FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Ok I'm sure my vfts are doing well because they live here naturally because otherwise it's just dumb luck that they are still alive.

I checked out vfts months ago on the internet and apparently there are fakes out there and I hate to be tricked. So I read a lot and started looking around at local retailers and found really bad looking products. Some were in smaller than egg size containers, w/1 or 2 leaves, for $5.99. I even looked for some that might have been left from last year but nothing.

I found a few that were seeds plus sphagnum moss and came in a terrarium that seemed like a nice product. I also just saw a ok product that is in a plastic terrarium and there are different types of cps. A nepenes, vfts, pitcher plant.

OK so I got lucky and found a nice product at a local nursery that he had leftover from last year. I knew I had a deal because these were already full-grown plants - several years old.(with babies)

I have had them since early May or 2 months. They have grown like mad with lots of rain showers

So anyway, that said, I have these little guys and gals outside in as much sun as they can handle right now.
I just realized from another thread that mine were not getting enough sun, hence the trap is wide open. I thought they were getting a lot of sun but not really direct light so I changed that today. I know some will get burned but trust yall they will recover. So in the pic, the traps are wide open in an odd way. After leaving in full sun for just an hour, they closed up to normal or close to normal. It was also about 95f with 85% humidity. I will get new pics with the traps looking normal.

For the most part, they have received only rain water. mostly rain showers but I collect some. They have dried out a few times but recovered ok(was in the shade). I need to get a tray that holds water and let them sit in it. I've moved them where they will get more direct sun - it's super hot now and 80-100% humidity. I've never misted them. I was going to repot them but guess I will wait til they finish flowering and making seeds.

I think I will look for a filtered mesh covering so they don't get burnt. idk I tried a sheet and it seemed weird.

And go on a laugh, I'm repurposing a babie crib to roll around my cps so I can roll them in and out and it makes a mini green house. Go on and laugh now but wait til you see it.

So the only other thing I tried was placing some leftover watermelon on the deck around the vft and flies gathered and Venus feasted. After several days, some traps have died and others reopened with dried flies I'd trim the leaves but have read that they like the nutrients from leaves so leave them.

I

What do you mean by using the baby crib to roll them in and out? Are you taking your plants in and out of your house daily?

Thanks Kate. no. they are outside all the time. It gets well below 40F here in the Winter at times and I'd have to bring them inside. Therefore, I thought I'd set up a rolling terrarium/green house and set up grow lights for inside for winter. I'm very creative with what I have. I wish I had a green house but that's not an option. All I can figure is a bog must put out it's own heat to keep these guys from freezing in winter. I'm open to ideas

I subjected my fly traps to freezing temps on more than one occasion, they're fine. As long as they are dormant they'll take it with a grain of salt. My Megatraps was a block of ice over the winter and it came out like it never got frozen solid. I put it too close to the freezer section in the mini fridge.

They were also subjected to a late frost and a late freeze this year due to mother nature being completely bipolar up here.

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Hey, I'm good with my vfts being typicals. They are a nice hardy typical. I have a order of vfts otw from the flytrapstore now anyway. But these little guys and gals are doing great. The only thing I changed was the amount of full sunlight they received. I didn't realize that they were only getting dappled light and only an hour of that. I've increased the light to about 5 hours of mostly midday sun: 11am to 4pm. I wanted to add more light because its blooming and the traps are were wide open. It seems to me that they do this when the bloom to get more light, even if they are getting a lot of light. I have a lot of blooms on the way I hope. I wouldn't have normally jumped so quickly to 5 hours from just dappled but it has been partly cloudy and rainy so I let it go as long as possible. I'm guessing but seems some flower stems grew more than an inch in a week. Some not so much. The sun is burning some of the old leaves but the plant is happy and I trust yall on this. Boarderlib I'm beginning to believe the vft is much tougher than I ever thought. And I'm learning dormancy techniques I didn't know existed.

This is 7 days from last pics. They are doing great. The traps look more normal and meaner with more sunlight.

Dang, they look like they have grown really well in your care! I think you got a good deal, there are at least 5 plants in that pot!

So it has only been a month since I started this thread. Why does it seem like such a long time? Seems like 4 months. Here is a pic. It has blown up. I'm not sure if it is a Rocket farms typical or not but likely it is. It says grown in Florida though. If its a RFT, the seeds are not viable anyway, so I will likely cut the flower stems off. (I have read the seeds are not viable on these threads. idk yet. )

Hey, your traps look great and really healty! Don't be afraid to let them get lots of direct hot sun. They love it and will eat it up as long as they have access to water. Some traps may die off but all the new ones will be tolerant of the new conditions.

There are a couple plants in there that have slightly cupped traps and a nice red color. I'm going to try to separate these from the rest of the typicals.

I didn't remove the moss from the small pot of traps. I just stuck the whole ball in new nzlfspm. I soaked the ball and loosened up the roots that were wrapped at the bottom of the small pot. btw. its still Summer here with daytime temps in the 80s F

Wow, that is a vigorous VFT.