For some reason I’ve got a wild hair and I really want to try growing one of these things.
I was thinking about getting one of those glass enclosure things. I forget what the hell they’re called. They’re like aquariums only except for plants?
Anyway I was wondering how hard it is to grow one.
And what would happened if I fed it Miracle grow. Would it get REAL big like “Lil’ Shop of Horrors?” 
I used to have one. Mine did fine in the kitchen window. It caught insects occasionally. I don’t think it needed anything particularly special doing to it.
It survived until my Dad decided it needed pruning :rolleyes:
I had one years ago, it did ok until I fed it ground turkey.
I’d seed my swamp with them if they’d survive the harsh New England winter. That would be freakin’ cool - having a swamp full of them.
The word you want is terrarium.
There are some pages online devoted to the growing of carnivorous plants. I think this (The Carnivorous Plant FAQ) is the one I’m thinking of. According to people who know, it’s harder than that little instruction sheet suggests. I’ve been following their instructions and have had one pretty healthy for a couple months, although it recently caught a fly that was just a little much, I think, as one of the traps seems to be dying of it. In the winter there will be more sunlight for it in my windows. Then again, they’re from here and the climate, even inside my house, is probably more what they like than in other places. If I had an area wet enough I’d grow them outside.
I had one once. It actually took very little maintenance. It just stood in the window, got some water, and caught its own food.
Then something happened. A stalk emerged from its center and shot up to a height of 40 cm or so (the plant itself was maybe 7 or 8 cm in diameter and only about 2 cm high). The stalk eventually withered, and after that the plant was dead. We referred to it as the plant committing suicide.
I’ve never got an explanation for this.
That may be perfectly normal. The traps each have only around two or three uses in them before they die off. This is the reason most VFT growing guides tell you to resist “playing” with the traps by making them spring with a finger or something. It stresses the plant’s energy reserves and weakens it.
They don’t require additional fertilizer other than the occasional little insect, so don’t use the Miracle Grow. AFAIK, they can’t even use it and you’ll probably just kill it.
They don’t even need that many bugs. You can stress the plant by lovingly catching lots of flies and cramming them into every available trap, and the traps are only good for a couple trappings, then they tire out & die.
Don’t feed them hamburger, etc. They don’t get hamburger in nature.
They like warmth & lots of humidity while they’re growing, and you only want to use rainwater and/or distilled water. No city water.
They’ll like a cooler dormant period in the winter.
That was a flower, and the plant was evidently happy enough. Unfortunately, it didn’t bloom for you. If it had, you might well have gotten seeds.
The stalk is the plant’s flowering part. It’s supposed to grow a bunch of flowers on top of it–it grows high to keep the pollinators from being consumed by the plant (and in turn, keeping the plant from overeating). This flowering stalk takes a lot of energy to grow, and the plant needs extra care during this time. Even healthy plants often come close to dying during or shortly after flowering. See here. The best thing is to prevent the flowers from forming by pruning the stalk as soon as it appears, as well as any subsequent stalks which regrow.
Two words. Peat. Moss. Flytraps are native to Piedmont sphagnum bogs, which are by nature quite nutrient poor. This is pretty much the entire evolutionary reason they adapted to supplement their diet with live animals. My flytrap pots have a deep layer of sand in the bottom for drainage, a layer of rich humus, then a thick layer of peat moss in which the flytraps themselves are planted. They like plenty of water (but drainage is CRUCIAL,) and a warm, humid environment. If you keep them in a terrarium, you’ll probably have to introduce flies into it by hand eventually.
I bought mine specifically to catch flies, which it was very good at.
It seems to have caught too many, and most of its little traps are quietly dying.
ThinkGeek has a Desktop Carnivorous Plant Set.
* Venus Fly Trap
* Yellow Trumpet
* Hooded Pitcher Plant
* Purple Pitcher Plant
* Pale Trumpet
* Temperate Sundew Plants
* Cobra Lillies
I suggest reading The Savage Garden by D’amato if you’re interested in carnivorous plants.
I’ve owned a couple over the years and they always came in a small plastic pot with a clear cover over them to retain moisture. And they always died. The one that I did get to live and thrive, I took off the plastic cover and set the pot in a saucer of water and made sure to keep the saucer filled. I think the humidity off the saucer was better for it than the super-wet confines of the plastic lid.
Wow, I’d forgotten all about these plants! I’m definitely buying one or two…I get those little drain flies and cannot get rid of them for anything.
Mine came with a saucer and instructions to keep it filled with water, and it thrived until it committed suicide as per above. Thanks Q.E.D. and levdrakon, by the way.
Ogre has mentioned the factor that made the difference for me with carnivorous plants, including pitcher plants, sundews and flytraps. I used soil and sphagnum moss from a sphagnum bog. Peat moss or sphagnum moss over potting soil should work.
You’re welcome. If you do have some success with a Fly Trap and decide to branch out into other types of CPs, I have to recommend one of my all-time favorite plants. When I was in Germany, I grew a nice, large healthy Sarracenia purpurea. The red coloring on the leaves looks exactly like the tops of the pitchers are engorged with blood, being filled by blood-filled veins running up the sides. The flowers are fantastic. Here’s a pic of some s. rubra flowers which are more representative of what it looks like when the plant is in full bloom.
Man, I miss that plant. Alas, I just don’t have the conditions to grow them where I am now.
Are those the fat slow little black flies that leave a tiny black smudge on the wall when you smack them? Oi, where do those come from? The drains…? I’ve only ever had them in my new place, and they’re annoying as hell. A few geckos have moved into my bathrooms to hunt these things, but no matter how many we kill more show up a couple days later.
I’m thinking of bringing in some jumping spiders, but maybe some flesh-eating plants would be better.
Anyone know if venus flytraps can survive at 68-70 F?
