Venus flytrap--growing and watering tips?

Hi all,


I just got a Venus Flytrap for my classroom to help with the gnats I have had recently.  I rescued the plant from a big box store and I will say right up front--it does not look good.  The "traps" are black, shriveled and obviously dead.  I will trim all the dead parts off.  I was reading the growing instructions and they mentioned not using treated water.  Does this mean tap water?  If so, why?  Are the flytraps somehow more sensitive to the water they get than other plants (the tap works fine for them).  If anyone has any experience, I would love to hear!


Thanks in advance!!


Eric

Venus Flytraps (and other carnivorous plants) are unique in their care requirements but not impossible. Their adaptations for eating bugs, I assume, was driven due to their natural environment. This environment is poor in minerals/nutrients and you need to be careful with the water you add because you don't want to introduce a high level of really anything to the plant or else you will shock it.



I utilize distilled water for watering my flytraps. You can also use reverse osmosis or rainwater I am told. I also supplement their light because they can be finicky if they are not getting enough rays. I have a cheap grow light I purchase online that I put right above it. I I always keep my flytrap sitting in a basin of water at all times, I do not let it dry out.

Hi Timothy, thanks for the quick reply.

I knew that Venus Flytraps and other similar plants evolved where there were practically no nutrients at all and therefore needed bugs for practically every nutrient.  For some reason, I think/heard/read/etc. that they were native to mountainous regions of North Carolina in particular spots that where they basically grew on bare rocks.  My understanding and recolect might not be perfect, but the idea is that they basically just hold onto rocks and their "traps" grab almost everything--how cool!

I was wondering what it was about the water that makes them so sensitive.  Maybe its related somehow?


Eric

Hi Eric,
My brother told me recently that the normal cycle of this plant is to die above ground during winter. So I have unjustly disposed of some plants in the past.
Maybe yours is just following its natural cycle.
By the way, I saw some plants in the wild this year. It grew on rocks with moss on it close to a stream. At the time it was raining and the complete environment was wet.

Ok, I got some distilled water this morning and set up my flytrap in an old coffee pot.  I filled it just enough to barely touch the bottom of the pot containing the plant.  I VERY thoroughly cleaned the coffee pot before adding in any distilled water.

Eric

I know this plant is pretty sad at the moment, but we will see if I can revive it.

Eric

From what I've read about them they are bog plants, so they need to stay pretty damp all the time. I grow them and pitcher plants outside. I put them in hollow chunks of wood with leaves and so on stuffed in the bottom to wick water from the little stream part of my garden pond and in full sun. They don't always completely die down in winter but mostly so.  

I never had a lot of luck growing them inside. I think maybe it's because they are adapted to a winter dormancy time, but I don't really know. You might need to feed them too, they like houseflies or any other bug you can catch, just drop it in the trap and touch the triggers with a toothpick or something for a minute or two to make sure it locks up good. Otherwise, it might open back up because a dead bug doesn't struggle. Once it is fully closed and locked it won't open again until the meal is digested.

Bog plant?  Interesting.  I did not know that, but it makes sense given what I have seen regarding how people have grown them.

My plant/coffee pot is sitting next to a north facing window.  I wish I could get direct sunlight in winter, but I can't change the construction of the building.

I will have the fluorescent lights on pretty much every day--is that enough "sunlight" for them?  They get very indirect light through the window.  I guess I could get a little grow light, but my outlet space is limited.

In the meantime, I think I will try to keep my plant's current pot submerged perhaps 1/8-1/4 inch or so in the water.  This morning when I filled the pot, the plant's little po t was submerged less than 1/4 inch deep.  Right now (about noon) the pot is almost free of the water--it must have absorbed a bit of water.  It is a good thing that I don't get it filed too deep as I see that this could be easy to overwater.

If anyone else has any thoughts, please feel free to share them.  And thanks for all the info and advice offered thus far.




Eric

I came up with a way to water my flytrap just enough!!

OK, if you looked at the pictures I had above, I have my flytrap pot sitting in an old coffee pot filled with enough water to just barely touch the bottom of the plant pot, probably less than a 1/4 inch above the very bottom.  I was surprised that the flytrap, in the course of one day lowered the coffee pot to below the plant pot--the flytrap no longer had access to any new water.  I needed to fill it and evidently I will have to fill it on a regular--maybe daily--basis.  I did not want to take the pot out of the coffee pot every time I need to water so I found an old 16 oz. Pepsi bottle laying around and put a pinhole in the cap.  Now I can use the plastic bottle as a little squeeze bottle to fill the coffee pot.  And I rescued a plastic bottle from the dump or recycling--the problem is the solution!!  And I can easily pour a little stream of water into the spout of the coffee pot without removing the plant!  I think it is pretty cool!


I will try it attach a picture, but I will need more hands first.



Eric

Venus Flytrap Update:


My Venus Flytrap has been growing back from almost nothing after I rescued it from Lowe’s earlier this Fall.  The coffee pot watering system works well.  I have a little plastic bottle with a screw cap that I put a tiny hole in so I could use it to squirt a fine stream of water right into the spout of the coffee pot—the only part of the rim of the coffee pot not occupied by the plant’s pot.  Every morning I come in and add a little squirt into the pot just enough to come up to root level.

I am surprised by how much the plant is drinking, but then I am noticing some regrowth.  I don’t know how long before I get Traps back, but in the meantime it is satisfying to see that the plant is putting out new greenery.



Eric