FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hello All,

I purchased two small pots of Venus Flytraps about 5-ish weeks ago. The plants were quite crowded in the little pots they came in, and so after a week, I decided to repot them. Following the instructions found on this site, I established each group of plants and its rhizome in a new pot. Altogether, I ended up with 11 pots. The first little pot was repotted about 3 weeks ago, and the second about 1 week ago. So far, both groups are gradually taking to their new homes.

My question (after establishing some background) is as follows:

I live in the South-East of Australia and we are in the middle/latter Summer now. In Australia and the southern hemisphere, as many of you will be well aware, the ozone layer has taken a bit of a beating over the previous decades. Our Summer temperatures can get up to 47 degrees Celcius. Now ... I know that there are many places in the world where the temperature can get just as high in Summer. The difference is, of course, that without a perfect ozone layer--coupled with the dry heat, it is VERY easy to get burnt in these parts. It is so easy to get sunburnt in parts of Australia, that--during days with temperatures of a mild 30 degrees--15 minutes in the sun can be enough to give many people a decent sunburn.

Having made you suffer through all of that, my question is this: How much heat can a VFT stand? For anyone who has experience with these plants in Australian conditions, should I be removing my plants from direct sunlight in temperatures of 40 degrees? As my plants sit at the moment, they probably get in the order of 12 hours of sunlight a day. With weather forecasts over the next few days suggesting that 40 degree weather is on the way, what should I do (if anything) to ensure that my plants aren't burnt to a crisp? At what temperature, if any, should I be moving them away from direct sunlight?

Hello and welcome to FlyTrapCare forums!

I'm not adversed in the ways of growing in Australia but I know venus fly traps can burn under severe heat and light. I'm hoping one of our Australian members will be able to help you with more information; in the meantime I'd suggest moving the plant inside on the hottest of days or keeping it slightly shaded so it gets partial sunlight instead of full, shaded areas are usually cooler than exposed areas as well.

Best of luck and don't melt! I like seeing new members and it would be a darn shame if you melted.

melting!

First off, welcome to FTC Forums! To answer your question, VFT's are very hardy plants and can supposedly take temperatures up to 115 or 120 F, which is similar to the temperatures you speak of. The thing I would worry most about is keeping your plants shaded a little bit so that the direct hot sun doesn't burn the plant. Also make sure that you don't let the plant dry out and that it stays fairly wet so that that can be avoided.

Good luck !

40-47 Celsius is about like 100-115 Fahrenheit (for those of us in the United States).

My conditions are comparable to yours, with summer temperatures often rising above 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in the summer, and with high-altitude, intense sunlight (less atmospheric buffer and diffusion), and hot, dry air and wind in a very low humidity environment.

Venus Flytraps can adapt to such temperatures, but I would protect them from extremes if they are young, recently bought, or recently repotted, and would place them in a location that is perhaps shaded somewhat during the middle part of the day, or in very bright indirect light or where they get morning light but not direct intense sunlight during the heat of the day (11 a.m. - 3 p.m. approximately), and gradually introduce them to more and more sunlight during the very hot spells of weather. They should also be somewhat protected from high winds if the weather is hot and dry, or they may dehydrate faster than their roots can hydrate the leaves, especially if they don't yet have a fully established and extensive root system.

One thing you may notice in very hot weather and intense sunlight is that the pots may become very hot, and especially the rims of the pots. The leaves that lie against or touch the pot rims may burn simply from the heat of the pot surface itself. If the sides of the pot are not of an insulating material, they may become very hot and overheat the growing medium and root zone of the Venus Flytraps. In smallish pots this can cause the growing medium to dry faster than it should and go from moist to bone dry in just a few hours or less, so you should be attentive to that possibility. Such overheating of the root zone and growing medium can also damage or in extreme cases bake and kill a Venus Flytrap, so it may be best in very hot weather and intense sunlight to ensure that the sides of the pots are shaded by placing something in front of them for the sunlight to strike instead of allowing the sunlight to strike the sides of the pots directly. I typically use insulated polyurethane foam pots to guard against overheating of the root zone, but there are many methods to accomplish this goal, including double potting, placing the pot inside a larger pot, with perhaps perlite filling the void between.

Good luck!

Looks like others have answered your questions. I just wanted to say hello and welcome

Hi Neddy,
I'm in Melbourne, and at the moment it is in the 40's. Anytime it gets into the high 30's or above I like to put my flytraps under shade clothe. They still get good light, just not as harsh as what it otherwise would be.

While your plants are still rooting in after being repotted, I most highly recommend keeping your plants in the shade with plenty of water during days of extreme heat. You should be able to recognise when they are ready for normal treatment. In my experience, I normally treat my plants with a lot of care for the first 8 weeks after repotting just to be sure.

watch the way the sun passes over your house, and the shadows in your yard, at various times of the day.

find a fence line or similar, where your plants will be in direct morning sun till lunch or slightly after, then in the arvo as the sun has moved hopefully a fence or house wall will cast a shadow/shade over your plants and shield them from the hot, late afternoon.

G'day Neddy & welcome to the forum. I have found that whenever the temp in Adelaide gets above 36C it seems to be detrimental to the plants. I have had good results covering the plants with shadecloth whenever the temp is expected to get over 36C. The real killer with our Summer heat seems to be when the pot and soil gets hot and the roots get damaged, if you can keep the pot cool you've got half the battle won. VFT's grown outdoors will burn at first then become acclimatised over a period of time. New leaves produced under full sun conditions will be much better suited to full sun exposure, but expect some damage with temps over 40C in full sun, it's just too savage.

