FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Howdy

I am new to this forum and growing stuff in general. I have always wanted a VFT so am in love with my new addition already!! ha ha!.. It gather from this site that leaing it / him (its called Dino) outside is the way forward for catching its own bugs, rainwater etc. But I wasnt sure if the small plastic pot that I bought it in would suffice? are there any other things I need to know about keeping it outside? i.e. drainige? shelter from the wind? should I bring the plant indoors in the heart of winter? (live in the north of UK so it gets pretty harsh).

I want to get it outdoors ASAP so any help would be appreciated. I dont want to just put it outside and kill it.

Thanks for your time, look forward to hearing from you.

Welcome to the forums, chap!

As for your problem, if you just got your flytrap, you may want to acclimate it to light. that means to slowly introduce your plant to sunlight. so give your plant only a few hours of direct sunlight for a few days, then give it a few more hours for a few days, and then keep doing that until your plant gets used to the sun. more info can be found on the page about light for flytraps here http://www.flytrapcare.com/the-importan ... traps.html


As for your pot, if it is not at least 5 inches deep, i would recommend re potting. you will need at least a 5-7 inch pot, because this will give the roots space to grow more. you will also see a boost in health if you re pot your plant. preferably a white pot because this keeps the temperature of the soil more constant and moderate, which is good for the roots and the entire plant. a 16 or 20oz Styrofoam cup is an excellent and cheap pot for a Venus flytrap. but a 20oz pot may be a little top heavy and blow over in the wind, so if you are using a 20oz cup, just put a rock at the bottom of it, preferably quartz. if you are re potting, you cant use soil from your backyard, as this will kill the plant. you have to obtain special soil. the most common carnivorous plant mix is 1 part sphagnum peat moss, and one part perlite. this nutrient poor soil is what flytraps grow in, and will be healthy in that type of soil. more information on soil can be found here http://www.flytrapcare.com/media-soil-f ... traps.html

As for the winter, Venus flytraps are hardy plants, so they must have a winter dormancy every year. this dormancy lasts 3-5 months in the winter. depending on where you live, there are various ways on how to get your plant into dormancy. if you say your winters are harsh, then its probably not best to keep them outside. however there are ways to keep them outside, like burying the plant in leaves to keep them warm. but if you don't want to do this, an unheated garage or basement with a window facing east west or south is a very good way to get your plant into dormancy. if you don't have a garage or an unheated basement, then your only option if the refrigerator method, but only use this as a last resort. what you do if uproot the plant, wrap it in a damp, not wet paper towel, and place it in the fridge. if you want to reduce the risk of a fungal infection, then cut off all the green parts of the leaf, but leave the white soft part ( the rhizome) and wrap it in the towel. more information on dormancy can be found here http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy.html


Venus flytraps cannot be watered with tap water, unless your lucky and your waters total dissolved solids are less than 50 ppm ( can be tested with a TDS meter). So what you can water it with is distilled, rain water, or reverse osmosis water (or an RO unit). a way to water them is to get a pot with holes in the bottom and simply place the pot in a standing tray of pure water, although some people don't recommend it. and remember, the soil should be moist, not wet. more information on water can be found here http://www.flytrapcare.com/the-importan ... traps.html



Read all these pages and you will have a very happy and very healthy flytrap!

I also live in the Uk and Pieguy has basically explained it all very well

Just to add something about dormancy here in the UK i did my first one last year i think the end of October is when i noticed mine starting so maybe beware near to the end of that month. Basically for the UK just bring them inside and place them in a unheated room near a window i think my window faced east 3 months dormancy is plenty i noticed

Hello and welcome to FlytrapCare

Pie has you covered, just wanted to say Hi, welcome to the FTC forums.