FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hiya!

I saw a response in another thread that intrigued me.. it mentioned that many people start off with a 30-40 dollar VFT and then lose it due to beginner mistakes.

Given that I just bought a 30 dollar archangel I'm hoping this won't be me lol.

But what I'm wondering is.. what you'd refer to as beginner mistakes are all the normal things you'd read about in the resources found here right? (i.e. DO slow introduce to direct sun then 4+ hours daily the more the better, no tap water, do not over or under water, feed blood worms or other small feeding things for a boost, use the soil sold here that's meant for carnivorous plants etc).

Or are there other beginner mistakes beyond those covered in the main guides I should be watching out for. I elected for a starter because I thought it'd be fun to grow it from the juevenile stage .. but we shall see.

I think the usual beginner mistakes are over watering, and not enough light.

You bought your plant here correct? If so you shouldn't need to do too much acclimation.

Since you bought a potted plant the main thing you'll need to learn is watering. But if you can put your plant outside, it will be more forgiving than indoors on a windowsill.

Feel free to ask any questions you have I'll do my best, as well as everyone else here, to answer.

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cjpflaumer wrote:I think the usual beginner mistakes are over watering, and not enough light.

And with that thinking, you'd be 100% correct! Venus flytraps HAVE to be outdoors to be optimally healthy. If that is done, overwatering is much less of a threat, but still a threat. Keep the soil (moss) damp all the time, but not sitting in water for multiple days.

Other than lack of light and overwatering, there aren't often other causes of setbacks in new growers. Every once in a while, pests can cause problems, but if a good photo is posted here on the forum, the pests are easily diagnosed and dealt with.

You'll do great, I'm sure!

Here are two more common beginner's mistakes that might be worth mentioning. One is ignoring dormancy requirements. The other is leaving the poor plant in its Death Cube, imagining it to be a Tropical Exotic that needs 100% humidity and then sticking it into full sunlight.

Good growing,
Mike

I think that it's really about learning what works for the plants in your conditions. People say don't keep the soil too wet. I keep my pots sitting in a couple inches of water all year long and have no problems. I have a pot full of Mosser Lee sphag that everyone says is trash but my VFTs are loving it. They are growing dividing flowering with no problem. I bought a couple of "expensive" VFTs from the store here when I first started and they have grown amazingly. I haven't lost any. I'm not trying to contradict advice given here but a lot depends on your conditions. Like evenwind said it takes some experience to learn what your plants are telling you. But it's really not as hard as some people make it out to be to raise these amazing plants successfully.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:I keep my pots sitting in a couple inches of water all year long and have no problems.

People in the south and in very warm climates can get away with leaving their flytraps sitting in water all the time. I would still make the case that it isn't optimal for the plants though, and it does increase the chance of having problems.

The ideal soil moisture level for Venus flytraps is damp to very damp, not soaking wet or sitting in water, and never dry.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:I'm not trying to contradict advice given here but a lot depends on your conditions. Like evenwind said it takes some experience to learn what your plants are telling you. But it's really not as hard as some people make it out to be to raise these amazing plants successfully.

And this is really the bottom line! They are very tolerant plants, capable of dealing with less than ideal conditions for a very long time. Even if not provided ideal growing conditions, they can grow very well. And the longer you grow them, the easier caring for them becomes and the more you learn about what they want from you. We've been growing them for over a decade now and have lived in a few different places. Even though the places we lived have had quite different weather, and there were small differences in care requirements, the two basic things that I think are true for growing the healthiest plants possible are the first two mentioned:
1) Growing outdoors in full sun
2) Not keeping them sitting in water or too wet for too long

Matt wrote:

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:I keep my pots sitting in a couple inches of water all year long and have no problems.

People in the south and in very warm climates can get away with leaving their flytraps sitting in water all the time. I would still make the case that it isn't optimal for the plants though, and it does increase the chance of having problems.

The ideal soil moisture level for Venus flytraps is damp to very damp, not soaking wet or sitting in water, and never dry.

I live in Portland, OR, and so there is rarely a time when my VFTs are not in a full tray of water. They do great! Many even have water up to the top of the pot, but I've never had rot issues.

