FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello all,
I have been trying to get my VFTs to color up like most stock photos/other forum users' plants do. I feel like the main cause of them looking mostly green is due to them catching WAY to many of those tiny low-nitrogen gnat things that come out at night. Here are pics:
What Polish Dracula is supposed to look like at this time of year(credit: FTS) : What mine looks like this time of year: What 'Jaws' is supposed to look like this time of year(credit: Carnivero) : What mine looks like: What 'B52' is supposed to look like this time of year(credit: carnivorousplantsresource.com) : What mine looks like: I keep them in about 5 hours of evening sun on a mini greenhouse grow rack(I recently closed it to limit bugs from spoiling the color). If anyone knows how I can color them up better, or if I should just leave them be, all comments/opinions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Max

With flytraps, I beleive that you need a TON of sunlight to color them up.
I think you need direct (but filtered if it's too hot) sunlight.
My B52 currently looks similar to Carnivorousplantresource's, but with upright traps (a bit weird but it colors up nicely).

Agreed with CPhunter

More light, 8+ hrs of direct sun a day will get you the color you're looking for. Once acclimated you cant really give these things too much light. Just make sure that greenhouse isn't closed or you will have some cooked plants.

My B52s are out in full sun for 10 hours per day and colors look similar to the photo.

I'm doing an experiment right now where I'm hitting some seedlings with 1000+ umol/m^2 PPFD for 24 hours a day. some traps have turned black, but they are growing well.

Thanks guys, the only problem is I don't have a place where they can get 8+ hours of sunlight, all I have is my front porch where I get western evening sun, and my back porch where I get eastern morning sun, both of which get around 4 to 6 hours of sunlight. I can try putting them on the side of my house where they get direct sun from 6AM to 8PM, if I can find a place on the side of the house that is.

If you only have your front and back to choose from go with the front, Evening sun is stronger than morning sun.

Rammplins wrote:If you only have your front and back to choose from go with the front, Evening sun is stronger than morning sun.

That's true but the heat emitted from the evening sun is much worse than the morning sun. You will have to figure out how cool your CPs.

What kinda temps are we talking there? As long as its under 95 dergees or under it should be fine. If it were Texas, Arizona or some southern states I may worry, but if my plants here in Ohio are fine with it than I would imagine Oregon should be no problem.

If temps are still a problem he can ditch the greenhouse. They can become used to ambient humidity so you dont really need it anyways. I would only use the greenhouse if you want to extend your season a bit or protect from late season frost.

Maybe put up a flower box on a southern facing window? I have thought of putting one outside my kitchen window, so I can have some outside, and still see them whenever I want. Not sure how the wife would react, so I haven't done it yet

Currently, I grow all mine inside under LED lights, and have no issue with getting the red coloring, so maybe that would be an option? All of these are grown under Yescom 225 LED's, only $25 on Amazon.

Hey guys,
I just moved my plants to the side of my house, so it should be getting around 14 hours of sun, so 10 hours more than it should have . I took of the greenhouse cover and left it with just the rack, so I will update on how they color up.

PS the Temps are cooling off A LOT from the last 2 months of summer to now. It is 30 degrees colder(80 degrees)now than it was back in just(110+ degrees), So some pretty brutal summers here.

bcavanau wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 9:20 pm
Currently, I grow all mine inside under LED lights, and have no issue with getting the red coloring, so maybe that would be an option? All of these are grown under Yescom 225 LED's, only $25 on Amazon.

I have debated testing moving a 'Typical' indoors under my LED floodlight to see how well it colors up comparing to another division of it. That is, when my seedlings get big enough to go outside :D

MaxVft wrote:I have debated testing moving a 'Typical' indoors under my LED floodlight to see how well it colors up comparing to another division of it.

It won't color up very well unless you have extremely intense artificial lights. You should probably leave it outside where there is natural sunlight.

I live in arizona, and my plants are also pretty green. I can give them more light because it is cooling down significantly. If I give them more light now, will it mess up their dormancy schedule? Also how do i get color during the hot summer?

Sun is the answer if you want colour, or lights. Without it they will be green.
Cheers
Steve

Bright light and (relatively) cool temps bring out color in my experience. Even in the summer when mine get full sun for 14 hours they don’t color up great because of the 100+ temps, but do in the spring and fall when days are in the 70/80s and the nights in the 50s.