FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey all, the update on my VFT that I recently acquired is that it has been moved indoors. Some critter was harassing it on my back porch and it looks to be worse for wear. I don’t know if it is going to live but I put it on a shelf with a 6500k cfl about 6” from the plant. Thank god for clothes hanger. If this plant survives the winter, I will be able to purchase more to learn growing skills and I will likely use a 4’ T5 setup until I can grow outdoors in the country. Anywho, what do you all think about my current setup with the cfl?

The picture did not come through.

You may want to consider a 48 inch LED shoplight. They are available in Daylight color with plenty of light output and they do not have as much heat output as T5 Fluorescents.

Just my two cents worth.

Good growing,
Mike

Thank you for the response! I will definitely look to price out an LED setup vs. the T5 once I have a collection worthy of the lighting. As for now, what are your thoughts on the CFL I am using? It is 6500k. I will have to get the photo up ASAP.

So it appears my VFT is struggling a bit. Seems a little better since it has settled inside under the light but I trimmed off a little dead material and it does appear there are small new traps starting to grow, probably 4-6 really small ones. Is this a sure sign my plant is dying or is there a way to tell if this is recovery growth?

Afaik smaller traps mean it's not enough light, but I'm still new to this

Small leaves & traps = low light (given that it's high summer and not in dormancy)

My $5 flytrap from Walmart had about 6 to 8 normal-sized traps on longer leaves, and a dozen newer tiny short leaves with no traps, just a bit of a bump at the end.

This was a combination of older traps growing in whatever brighter greenhouse conditions that plant was raised in, and what it desperately did in the dim-light death tube under store fluorescents.

On the other hand, my Flytrap Store plants had no significant fresh growth for a couple of weeks after arrival, and some traps turned black until the plant adjusted. But when they began putting out new leaves those were the same size/shape as the original ones.

So a VFT doesn’t sprout small traps that get bigger over time, they will not be fully formed until full size? I’m a bit confused?

Venus Flytraps are not houseplants. Some people grow them indoors but they don't last long indoors. They need 6+ hours of direct Sun a day and indoor Sun isn't as strong as outdoor.

tommyr wrote:Venus Flytraps are not houseplants. Some people grow them indoors but they don't last long indoors. They need 6+ hours of direct Sun a day and indoor Sun isn't as strong as outdoor.

It is possible to grow inside if you use strong grow lights.

Whiskeycharlie wrote:................... it does appear there are small new traps starting to grow, probably 4-6 really small ones. Is this a sure sign my plant is dying or is there a way to tell if this is recovery growth?

New growth is never a sign that your plant is dying. Without a photo, we can only guess what you mean by small new traps. Of course, they start out small and get bigger. Are they staying really small as they open up? Then you will want more lighting.

Long-term indoor growing is quite challenging. It requires a lot of care and attention to do grow indoors year-round and flytraps growing indoors can look better than their outdoors counterparts but are almost never as healthy as flytraps growing outdoors. It is also usually more expensive to grow indoors and problems with crown rot, disease and pests are more prevalent. For all of these reasons, we at FlytrapStore always recommend that everyone grow outdoors. Of course, that isn't always an option for everyone.

Thankfully, if your only issue with growing outdoors is something bothering your plant, that is usually an easy fix. If it is something larger, like a squirrel that is harassing your plant when it is outside, rather than moving it indoors, it may be a better choice to build something to protect it, like a small cage. There are quite a few threads about such implements on the forums here that you could find by searching. Basically, most people build a small wooden frame and then use some sort of fencing like chicken wire or similar to fence in all 4 sides and the top. That way the cage can be lifted off for easy access to care for the plant.

Whiskeycharlie, here's a picture of low-light underdeveloped traps, which might help illustrate the difference between a small normal leaf that's still growing and a small leaf that's a result of inadequate light.

The only new leaf that has appeared since I got this plant at Walmart is the large-ish one just left of center. Its trap is still folded and growing.

This plant had a long period in very low light (in the store), when it grew small leaves with proportionally smaller traps. Compare those little stubby ones in the center to the normal-size leaves around the outside (cropped out of the image, but you get the sense of scale).

Those little leaves/traps won't grow any bigger, nor do I expect those folded traps to open.

But that larger new leaf is closer in size to the large outer leaves, and its folded trap is more normally sized (not just a stub). This plant is outside and gets a half-day of direct midday sun and bright indirect sun the rest of the day.

Don't bring them inside, instead figure out a way to protect them outside like Matt said.