FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello everyone!

The name's Laura, and I'm a total beginner to growing and caring for VFTs. I received a starter pack for these fantastic plants (as well as some Pitchers) not too long ago, and I'm aiming to begin planting for the new year! I'm very excited!

I came across this website after Googling for VFT care; it's exactly what I'm looking for, and I thought these boards would be fantastic to be a member of. I'm going shopping tomorrow and I'm aiming to get whatever's necessary to have my plants off to the best start! I'm a little worried about growing my VFT outside, seeing as it's very cold here so I was thinking about artificial lighting but I'll need to see if I can find anything tomorrow that's a reasonable price! The starter pack I've been given has Coir pots and compost with it, but I'm going to see about getting my hands on some peat moss and perlite for transplanting later on.

Any tips and suggestions for a complete starter would be highly appreciated!

Another Scot welcome to the forum, where i am right now its freezin' and a know Aberdeen's alot worse so aye dont grow them outside gettin' some lights is your best bet am a newbie to but am sure am right in what am sayin' others will help you better

Paddy.

Hello Laura welcome to flytrapcare!

What kinda pitcher plants are you referring too?
I'm pretty sure that you're VFT will be okay doing to the fact that they should be in dormancy around this time. just wondering what kinda Temps do you have there the Highs and Lows. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Thanks both of you for the welcome!

allenc666 - I think the sachet of pitcher seeds that I've been given is a mixture of Sarracenia. I don't know exactly which species of Pitcher there is in the pack, though.
As for climate, I'm not exactly sure but I came across this page which is relative to temperature, sunshine and rain fall that we get here, if it's any help at all: http://en.allmetsat.com/climate/united- ... code=03091

You're temperatures seem reasonable for you venus flytrap to be grown outdoors.

Do you think?
I was a little worried as about this time of year until well into March or so, it has a tendency to be frosty and we get a lot of snow. I didn't know how a VFT would react to such conditions?

Hi and welcome!

allenc666 wrote:You're temperatures seem reasonable for you venus flytrap to be grown outdoors.

really? its like frost bite the minute you step outside you probebly wont get higher than 5c if that right now its been 0c and minus later in the day + all night

Aberdeen's just a 2 hours drive from where i live and 3c today was the highest i've seen it all month. Useually Aberdeens always colder than my area too.

x-laura-c-x wrote:Do you think?
I was a little worried as about this time of year until well into March or so, it has a tendency to be frosty and we get a lot of snow. I didn't know how a VFT would react to such condiitions?

Yeah but you might have to protect them from frost and prolong freezing temps. Also I think I miss converted from C to F haha

Hello and welcome to FlytrapCare Laura!

You sound like you are on the right track for getting set up to grow carnivorous plants. You should be able to grow them outside in the summer. In the winter, it might be a bit too cool unless you have a greenhouse or some other bit of protection for them.

If you're wanting to start your seeds now, you should definitely consider artificial lighting. Seedlings require a bit more protection than adult plants.

@Matt - Thanks for the welcome and the information!
I did figure that the weather right now is a little too harsh, for seedlings especially. I'll just need to see if I can find any decent artificial lighting tomorrow and hope that it's not too expensive!

You can start seedlings without much light. You can just get a simple compact fluorescent bulb and that should work. Of course, the brighter the better, but even a low end bulb should work ok for starting seedlings. Then when it starts warming up a bit in the next 3 or 4 months, you can start introducing them to sunlight.

@Matt - Okay, thankyou very much!
I'll try that. With any luck, I'll have the seeds planted in the next couple of days and we'll see how it goes from there.

Welcome! I'm new here too and trying to acquire information, so pardon the partial thread hijack

What color of CFL do you think would give the best results? I'm beginning to think I'm going to need to supplement my plants light during the growing season...

@95slvrZ28- Thanks for the welcome! And it's no problem.

Although I'm very much a beginner and there's obviously better people to answer your question, I have already looked up information regarding the different colours since I'll be hunting for such tomorrow, and this caught my attention:

ehow.co.uk wrote: Use the daylight type of CFL when the plants are in the vegetative or early stages of growing, because at this point they do not need as much light as they will later.

Switch the light bulb to soft white for the flowering stage of the plant if it flowers. Soft white is similar to a high-pressure sodium or HPS light, which gives off more light and is better suited for the flowering stage.

I think this information is aimed at plants in general but if soft white does give off light better as this suggests then it may be most suited to plants that require more sunlight. Again though, the experts will most likely be best suited to 'shedding some light' on this matter (ah-ha, I do crack myself up sometimes).