fed it too much, you should only feed your plant every 2 weeks. But feeding your plant is not important, you need to worry more about sunlight. Is your plant receiving enough sunlight?

Also, your traps are rotting because the food was too large, you should only feed things to the plant that are 1/3 the size of the trap.

You should pollinate the flowers so it can produce seeds. There are many guides on this forum and on flytrapcare on how you can do that.

Thank you all for the replies.
Im trying to get up to speed quickly.

So in answer to some questions and tips

1. ill look at polinating some of the flowers - there are about 4 large flowers
Ill use a paintbrush to do it.

2. I thought feeding it too much was not a problem but i understand now why it can be.

3. The food that was fed was usually ok but yes I can see it was a bit large - the wasp was given to a large head.
The soldier ant was given to a large head too.
The worms/caterpillar are about the length of the head.
Im starting to understand that these were all generally too large.
I didnt mention that some of the food that was fed was absolutely fine - for example the wasp was.

4. I live in southern Spain - so thankfully its getting a fair amount of sun even though its winter - by a fair amount i mean like 4-5 hours a day at least.
This will only go up in the summer months.

5. I shall try and get a picture soon - im a bit embarrased as it looks so poorly now - compared to how it did look.

Further new questions.

1. I have bought dried bloodworms - the sort you give to fish - i read the feeding post on here - these should be ideal for the small size plant i have ?

2. I have the pot within another pot - standing on top of some gravel - I was watering the gravel every few days but I read that I should be watering top down - but this seemed to make the plant unhappy
Which is better way ?

3. Should I repot the plant in future - obviously not now with it not being happy and making flowers.
Its in its original tiny pot - of which its not over grown at all..

4. It seems that the plant is growing another flower head - pictures to follow - I guess the advice is that I should definitely cut this head off ?

THanks

Mo

I see that you are in Spain and you are going through winter. During this period venus flytraps go through dormancy. It might also be why your plant slowed its growth.

Hi MoOriginal,

Good job with your flytrap so far! Flowers don't mean it isn't happy, it's just a natural part of its lifecycle. It's normal for a VFT to stop growing leaves and traps while it has a flower stalk. After it finishes flowering, it will resume normal growth and may divide into one or more new plants. Until then just focus on giving it lots of direct sunlight and keeping the soil moist but not wet.

Since it's winter, the flowers do indicate your venus flytrap is a little confused. A VFT requires a dormancy period during the winter months in order to stay alive year after year. If yours missed it this year, you can wait until next winter. It just may not grow as vigorously this year as it would have had it gone dormant.

Feeding your flytrap is not required. Feeding will give it a boost, like fertilizer would for a non-carnivorous plant, but they will live just fine without feeding them bugs. If it lives outdoors, it will catch plenty of prey on its own. If you do feed it, feed only 1 or 2 traps at a time. After they have opened back up (or have blackened and been replaced by new leaves) you can feed again. To avoid blackening of a trap, try not to feed it a bug larger than 1/3 the size of the trap. I believe people who use dried blood worms crush them up and add a little water to get the right portion.

2. I have the pot within another pot - standing on top of some gravel - I was watering the gravel every few days but I read that I should be watering top down - but this seemed to make the plant unhappy
Which is better way ?

Both ways are acceptable. It is possible for a VFT to get crown rot if too much water sits in the crown, but it is not common. However, to avoid the possibility, I like to tray water from the bottom but it is good to flush some water through from the top once in a while to prevent salts from accumulating in the media. Speaking of salts, the gravel could be leaching them into your media and harming your plant. Polished rocks, quartz, or glass aquarium gravel would be best for this instead of gravel (depending on what the gravel is composed of.)

3. Should I repot the plant in future

It depends on the size of the pot and the media it's in. Usually flytraps are sold in pots that are too small for them and sometimes in sphagnum or peat moss that isn't in great shape. Flytraps like to grow deep roots so a soil depth from 13-30 cm is ideal. It's also easier to maintain a healthy moisture level in a deeper pot because they don't dry out so suddenly.

4. It seems that the plant is growing another flower head - pictures to follow - I guess the advice is that I should definitely cut this head off ?

Cutting off the new flower stalk will allow your VFT to return to normal growth sooner. You can wait until it is 3-4 cm long, cut it as close to the base as you can and poke the cut end down into the soil next to your VFT to try to grow a clone.

