First Flytrape Need Help

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Mvalenz

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I went to Lowes to look at their Venus flytrap kits. The flytraps were already growing in the plastic bags they were in. I decided to rescue one. It came with a pitcher plant too. As you can see from the photo below it was doing very well at first:

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It even had a little trap already:

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Today it looked like bad lettuce:

IMG_20130210_123643_zps14a26baf.jpg


I think it was lacking sunlight. It has been cloudy with not much sunlight lately. Would placing it in the windowsill even though it is cloudy be sufficient or should i buy a grow light?

 
Venus Flytraps need to go dormant during the winter, like they would in their natural environment in the Carolinas. They can go dormant outside, or in the refrigerator, but you'll have to follow steps to protect it and keep mold and bateria from taking over. Good luck!

I've found good information for caring for Flytraps at these websites:

 
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Basically ScienceGirl said it all...but you might want to change its soil to peat and perlite or cyprus mulch or just peat...good luck!

 
It looks like it is in sphagnum moss which is passable as a substrate. It would do much better in something like a mixture of peat and milled sphagnum moss since it neither requires nor appreciates a substrate that is too airy and prone to drying. Your venus flytrap appears to have dried out and died, but I would check to see if the base of the plant is still alive and not wilted.

One big problem you get when you buy carnivorous plants from hardware stores is that they tend to have been kept in insufficient lighting for a very long time--this is evident on yours by the etiolation or the elongation of its leaves. Another problem is that they're almost always plants recently removed from tissue culture and have not been allowed to harden up and acclimate to conditions outside of container saturated with moisture.

Removing the plant too quickly from that clear plastic cup these plants usually come with can cause it to go into shock since it won't be adapted to lower humidity and its leaves will be unable to retain moisture. Putting it into good lighting too quickly without slowly acclimating it from dim lighting similar to its previous in-store conditions will burn the leaves and also cause it to dry out as well.

 
U need to get them from a reliable dealer, only use distilled water, and have a flourescent bulb over them

U wanna decrease the daylight hours with the bulb before putting the plant in the fridge, i had a bunch of vfts and when i just randomly refridgerated them, they died

But the year after when i decreased the daylight and put them on my porch (where the temp was higher than the fridge but lower than normal room temp) for a few weeks, they survived the fridge

Bugbitingplants.com is great for getting vfts from

 
Refrigeration is not necessary if you have winters that get cold enough for there to be frost. You do, however, want to make sure it does not freeze if you keep it outdoors. I keep my flytraps outdoors and they experience regular seasonal cycles.

It is far more harmful to force a flytrap to go dormant than it is to allow it to continue growing. A healthy flytrap of a good size can grow for a couple of years without dormancy with no ill effects as long as you do not allow it to flower.

 
Refrigeration is not necessary if you have winters that get cold enough for there to be frost. You do, however, want to make sure it does not freeze if you keep it outdoors. I keep my flytraps outdoors and they experience regular seasonal cycles.It is far more harmful to force a flytrap to go dormant than it is to allow it to continue growing. A healthy flytrap of a good size can grow for a couple of years without dormancy with no ill effects as long as you do not allow it to flower.
Yes but i live in CT and he lives in illinois

Too cold to keep outside like that :(

 
They can survive heavy snow if mulched. Dont let them go below freezing.

Looks like either bad water, to little water, or too cold. never buy from hardware stores as their plants need to be carefully acclimated for a month or two before removing the bag. The plant looks doomed even in the first pic. A lot of times death of hws plants is the hws's fault not the buyer. Vfts are much easier to grow if you buy from a good supplier. the internet is far safer than buying in person in this case. One exception in my experience is a plant i bought from osh that is exploding with growth on a windowsill in the middle of winter, but counless more have died. Dont take chances.

 
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