Thank you to everyone for your informative responses! Thank you also for your very warm welcomes

Thank you to Grey, Steve_D, and Oblivion for your advice on high temperatures and methods of dealing with them. You have all given me some ideas on how I can take the circumstances at home and use them to prevent baking my plants. To dantt99 and Matt, thank you very much for your welcomes and assistance And to Benwilliam and linton, thank you for your advice on Australian conditions and limits for VFTs. Describing your methods of dealing with high-temperature weather in Australia have been most helpful, and you have also given me some food for thought about the future health of my plants.

I was out of town for yesterday and today: today being the first day in which 40 degree Celsius weather was reached in my locale. I gave my plants plenty of water via their trays to help them deal with it two days beforehand though. When I returned home, despite being exposed for 12 hours or so, they had survived. Despite surviving, there were some signs of stress. While I don't know exactly what other people experience when they repot, I have personally experienced that many of the existing leaves steadily die upon repotting. This is more pronounced for the smaller plants. All has not been lost, however, as they soon send up new leaves shortly after repotting and these leaves take over. When it came to very small plants, unfortunately the result was that many of the leaves died off, and the leaves that appeared were much smaller. At least they survived though... .

With the experience of a day in high temperatures, I've found that most of those leaves that were steadily dying have instead turned brown quite quickly. The plants are, as I have suggested, still alive though.

As a result of the advice I received above, upon returning home, I topped up their tray water (and gave them all a spray over the top via a spray bottle--which I have been doing a bit recently). Also, I have moved them to another table which has a shade umbrella to provide them with a bit of relief through all parts of the day--excepting the morning.

Once again, I would like to thank you all for your advice and welcomes. As well as myself, my plants appreciate your efforts too

so what part of south east oz are you from ned?
if you go to user control panel and add it in, it'll show up on your posts and make it even easier for people to remember your location + help with more accurate advice.

i assume vic or nsw?

Steve_D wrote:
One thing you may notice in very hot weather and intense sunlight is that the pots may become very hot, and especially the rims of the pots. The leaves that lie against or touch the pot rims may burn simply from the heat of the pot surface itself. If the sides of the pot are not of an insulating material, they may become very hot and overheat the growing medium and root zone of the Venus Flytraps. In smallish pots this can cause the growing medium to dry faster than it should and go from moist to bone dry in just a few hours or less, so you should be attentive to that possibility. Such overheating of the root zone and growing medium can also damage or in extreme cases bake and kill a Venus Flytrap, so it may be best in very hot weather and intense sunlight to ensure that the sides of the pots are shaded by placing something in front of them for the sunlight to strike instead of allowing the sunlight to strike the sides of the pots directly. I typically use insulated polyurethane foam pots to guard against overheating of the root zone, but there are many methods to accomplish this goal, including double potting, placing the pot inside a larger pot, with perhaps perlite filling the void between.

Here in Texas, it also gets that hot.
I would keep it semishaded in a white pot.
Although the light reflecting off the pot will be bright, it will help keep the soil cooler.
I like the "double pot" idea, and it might work very well if you used a white pot.

Also,
Welcome to the FlyTrapCare forums!

Oblivion wrote:so what part of south east oz are you from ned?
if you go to user control panel and add it in, it'll show up on your posts and make it even easier for people to remember your location + help with more accurate advice.

i assume vic or nsw?

I'm from Melbourne, Vic, Oblivion. I spend a bit of time in other parts of Vic though, so "S.E Oz" tends to be my standard net address. I found the "contact details" of the User Control Panel and edited that. I'm not sure if that's quite what you meant though.

bananaman wrote: Here in Texas, it also gets that hot.
I would keep it semishaded in a white pot.
Although the light reflecting off the pot will be bright, it will help keep the soil cooler.
I like the "double pot" idea, and it might work very well if you used a white pot.

Also,
Welcome to the FlyTrapCare forums!

Thanks, bananaman

For the first repotting (I repotted 2 small and crowded pots of VFTs in total), I got 6 plants and put those in the first pots I could find that were not black and about the right size. They are cylindrical, blue plastic ones (one was orange. hehe) that are 5-6" high. I then went shopping for the next repotting session and got 7 pots that were about or just under 5" high. They are a plastic recreation of the terracotta pots, and I liked them because they have a hollow in the middle of two terracotta-coloured walls. With the light colour and hollow pot, these were the most insulated and heat-resistant thing I could find. So far though, neither the taller (single layer) blue pots or the plastic-terracotta ones are getting overly warm. The blue ones would certainly be warmer than the others though.

Considering how much shock I put these poor plants through in my fumbling efforts at repotting, I think I'll let them stay where they are for a while before I change pot colours or disturb them any further.

One key difference between the US and Australia would be UV levels. While the temperatures can reach similar levels, Australia's Solar UV index is double what the US's is in Summer. Not that I know either way, but I'd assume UV radiation would represent some sort of risk to VFTs. Does anyone know? It certainly provides Australia with more skin cancer records than the nation cares for.

Neddy, I can't thank you enough for putting the location into your profile. If you read through various posts lots of us are ranting on about how it's hard to help people with questions if you don't have your location set into your profile!