I think it helps that I am near the gorge, so winds come by that keep air flow high (dangerous when it freezes though, due to this). Nonetheless, we will get days of rain, and so far I've never had issues caused by this.

Benurmanii wrote:I live in Portland, OR, and so there is rarely a time when my VFTs are not in a full tray of water. They do great! Many even have water up to the top of the pot, but I've never had rot issues.

I used to grow my flytraps similarly, leaving them sitting in water all the time. Rarely had any problems either, at least not any moreso that I do now where I never leave them sitting in water.

However, what I've learned over the years is that they will grow much better, with a larger healthier root system, which will be able to support a larger plant overall, if they aren't left sitting in water all the time.

Matt wrote:

Benurmanii wrote:I live in Portland, OR, and so there is rarely a time when my VFTs are not in a full tray of water. They do great! Many even have water up to the top of the pot, but I've never had rot issues.

I used to grow my flytraps similarly, leaving them sitting in water all the time. Rarely had any problems either, at least not any moreso that I do now where I never leave them sitting in water.

However, what I've learned over the years is that they will grow much better, with a larger healthier root system, which will be able to support a larger plant overall, if they aren't left sitting in water all the time.

Hmm, this is not reflected in my experiences, but perhaps it is just my specific conditions, during the summer there is enough evaporation to allow for longer root growth.

I'm talking plants and roots like this (roots 12+ inches long and huge rhizomes):

Matt wrote:I'm talking plants and roots like this (roots 12+ inches long and huge rhizomes):

Ah, I see. For my intents and purposes, I would rather keep them in a tray than have to water them more often on their own. During the summer, a full tray may evaporate in just a few days. It would take too much time to maintain all of my VFTs at a more appropriate water level. However, I would certainly believe that VFTs can do very well sitting in water, from my experience.

Benurmanii wrote:Ah, I see. For my intents and purposes, I would rather keep them in a tray than have to water them more often on their own. During the summer, a full tray may evaporate in just a few days. It would take too much time to maintain all of my VFTs at a more appropriate water level. However, I would certainly believe that VFTs can do very well sitting in water, from my experience.

Yes, absolutely! There isn't any arguing that flytraps can do very well in a lot of different growing conditions. And there is certainly a tradeoff between ease of growing and providing ideal conditions. I think the best tradeoff I've seen is the growing conditions provided by forum user HeathenPriest, who uses very tall and deep pots (like office trashcan size) and sits them in a few inches of water. That keeps the water away from the rhizome, but provides enough moisture to the soil to keep the plants happily watered. And the trays only need topping off every few of days.

In this thread, I was providing information with regards to ideal growing conditions, based on experience over the last 10 years or so of growing these plants and interacting with growers all over the world using different methods and care techniques. Didn't intend to imply that there is only one way to happily grow Dionaea!

Keeping the moisture level of the soil at "damp" and not soaking wet will provide ideal conditions for these amazing plants to show what they're truly capable of achieving. That and, of course, being grown outdoors with ample direct sunlight.

Overwatering and lack of sunlight, at least in our experience over the years with seeing photos of dying flytraps from all over the US and the world, are the two leading causes of death of most Venus flytraps in cultivation. Those are the 2 most deadly "beginner mistakes"....oh, and growing in a terrarium, which normally provides both too much moisture and not enough light.

And for reference, here's heathenpriest's post about his Insanely Low-Maintenance, No-Brainer Potting Setup

Venus_Girl wrote: But what I'm wondering is.. what you'd refer to as beginner mistakes are all the normal things you'd read about in the resources found here right? (i.e. DO slow introduce to direct sun then 4+ hours daily the more the better, no tap water, do not over or under water, feed blood worms or other small feeding things for a boost, use the soil sold here that's meant for carnivorous plants etc).

Yep! The two most common are too much followed by too little water, and not giving them enough light. People want to grow them as house plants and they're just not ever going to grow that way. Other mistakes are being overly focused on feeding them, and accidentally using fertilizer, bottled water, spring water, the wrong type of media, too small a pot, etc.

Since it's your first flytrap, one thing you can do to really make sure you're not making a beginner mistake is start a running thread and post a picture of your flytrap every week or two along with a description of the conditions it's been under. Beginners frequently don't recognize problems early enough and then they have to try to rescue an unhealthy plant, which is difficult as a beginner.