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By Bradford
Posts:  3
Joined:  Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:52 pm
#376607
Hey everyone. I am interested in growing some traps as a new hobby. Seems like a fun pastime. I would like any suggestions on where to start with the very basics so I don't get in over my head to quickly! I live in North West Florida and it's very humid most often with plenty of direct sun in my yard. I would appreciate a certain seed or kit from this site to get me started. Thanks in advanced for any suggestions.

Brad
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By Shadowtski
Location: 
Posts:  4720
Joined:  Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:19 am
#376609
Welcome to the forum!
Matt put up some care and feeding pages here: www.flytrapcare.com
Matt and Leah also run an online store selling top quality flytraps and other carnivorous plants.
https://www.flytrapcare.com/store/
Look around and enjoy.
Good growing,
Mike
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By That one plant boi
Posts:  823
Joined:  Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:34 pm
#376612
Hello there! Central Floridian here!
Welcome to the hobby, and this forum!

For the very basics, Venus flytraps require soil with no added additives, meaning no fertilizers, minerals, or chemicals of any kind. A pure untampered medium is needed, such as sphagnum peat moss or LFSM (long fibered sphagnum moss).

Water should be more simple. Most carnivorous plants want water less than 60ppm, and Venus flytraps are no exception. Distilled or reverse osmosis water will do just fine. Again, water high in minerals or additives are bad for them. Make sure not to keep them waterlogged 24/7 as they do prefer to be kept moist, though here in Florida, you could probably get away with watering them a bit extra as to avoid being toasted by the lamp of hell we have in the sky.

Sunlight is also pretty simple. At the very least they should be getting four hours of direct sun with bright light the rest of the day, though six or more hours is ideal. If having been grown anywhere other than outdoors, placing a flytrap in direct sun could result in the leaves burning, though this can be avoided by slowly getting it accustomed to the sun by setting it outdoors for a set period of time, then bringing it back into shelter. Gradually increase the time it spends in the sun until it is fully accumulated.

And of course, the kind of pot you choose for you plant is important. Unglazed clay pots are often not a good choice because they leak minerals into the soil over time. Plastic pots are often the way to go with these guys, and they prefer taller pots with plenty of depth to accommodate their long root system. Since you're in Florida, a white pot might be best to help avoid overheating the soil.

If kept outside, you won't have to feed your plant. They take care of that on their own. If indoors, they can be fed small insects or dried bloodworms, though I have no experience feeding pre-killed prey to them. They don't require food to live long term, it's more or less just a way to fertilize themselves.

During the winter, flytraps will go dormant, and this is completely natural. Necessary even! They can tolerate light frosts and cold weather, so unless there is going to be an extended frost that'll last for several days, you won't have to bring it inside. (No problem for Florida though)

And I think that's it for the most part. I'll let the professionals chime in and give their advice now.

Hope this helped!




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By Bradford
Posts:  3
Joined:  Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:52 pm
#376624
Thank you so much. That was very helpful information. I can't wait to get going. Just need to know which I should try and purchase. Whether a kit or just seeds. Which strain? I can go by lowes and gather the other materials in preparation. Again thanks for the great advice.
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By That one plant boi
Posts:  823
Joined:  Mon Oct 09, 2017 7:34 pm
#376628
No problem!
I would go with an already established plant. Seeds can take a while to get going and once they do germinate, they tend to stay small for a while.

Most cultivators are the same care-wise, so it's really up to your personal preferences.

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By hungrycarnivores
Posts:  116
Joined:  Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:53 pm
#376633
Bradford wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:12 pm Thank you so much. That was very helpful information. I can't wait to get going. Just need to know which I should try and purchase. Whether a kit or just seeds. Which strain? I can go by lowes and gather the other materials in preparation. Again thanks for the great advice.
Many people say "oh... start with some typicals", but I'm not a fan of that. I just jumped headfirst. That said, here are some *more* vigorous beginner's plants

- Drosera capensis: easy beginner plant
- Pygmy sundews (bought as gemmae), sow these on standard media and they grow fast
- Any sarracenias (they do well outdoors and would be perfect for you)
- Drosera Regia, this one's kinda rare but honestly I torture mine; one of the easiest dews, if you are able to get over the 40 dollar price-point for one.
- Nepenthes Sanguinea/Ventricosa/Veitchii/Boschiana/Fusca - These are more indoor (the others are all outdoor), but don't go for ventrata. Horrible beginner's plant, even I can't get mine to pitcher. These will pitcher every time, grow on windowsills (or outdoors in the summer) and are very nice.

As for vfts, I recommend King Henry or B-52 or Red Dragon (Akai Ryu). Why? Since they're so much more vigorous than the typicals, but they are about 15 bucks (2x the price). I would go quality over quantity when starting out.
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By sanguinearocks101
Location: 
Posts:  1665
Joined:  Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:56 am
#376635
Bradford wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:12 pm Thank you so much. That was very helpful information. I can't wait to get going. Just need to know which I should try and purchase. Whether a kit or just seeds. Which strain? I can go by lowes and gather the other materials in preparation. Again thanks for the great advice.
I have a D. capensis Alba that I could give you some leaf cuttings from if you send me a SASE.
If you do not know what a SASE is here is a link describing them https://terraforums.com/forums/threads ... se.115000/
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By MikeB
Location: 
Posts:  1867
Joined:  Sat Apr 25, 2020 4:13 pm
#376639
Bradford wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:12 pmI can go by lowes and gather the other materials in preparation.
One note: Don't buy any Miracle-Gro products to put in your carnivorous plant soil. That company sprays fertilizer on everything. It can be hard to find any other brand of peat moss or perlite. I discovered that Ace Hardware sells SunGro (Black Gold and Sunshine) products; they're safe to use.
By Bradford
Posts:  3
Joined:  Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:52 pm
#376742
That would be great if you had some clippings I could have. I'm not sure how this forum/chat is set up yet but if you can get me your address I will definitely do that. THANKS!

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