FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all. I am new to growing venus flytraps, and I think I am getting a little better. Hoping to propogate my venus flytraps by either rhizome division in the coming months before I put them into refrigerator dormancy.

I will attach photos of my current flytraps. I bought one from Joel's carniverous plants on Amazon, and one I rescued from the Wal-Mart death trap tubes that they sell.

Here is the artificial light I am using (which is touted as "full spectrum" photosynthetically active light). The manufacturer of this light I believe tells me to place the light about 35 to 45 cm above the plant for best growth (which I have found actually doesn't work). This light https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HQ3DPND?ps ... ct_details I bought as a recommendation of another venus flytrap website. I actually found it grows much taller when the light is closer. I also bought this (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HPGLZHL?ps ... ct_details) to see how much PAR my plant is getting per second (micromoles/second/m2 I think).

My question is can I force these plants to flower at a certain PPFD of broad spectrum light. According to this website, in the Carolinas the flytrap seems to flower in the spring months (so I am guessing March to June) and the DLI in the Carolinas at that time appears to be anywhere from 22 to 30. So my guess is I need to get my plants to get that amount of DLI and they will flower?
Here is the link to websites talking about PPFD and venus flytraps and calculations specifically part 2 is best https://curiousplant.com/light-carnivor ... ts-part-2/

Does anyone know much about this? I feel like I am simply experimenting here. Attached some useful shots of websites I found helpful I think, the products I have been using in my experiments and the VFT themselves and light placement.

I am currently doing experiment like this on VFTs. I do yet have experience growing VFTs under grow lights but I did get at least 3 pots of cephalotus to flower indoor. My indoor conditions are around 74F to 77F and about 25% to 55% relative humidity all year round in my grow room. The lights are on a digital timer that follows the daily changes in sunrise and sunset. I am over wintering a few pots of VFTs inside the grow room this coming dormancy season with the same light schedule as the sunrise and sunset and I will see if they flower next spring. I'm still not sure just how big of an effect the temperature changes are to the plants' que to go dormant or flower but if my cephalotus are anything to go by, it seems they're more in tuned with the light. Having said that, it is still hard for me to completely ignore the effects of temperatures in regards to dormancy.

In regards to lighting, 22 to 30 mols DLI is a ton of light! I'm not quite sure that the light fixture you linked can do that even if you had a 16 hour light cycle. Maybe it can do it on one or two pots but if that light fixture is actually doing an honest 96w, that's such a waste of power for just a pot or two. I looked at the sales page for that light and I couldn't see any par map which makes it a hard purchase for me. Without a PAR map, you have to take your own readings to get an idea just how far you need to hang the light and what the coverage area will be. Having said that, I don't really know if giving the plant that much daily light even matters for flowering VFTs. Though, I've seen people state that VFTs need around 250 to 400 micro mols PPFD minimum to be healthy long-term. That equates to around 12.6 to 20 mols DLI on a 14 light period. Again, that is to have a healthy VFT. I haven't seen any mention of this in regards to flowering.

I think if you're giving them fridge dormancy, the act of taking them out of the fridge in the spring and giving them enough light and temperature to wake them up would do more to get them to flower than the lighting. However, regardless of your intentions to flower the VFT, you should still be giving the plants enough light for them to stay healthy.

Thank you! That is useful information.If you remember to come back to this post in the future and comment on how your artificial lights are doing in regards to flowering your VFTs after dormancy let me know! I will be sure to update you on my experience if I remember! Yes I had just recently learned about PAR maps on artificial lights and wish I had known about this prior to buying the light I had bought rather than just taking random samples with my quantum PAR meter.

Thanks!

Yes, that's the thing about PAR maps, it's a compromise. You can hang a weak light really close to the plant and provide a ton of PAR, but that will only be for one pot. I used to do that when I only had one pot of cephalotus and it got great colors! However, as my collection grew, I had to hang the light farther away from the plants to increase the coverage but the coloration suffered. Also, keep in mind that lights have different specs in terms of PAR maps. You want to look for a fixture with as even a PAR coverage as possible at its recommended hanging height while still providing the PPFD that your plants need. In other words, it doesn't make much sense buying a light that will provide 1000 micro mols PPFD in the center but only 100 micro mols at the edges of its coverage at its recommended hanging height. You can certainly avoid placing plants at the edges of the light's coverage area but I think it's a waste of growing space especially indoors. In the other end of the extreme, it also doesn't make sense to buy a light that will evenly cover a 2'x4' area, for example, but only provide 100 micro mols of PPFD to any one area. That is not enough light for most carnivorous plants.

I recommend you to check on The Bud Grower Coupons at Reexoupons, you will easily get light and other indoor plant accessories from there, I recently go the whole kit due to this purpose, but I don't know which type you want, I hope it will helpful for you.