FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Yo! Been a long time scince I have logged on. Nice to see theres still a wealth of info and a lot of newcomers to the forum.

As title suggests, I have a 10 year plus venus that is all crammed in one pot, I noticed earlier quite a impressive mutated trap that has two mouths. Not a double headed trap but a trap within the jaws of the same trap. Looks proper evil and is almost at the poit of the pair opening together. Low light at the moment so a decent pic will have to await till tomorrow. This plant has been going for some years and very rarely gets divided. Had a bit of a cull on the mass last year so is now just starting to fill out. This plat. grown in the uk spends most of its life outside only coming inside when frosts occur.

Has anyone experienced mutated traps? Would be interested In your pics. Will post a picky tomorrow when lighting better.

Mine get mutated traps a lot in the spring.

Hello I'm new. I picked up a few years worth of plants in one winter. I can't wait to see this picture. How come your didn't separate thr plants out, if I could ask.

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Hi cross, never felt the need to separate them unless the pot gets too overcrowded, which it does. I prefer one massive pot of pure insect carnage haha. Don't get me wrong, I have massive respect for insects but where my plants concerned I let nature take its course and leave it be as much is as possible. My pitchers are the same. It gets to the point in August where wasps are falling out the mouths as its so full

toecutter wrote:Hi cross, never felt the need to separate them unless the pot gets too overcrowded, which it does. I prefer one massive pot of pure insect carnage haha. Don't get me wrong, I have massive respect for insects but where my plants concerned I let nature take its course and leave it be as much is as possible. My pitchers are the same. It gets to the point in August where wasps are falling out the mouths as its so full

insect carnage. I am hoping my plants will help with the insect problem here.

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I like the new guy, he gets it.

What are you using for soil? Are you saying you never repotted ever? If so how long has it been?

I have used a carni pot mix from my local store for many years with great results for both my pitchers and Venus.

Unfortunately, that has now been discontinued so will have to sort something at somepoint. The Venus just gets left in its pot for years on end. If it gets too full I rip a couple of plants out and pop in a pot with the fresh mix and give away to friends or family. (Sounds brutal and careless but I do have love for my plants )

The soil in the mother plant pot is essentially the same soil for the last decade...

Sometimes I think plants can be overcared for. I remember growing venus traps as a child and killing them with over attention. I let them do their thing now. Sometimes not checking on them for several weeks. Sounds careless, but works it works for me.

OMG you sound just like me.

My big thing around here is telling people to put their plants outside and leave them alone, no matter what happens leave them alone. They will be fine.

I consider myself to be brutal to my plants too, I don't really do anything for them, I forget to water often, pots almost dry out because I forget about them. In the winter before I bring them in they get snowed on a lot and during the winter the pots freeze solid many times and it kills all the top growth. Yet they grow out of control and are just beautiful.

I'm now considering repotting every 2-3 years instead of yearly, just don't see the point. Waste of time and money it seems to me.

Fieldofscreams wrote:OMG you sound just like me.

My big thing around here is telling people to put their plants outside and leave them alone, no matter what happens leave them alone. They will be fine.

I consider myself to be brutal to my plants too, I don't really do anything for them, I forget to water often, pots almost dry out because I forget about them. In the winter before I bring them in they get snowed on a lot and during the winter the pots freeze solid many times and it kills all the top growth. Yet they grow out of control and are just beautiful.

I'm now considering repotting every 2-3 years instead of yearly, just don't see the point. Waste of time and money it seems to me.

How often do your plants see truly sub freezing temps? Like 34 and below?

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All the time.

I usually don't bring them in to my garage until they see 2-3 heavy frosts. Then over the winter the pots freeze solid 3-10 times.

However I think I get away with it because they aren't frozen for more than 24 hours before they start to thaw out.

Last winter they hit 9f degrees in the garage once lol

Fieldofscreams wrote:All the time.

I usually don't bring them in to my garage until they see 2-3 heavy frosts. Then over the winter the pots freeze solid 3-10 times.

However I think I get away with it because they aren't frozen for more than 24 hours before they start to thaw out.

Last winter they hit 9f degrees in the garage once lol

9f once I'm over here like that's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday will be 12 degrees, Sunday is -2 . I'll probably let them have a few frosts to start dormancy off right, then bring them in then.

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They are in my insulated garage in the winter. The day they hit 9f in there it was something like -15f outside.