Making a Flytrap Terrarium HELP!

[ScienceGirl]

I bought a venus flytrap last year from our local garden store. (I had been doing my research and read that around 6-8 traps at one time is common, so I was shocked when I counted a whopping number of 16, coming from all directions in the pot. I thought it was super healthy. A couple months later, I saw that there were actually three plants: two smaller ones, and one larger one.) They've been in the fridge for their dormancy. I've been intriqued by the cuteness and beauty of terrariums. I'd like to try keeping one of smaller ones in a terrarium, but the terrarium book I've been reading doesn't have instructions for how to plant and keep carnivorous plants healthy and happy in them. I'd probably use a glass cloche over their larger sized pot. Right now their pot is about 4" in diameter.

I have so many questions, and I'm not sure where to start. Should I put charcoal in the bottom? Is moss okay to plant around it? I'd hate to kill them... They honestly haven't been happy this last year; the humidity was probably too low and their traps weren't growing right, were shriveling, and weren't closing around food.

Can someone please list full instructions, answer questions, and maybe post pictures? I'd be very thankful! :helpsmilie:

 

[hibiscusmile]

Not allowed to send you to another forum, but if you google it, you will find a carnivorous plant forum that has some really neat info.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Not allowed to send you to another forum, but if you google it, you will find a carnivorous plant forum that has some really neat info.

Oooh! Okay, thank you. I'll keep an eye out.

You don't happen to keep carnivorous plants, do you? ?

 

[Tony C]

The first step to a flytrap terrarium is to not put it in a terrarium. Everyone wants to do it, and it pretty much always ends with a dead flytrap. Flytraps are temperate plants from North Carolina, put it outside in full sun where it belongs and it will thrive.

 

[aNisip]

Peat moss as a substrate is great (and I use a little beach sand (rinsed) peat mix at the very bottom of what they are in...I have an outdoor terrarium setup that is doing well and the summer traps are starting to grow nice and long and tall...

 

[ScienceGirl]

The first step to a flytrap terrarium is to not put it in a terrarium. Everyone wants to do it, and it pretty much always ends with a dead flytrap. Flytraps are temperate plants from North Carolina, put it outside in full sun where it belongs and it will thrive.

Don't they like the humiditiy? The humidity inside most homes in the US has been likened to that of the Sahara desert. And I was thinking about using a cloche for the terrarium, what do you think about those? That way, the lid could be taken off and the traps could have care w/o having to squeeze my hand through the tiny neck of a jar.

You live in the near N. Carolina, Tony C, so you must be in heaven with your carnivores!!! So jealous... And you have quite the collection! I don't think that my venus fly traps would do well outside here. It rains yearround, sometimes non stop for weeks. Winters are cold, around 35-45 degrees F ish. Summers tend to be around 80-95 degrees F, sometimes topping 100. There aren't many bogs around here. If I was to place it outside, how would you advise doing it?

 

[Tony C]

Humidity is not as important as it is often made out to be as long as you aren't talking extremely hot and dry like AZ or western TX. Light is much more important, they need full sun for as many hours as you can give them and in a terrarium that is a death sentence due to the extreme temperatures. They can be grown under artificial light but still don't do as well as those grown outdoors.

From your description of the weather I'm guessing you are in the Willamette Valley somewhere? I didn't move to SC until last year, I lived in Eugene and Albany previously and my carnivores did just fine, the weather is well within their range of tolerance. The pics you see in my carnivore thread are mostly from Albany, take a look and judge for yourself how they do outside in OR. I have friends as far north as the Seattle are who also do very well with them as outdoor plants all year.

I like to use standard 1020 nursery flats as water trays, put the plants out in full sun and let the tray just dry out before refilling for flytraps, keep Sarracenia trays full at all times.

 

[ScienceGirl]

Humidity is not as important as it is often made out to be as long as you aren't talking extremely hot and dry like AZ or western TX. Light is much more important, they need full sun for as many hours as you can give them and in a terrarium that is a death sentence due to the extreme temperatures. They can be grown under artificial light but still don't do as well as those grown outdoors.

From your description of the weather I'm guessing you are in the Willamette Valley somewhere? I didn't move to SC until last year, I lived in Eugene and Albany previously and my carnivores did just fine, the weather is well within their range of tolerance. The pics you see in my carnivore thread are mostly from Albany, take a look and judge for yourself how they do outside in OR. I have friends as far north as the Seattle are who also do very well with them as outdoor plants all year.

I like to use standard 1020 nursery flats as water trays, put the plants out in full sun and let the tray just dry out before refilling for flytraps, keep Sarracenia trays full at all times.

You guess correctly! Wow, I didn't know that you had lived so close!

Wait, so I can just... Put my plants outside in their pots... Year-round?

I'll post a picture of them later.

 

[Tony C]

You guess correctly! Wow, I didn't know that you had lived so close!

Wait, so I can just... Put my plants outside in their pots... Year-round?

I'll post a picture of them later.