Again, lots of direct sunlight and always moist but not wet soil is the best thing you can do for it. Look at these links (and their menus) for all of the most important info about raising a venus flytrap:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-growing
http://www.flytrapcare.com/general-venus-fly-trap-faqs/

This is how it used to look

and today

That plant is defiantly not healthy enough to let flower. From the looks of it, not enough light and possibly being kept too wet. The media looks like it may be going bad too(from bring constantly wet).

Cut the flower stalks, more light, top water many times to help flush your media and then water only when the surface starts to dry.

xr280xr wrote:Hi MoOriginal,

Good job with your flytrap so far! Flowers don't mean it isn't happy, it's just a natural part of its lifecycle. It's normal for a VFT to stop growing leaves and traps while it has a flower stalk. After it finishes flowering, it will resume normal growth and may divide into one or more new plants. Until then just focus on giving it lots of direct sunlight and keeping the soil moist but not wet.

Since it's winter, the flowers do indicate your venus flytrap is a little confused. A VFT requires a dormancy period during the winter months in order to stay alive year after year. If yours missed it this year, you can wait until next winter. It just may not grow as vigorously this year as it would have had it gone dormant.

Feeding your flytrap is not required. Feeding will give it a boost, like fertilizer would for a non-carnivorous plant, but they will live just fine without feeding them bugs. If it lives outdoors, it will catch plenty of prey on its own. If you do feed it, feed only 1 or 2 traps at a time. After they have opened back up (or have blackened and been replaced by new leaves) you can feed again. To avoid blackening of a trap, try not to feed it a bug larger than 1/3 the size of the trap. I believe people who use dried blood worms crush them up and add a little water to get the right portion.

2. I have the pot within another pot - standing on top of some gravel - I was watering the gravel every few days but I read that I should be watering top down - but this seemed to make the plant unhappy
Which is better way ?

Both ways are acceptable. It is possible for a VFT to get crown rot if too much water sits in the crown, but it is not common. However, to avoid the possibility, I like to tray water from the bottom but it is good to flush some water through from the top once in a while to prevent salts from accumulating in the media. Speaking of salts, the gravel could be leaching them into your media and harming your plant. Polished rocks, quartz, or glass aquarium gravel would be best for this instead of gravel (depending on what the gravel is composed of.)

3. Should I repot the plant in future

It depends on the size of the pot and the media it's in. Usually flytraps are sold in pots that are too small for them and sometimes in sphagnum or peat moss that isn't in great shape. Flytraps like to grow deep roots so a soil depth from 13-30 cm is ideal. It's also easier to maintain a healthy moisture level in a deeper pot because they don't dry out so suddenly.

4. It seems that the plant is growing another flower head - pictures to follow - I guess the advice is that I should definitely cut this head off ?

Cutting off the new flower stalk will allow your VFT to return to normal growth sooner. You can wait until it is 3-4 cm long, cut it as close to the base as you can and poke the cut end down into the soil next to your VFT to try to grow a clone.

Again, lots of direct sunlight and always moist but not wet soil is the best thing you can do for it. Look at these links (and their menus) for all of the most important info about raising a venus flytrap:

http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-growing
http://www.flytrapcare.com/general-venus-fly-trap-faqs/

Thank you very much for the detailed comments.

Smooter80 wrote:That plant is defiantly not healthy enough to let flower. From the looks of it, not enough light and possibly being kept too wet. The media looks like it may be going bad too(from bring constantly wet).

Cut the flower stalks, more light, top water many times to help flush your media and then water only when the surface starts to dry.

Ok ill try your suggestions.
I have cut the new flower stalk and also the old one now

MoOriginal wrote:Thank you very much for the detailed comments.

You're welcome!

MoOriginal wrote: Ok ill try your suggestions.
I have cut the new flower stalk and also the old one now

I think that was a good idea based on how it looks. It will probably stall its growth for a few weeks while it decides what to do next. Just keep treating it the same as any other flytrap except I would refrain from feeding it for now. Please keep us updated on its progress!

Branmuffin wrote:The production of a flower stalk is very stressful for the plant and will spend nearly all of its energy to produce the flower. Most growers will cut the flower as soon as it appears so the plant does not waste energy on flower production. If it already has a white flower you are probably too late to cut it and make any difference. Now you can research how to pollinate the flower or cut it into a few pieces and make another plant.

That and they were rotting becuase A.The meal was to big B.The meal was sticking out of the mouth. The "arm" was rotting becuase it is dead since the leaf is dead(the plant isnt dead but only that "arm".)