FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello to all. I just wanted to share my beginning experience thus far and get any comments/suggestions that anyone would be kind enough to offer

I have always gardened and have had an interest in plants my entire life, but somehow carnivorous plants just never made it onto my radar. However, that has now changed when I got a VTF for X-mas this year. A great gift indeed. Ever since then I have read as much online and watched a number of YouTube videos to educate myself so that I can be a responsible owner of this awesome plant.

It came as what I have read is a “rescue plant”. That is, in a shallow pot with a plastic dome on top. Being that it was late December and knowing there is a dormancy period I let the VTF acclimate in my home. Unfortunately I live in Northeast Ohio which means keeping it outside is near impossible due to the winter we have. However, this year’s winter has been extremely mild and we have had numerous days of temps in the 40’s and 50’s. Thus, whenever conditions were right, I would leave the plant outside to mimic as best I could conditions of a “warm” winter that it may have had in its native habitat. This did seem to cause grown to slow and some of the leave to discolor, like pictures I have seen of dormant plants.

Now, early March, I noticed the VTF putting out several new leaves, just like it woke up all the sudden. I assume this is due to the days getting longer and the VTF getting triggered to know spring is almost here. I read that the best time to transplant was when the plant was coming out of dormancy so I mixed up a 1:1 sphagnum moss/perlite mix and went at it. The plant had a small offshoot so one VFT became two.

The pots are 5 inches deep and the plants sit 4 inches deep in the pot. As you can see, on the larger of the 2 one of the traps has a meal in it. I found a clothing moth (I hate those things) fluttering in my house. I stunned it and fed it to the trap which without hesitation closed and took the meal.

At this point, I also had some questions/idea, that I wanted to toss out.

1) Some of the traps I tried to feed my captured moth to didn’t react to stimulation. Is the normal since they just got replanted and are coming out of a dormant period? I know they still photosynthesize so they have value to the plant, just don’t know if at a later date if they will start being able to capture prey.

2) Where I live it snows during the winter. Don’t mean this to be a dumb question but I assume melted snow is the same as rainwater and that I am safe to use for my VFT.

3) The little baby trap has little traps growing in. I read somewhere fruit flies are a possible good meal for them at this stage? Any thoughts on the pros cons of that? I have a compost pile in my back yard that attracts a lot of these when I put fresh scraps out and thought I could just set the trap down next to it and let nature take its course.

4) Should I trim off the half dead or “not good looking” leaves since transplanting? Or should I let the plant be at this point.

Sorry for the log post and thanks to any input and advice.

Glad to hear you are having fun with your new VFT!

1) The low-growing dormant leaves don't usually react much. Try feeding the new, upright leaves that grow ass the plant emerges from dormancy

2) melted snow is probably fine, but you can always just use distilled water from the grocery store or pharmacy

3) fruit flies should be fine, however you probably don't need to feed the baby plant directly if it is still attached to the 'mother' plant. If they are still attached they are sharing nutrients, so you can feed the bigger one

4) you can certainly trim off any dead leaf material

Ok. Thanks.

Yes, I separate the new plant from the larger of the two. It's putting out new growth so I guess will just wait and see.

My main difficulty I can foresee coming is when next winter sets in. They are always cold for a duration. Cold meaning below zero. I will have to figure some way to get them into dormancy. I have though about the garage, which is attached to the house, but still it gets nearly as cold as outside. I may have to enclose them out in the garage with a light and heat source but that's something I'll have to figure out as I get near that time. Thanks.

Or use the fridge.

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Vft are very hardy plants and can handle freezing temps outside long as pot is insulated or in ground covered

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