FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello all,

This isn't the first time I've attempted to grow one of these guys. I've had a few over the years and have made all the newbie mistakes.

This time, however, I want to try a bit harder.

First, I don't live in a climate that would keep one of these alive, hardiness zone 3. Would *maybe* do fine during the summer, but early spring and late fall would be good for it's hibernation. Winter though, that will surely kill it.

So... I've actually used a small aquarium that worked well for my previous plant. I messed up during the winter, is why it died. This time I purchased a grow light, it seems to absolutely love it.

The growth medium is glass beads and rocks at the bottom, a smaller layer of smaller rocks. This gives a couple inches of drainage. On top I use a 50/50 mix of perilite and peat moss. I water down the side so the medium picks up the moisture from the bottom.

It doesn't get very humid, as our air is usually very dry.

It was doing extremely well for a while, but then started to produce a lot of shock traps. I mean a lot. Probably between 20-30 heads growing at once.

A few days ago I decided to replace the medium, I figured maybe I didn't make the moss thick enough.

The flytrap had actually split once, so now I have two (potentially).

It's only been a few days, I'll observe to make sure it's going well.

I do have a plan for hibernation this time.

Just wondering if this setup is decent? Suggestions?

First of all, Welcome to the forum!

Grow lights aren't ideal, but it can be done if they are strong enough. If at all possible I would move them outside during the summer, what kind of summer temps are you usually dealing with?

Yeah that first winter can be rough for alot of people, thats when I killed my first flytrap oh so many years ago. What are your plans for dormancy this time if you dont mind me asking?

Also as far the the potting media goes, are the rocks you used at the bottom of of those pots just normal rocks? If so I would remove them, over time they can leech minerals that can kill your flytrap.

I would consider myself a beginner, although I have lots of plants.

My thoughts:

- Don't use rocks, they will leech minerals into the soil, and you don't want that.
- No need for an "aquarium/terrarium", it can be detrimental. Flytraps do not need high humidity.
- For "bottom dressing" if you want it, use long fiber sphagnum moss instead of rocks.
- Your overall soil is good at 50/50 sphagnum peat/perlite, assuming you are not using one that contains additives (i.e. NO MiracleGrow).
- Not sure what light you have, but it might be ok.
- Only "bottom water" with distilled, reverse osmosis or "Zero Water Pitcher" (that brand specifically).
- You don't really want drainage, flytraps are bog plants and want to be moist at ALL times. Sitting in water (above) approx 1/4 up the pot.

I use 50/50 peat/perlite, and 3 Yescom LED lights for what I refer to as my "trophy shelf", they seem to be doing good so far. Hope that helps.

Summer temperatures are variable. This year is exceedingly hot, as we all have seen. Usually it's a lot more temperate.

I thought about having it outside during the summer. I did with previous one, for the days when I could.

This winter I have access to a garage area that gets very cool, but not freezing. I plan on putting it in there with the light, but for less hours than normal.

The grow light I have is an LED full spectrum light. It's actually bigger than recommended. 30W, if I recall. It's the first time I've seen a flytrap start producing red mouths. I've never seen one grow like that. The leaves are definitely leaning towards it. It simulates daylight so well that even when it's black night outside, it confuses me when it's on, I think it's still daytime.

The rocks I used are filler decorative stones. They were washed, but I do like the look of the glass beads better. I thought about using sand in the mix as well.

I think I got all the points.

I will point out that the aquarium certainly doesn't have high humidity, I just have it to help protect the plant from outside influences (kids, cats, other things).

It's got a cover to help ward off things going in, but I plan on moving it to a location that I can take the lid off. The lid is only a partial cover.

The water is distilled only. I put in enough to keep the moss moist but not soaked. It's 'squishy'.

I will consider going with all glass for the bottom. I had read that without the drainage rocks at the bottom it would succumb to root rot faster.

If you have a TDS meter and more of those stones laying around I would do a quick test. I had a bunch of "non-inert" colorful aquarium stones left over for an aquarium project, only 1 brand out of the 4 was actually fine for use. After rinsing and testing the thee others came out with TDS of 89, 50 and 75 if I'm remembering those numbers correctly.

Garage plan is perfect, thats my plan for this winter.

As for if the light is powerful enough I have no idea, ive never really tried growing VFT's under lights other than seedlings. But if it is reddening up and not looking spindly then its probably fine.

I'm going to look into the rocks thing. It's a possibility.

I think doubling the thickness of the medium from about 3" to 6" is going to help.

I just checked, yes it's a 32W full spectrum LED.

I will take some pictures in the next few days, once it it's a little less angry from being replanted. It seems to be doing pretty good though, seems to be recovering.

I just snapped a couple pics. And the tail of the one who would eat it if it wasn't covered. He's special

You might want to wiggle the pm up a bit, because it looks like they are planted top deep. Only the white of the rhizome should be covered, and the growth point should be visible

They are not getting enough light. The small traps and enlarged leaves are a sign of light starvation. The light needs to be brighter and closer.

The light is a 32W full spectrum LED, it is on a timer that has it on for about 14 hours/day.

It was enough to start traps turning red.

You might try adding a couple more hours. In my tent I run my lights for 16 hours. Seems to work well.

This is the light I use.

And yeah, I just adjusted the timer, I'll pump more hours into it.

If it wasn't right behind me and caused glare on my monitors, I'd leave it on all the time.

https://www.feit.com/product/8-clamp-mo ... row-light/

Well, a little update.

It's responding positively to the changes I've made. The leaves are upright and growing new heads, they seem to be getting bigger, but I will know more in a week or so.

The smaller one doesn't have any working mouths yet, so it can't eat anything.

The larger one I've given a couple bugs to, so it's all still functional.