FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everyone! I am a person who has always had a fascination for venus flytraps, but only got into the venus flytraps community here recently, and ive come to ask questions regarding my venus flytrap’s sunburn.
I have started with a venus flytrap that i have purchased back in February from a nearby bunnings in kingsgrove, and i thought it was natural to start with the smaller, cheaper, venus flytraps there before advancing to the other larger species like B-52 and DC-XL
My venus flytrap was doing pretty well before. It had went through dormancy back from early june till the end of august, the winter months in Australia. However, it still hasn’t exited its dormancy and I say this because the traps on the leaves aren’t as large as they can be like in summer, and the actual leaves are quite large while they should be skinny and sprouting more vertically. I saw my cousins flytraps also from bunnings and the traps are much larger, with skinnier and vertical summer leaves. Right now, its springtime here, and will be summer by the start of December.
Back in august or September, I took the venus flytraps out into the sunlight. However, I think introducing them to the sunlight was too sudden for the dormant plant, and therefore caused a massive sunburn. I have however, managed to resurrect my venus flytrap, having previously only one trap, now it has 4 traps with three newborns sprouting. I also saw that my most recently formed trap is developing a slight reddish interior, is that a sign of exiting dormancy?
The problem is, I don’t know how to get it out of dormancy and eversince it had that massive sunburn, killing most of the plant, ive become extremely paranoid and only give it four hours of weak sunlight. My cousin however says four hours is nowhere near enough and its true. Ive read on websites that venus flytraps like approx eight hours of direct sunlight minimum. But I took my venus flytraps out today in the morning sunlight from 9am to 10am, to eventually notice that within just one hour, the oldest trap back in early spring has already got the slightest black sunburn.
As for watering the flytraps, I water them in this spring season every week, using demineralised water in the plate the pots sit in. I also water the top of the peat and moss soil mix. Should I do this more often than on a weekly basis for the summer seasons? How many hours of sunlight should I give for the summer vs the winter?
I don’t know how to combat this issue to get my venus flytrap out of dormancy, and everytime I take it out in the sun it gets sunburnt within a short time (seems to be a really weak plant). I would hate for my venus flytrap to die again from sunburn, as I lost two of the three plants from its vegetative propagation due to this and am on my last one. If you guys could give me any of your advice or opinions to deal with this, I would really appreciate it. Do let me know what you think. Thanks!
The two photos attached are taken of my venus flytrap in its current state. You can see a slight sunburn on the right side of the largest leaf. The traps are still irresponsive btw

That plant needs way more light. Acclimate it by putting it in morning sun for a couple hours then shade the rest of the day. Every couple days move it to where it gets a little more light, about an hour or so more. Do this for a couple of weeks until it is in full sun all day. Some leaves may die off but the new leaves emerging will be acclimated to the sun.

I'm a totally amatuer VFT grower.
Always been fascinated by them as a kid [I'm 34 now by the way] but just got my 1st one last summer. Did A LOT of research on them and cared good for them all the way up until it went dormant in late October ish [can't remember for sure] but since about October/November my 2 plants have been sitting in a cupboard cut off from sunlight, food, stimulation, and water [my bad on that last part I'm beginning to think]. So I just took them outta their winter hibernation cupboard and took them outside and began watering them today. But this is the 1st time they've had ANY attention in about 5 months. Above the "soil" all I can see are the black dead stems and traps from when it went into hibernation. The medium they are in, which is the correct kind, was BONE DRY b4 I started watering them today.

Did I kill my vft by not watering it AT ALL since about 5 months ago?

Or should I just clip away all the dead sprouts and wait for the new buds to come back up. Or won't they come back? I think that's about all the information I needed to provide.


Really hoping I didn't kill my VFTs cuz I think the store I got them from is prolly closed now cuz of this pandemic going on these days.

EGROEG, sounds like you're doing fine. Put it outside, let it acclimate itself. If you go the tough love route, the existing leaves may sunburn and go down, but the new leaves produced will be fine. If you want a more conservative approach, get some shade cloth. Allow direct morning light, then shaded from about noon on the rest of the day. These plants are tougher than you think, keep it moist and it will likely be fine.


Wicked clown, yours may be dead.
Don't worry about trimming anything, just get the media hydrated and keep it hydrated with distilled or rain water. After about a week I would check the rhizome, if you can find it. Based on your description of care for the last 5 months, I wouldn't give it too much hope. However, you never know... Good luck.