FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Anyone know where I can get a naturalized NJ VFT? Any vendor's sell these? I'd be very interested in seeing if there is any difference between one from NJ and a typical.

Flyers aren't native to NJ. They only grow wild in NC and SC. There are some that have been sown in the wild in Florida but they are not native.

All true, but as with the ones in Florida, they have apparently been introduced in various places in NJ as well with some populations possibly being decades old.

They also are ones introduced to California (woo hoo), Washington, and Louisiana.

wow! all this time I thought they were only in North Carolina!

Been to the populations in Florida and I can say that they appear to be normal VFT's in every way.

Venus Flytraps originate and are only native to North Carolina and historically parts of South Carolina as well. Any flytraps growing wild in any other state are nonnative plants.

Huntsmanshorn wrote:they have apparently been introduced in various places in NJ as well with some populations possibly being decades old.

Is that true? Have you seen them with your own eyes? This is the first time I've ever heard of flytraps growing in the wild farther north than California or Virginia.

I believe there is (or was) at least one know native population in Virginia and anywhere else they grow outside of VA, NC and SC, they have been introduced.

Apparently there are some in Europe (introduced, obviously).
https://www.inaturalist.org/observation ... n_id=52666

Matt wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 8:55 pm

Huntsmanshorn wrote:they have apparently been introduced in various places in NJ as well with some populations possibly being decades old.

Is that true? Have you seen them with your own eyes? This is the first time I've ever heard of flytraps growing in the wild farther north than California or Virginia.

I believe there is (or was) at least one know native population in Virginia and anywhere else they grow outside of VA, NC and SC, they have been introduced.

No, unfortunately I have never been the Pine Barrens in NJ. I have read about them being in NJ and the US government seems to think they are there but I do not know for sure if they are or not. Notice the use of the word "apparently".

Benny wrote:Apparently there are some in Europe (introduced, obviously).

First I've heard of this! I could totally see the population on the southern coast of the UK doing well. I'm pretty skeptical of the one listed near Prague, Czech Republic. It seems pretty unlikely that Venus flytraps would survive a winter there. That observation entry was just added to the site 13 days ago and hasn't been verified:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/44606431

I've heard a lot of people refer to any species of carnivorous plant as "Venus flytraps" so perhaps that is the mistake being made in this case.

Huntsmanshorn wrote:No, unfortunately I have never been the Pine Barrens in NJ. I have read about them being in NJ and the US government seems to think they are there but I do not know for sure if they are or not. Notice the use of the word "apparently".

I would suspect that there are quite a number of species of carnivorous plants that grow in that area, but I really doubt that there are any Venus flytraps that grow there year round. Perhaps they were introduced at the beginning of the growing season, but I'm pretty confident they wouldn't make it through multiple winters there. However, with the warming trends we're seeing over the last few years and with some pretty mild winters recently, I suppose it is possible!

I agree with Matt on the point that most carnivorous plants are called flytraps. From reading The Savage Garden, I remember that in the beginning paragraphs, Peter says he was taken by a friend to see venus fly "catchers" growing by a pond as a kid in New Jersey and they wound up being Sarrs.

Matt wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 9:59 pm I would suspect that there are quite a number of species of carnivorous plants that grow in that area, but I really doubt that there are any Venus flytraps that grow there year round. Perhaps they were introduced at the beginning of the growing season, but I'm pretty confident they wouldn't make it through multiple winters there. However, with the warming trends we're seeing over the last few years and with some pretty mild winters recently, I suppose it is possible!

I agree that it seems unlikely but imagine a VFT with a really useful mutation! Not just some poor thing that can only barely drag itself out of a test tube and then can't even feed itself (Is that even a carnivorous plant? I don't think so.) but a plant that could survive and thrive in a reasonably cold climate! Now that's a plant that has some real value!

Huntsmanshorn wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 10:20 pmbut a plant that could survive and thrive in a reasonably cold climate! Now that's a plant that has some real value!

From what I've read, Dan Winters tried this a few decades ago. He had a large number of Venus flytraps growing naturalized on his property in Mississippi. He later moved to Colorado and brought a few hundred flytraps with him. He planted them outdoors in Colorado and gave them minimal protection during the winter. Dan's thinking was that the more cold-hardy plants would survive and reproduce. I don't know how successful he was was with this experiment.

MikeB wrote:

Huntsmanshorn wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 10:20 pmbut a plant that could survive and thrive in a reasonably cold climate! Now that's a plant that has some real value!

From what I've read, Dan Winters tried this a few decades ago. He had a large number of Venus flytraps growing naturalized on his property in Mississippi. He later moved to Colorado and brought a few hundred flytraps with him. He planted them outdoors in Colorado and gave them minimal protection during the winter. Dan's thinking was that the more cold-hardy plants would survive and reproduce. I don't know how successful he was was with this experiment.

My guess is that it wasn't very successful. Though Colorado temps are relatively mild in the winter, there's the altitude to factor in. It's basically a little over a mile up in the air higher than where the flytraps are used to growing. Less oxygen is there, and while flytraps are hardy, I'm just unsure of how they'd react to overwintering at that height.