Yes you can, though if they have been indoors or greenhouse-grown you will need to start them off in light shade and slowly increase exposure over a few weeks to avoid sunburn. Once they are acclimated just leave them out, the climates in NC and OR are similar enough that they do just fine.

 

[hibiscusmile]

NO, I don't have any, want some, just don't have them. But I do read up on them, someone on here once sent me some seeds and that's how I found info on a forum.

 

[aNisip]

Around fall, I transplanted mostof my carnivorous plants into a 15 gal terrarium....peat and cyprus mulch mix at bottom and the rest pure peat...mix of sundews and diff venus flytraps...(one sp of flytrap has red inside and trap over 2" while the other sp is from homedepot tissue culture that i rescued and 1" traps are normal with all green) and then a beautifully growing HerrerraXmani cross with pitchers that will grow 9"+

The pitcher is in a hanging pot seperate...

 

[ScienceGirl]

Around fall, I transplanted mostof my carnivorous plants into a 15 gal terrarium....peat and cyprus mulch mix at bottom and the rest pure peat...mix of sundews and diff venus flytraps...(one sp of flytrap has red inside and trap over 2" while the other sp is from homedepot tissue culture that i rescued and 1" traps are normal with all green) and then a beautifully growing HerrerraXmani cross with pitchers that will grow 9"+

The pitcher is in a hanging pot seperate...

The pitchers sound beautiful! I'm wanting sundews for indoors, since they don't go dormant. I also want pitcher plants...

Yes you can, though if they have been indoors or greenhouse-grown you will need to start them off in light shade and slowly increase exposure over a few weeks to avoid sunburn. Once they are acclimated just leave them out, the climates in NC and OR are similar enough that they do just fine.

Oh my goodness... I never knew that... But don't they need to be in a sort of bog, but without standing water on their roots?

I took them out of the fridge today. They are in the basement, where it is warmer than the fridge, but cooler than the rest of the house. When should I transfer them outside? Temperatures have been 50-60 degrees F lately, but this week is supposed to be warm. 65-70 degrees F.

 

[Tony C]

The pitchers sound beautiful! I'm wanting sundews for indoors, since they don't go dormant. I also want pitcher plants...

Oh my goodness... I never knew that... But don't they need to be in a sort of bog, but without standing water on their roots?

I took them out of the fridge today. They are in the basement, where it is warmer than the fridge, but cooler than the rest of the house. When should I transfer them outside? Temperatures have been 50-60 degrees F lately, but this week is supposed to be warm. 65-70 degrees F.

No need for a bog, a tray of water for the pot to sit in is sufficient. I would put them out now, and you should be fine putting them directly into full sun since they are just now breaking dormancy and shouldn't have much new growth to burn.

 

[ScienceGirl]

No need for a bog, a tray of water for the pot to sit in is sufficient. I would put them out now, and you should be fine putting them directly into full sun since they are just now breaking dormancy and shouldn't have much new growth to burn.

Thank you so much for all your help! I love you guys!

Okay, so... take my plants, place them outside in a tray of water... That seems too easy!

Another question, Tony C, (thank you for being so helpful and patient, by the way! I really appreciate it.) during winter, will they be okay outside? Occasional snowfall, frequent ice, and temps below freezing won't harm them? Will they need some sort of insulation around their pots? Or to be removed from the tray of water?

I'm going to remove them from their current 3" pot and give them each a pot. What size do you think they need? They aren't too big...

EDIT: I took pictures of them in their current 3" plastic pot that I bought them in. A quarter, a penny, and a ruler are included in the pictures for size comparison.

I'll post them in a second...

 

[Tony C]

It really is that simple, most problems with flytraps come from either messing with them too much or trying to baby them. They will overwinter just fine outside. A good freeze will kill probably off exposed growth but the rhizome survives. If it is an unusually cold winter you can shelter them in an unheated garage or basement window, but they are hardy plants and really shouldn't need any special treatment. As for pots, hard to say without seeing the pics but 3-4" pots should be fine. If in doubt go a size bigger, it won't hurt anything. The deeper the pot the better, I especially like Anderson band pots. They are the tall black pots that you see many of my seedlings in.

 

[ScienceGirl]

It really is that simple, most problems with flytraps come from either messing with them too much or trying to baby them. They will overwinter just fine outside. A good freeze will kill probably off exposed growth but the rhizome survives. If it is an unusually cold winter you can shelter them in an unheated garage or basement window, but they are hardy plants and really shouldn't need any special treatment. As for pots, hard to say without seeing the pics but 3-4" pots should be fine. If in doubt go a size bigger, it won't hurt anything. The deeper the pot the better, I especially like Anderson band pots. They are the tall black pots that you see many of my seedlings in.

Thank you, I'll be sure to let you know how they do!

I've uploaded the pictures. I'll post a few, but go to my Venus Flytrap album for more.

Will you tell me what you think of them?

 

[ScienceGirl]

____________________________

My Three Flytraps, fresh from their sleepy refridgerator dormancy and ready to stop sharing and get their own rooms, errr - pots.

 

[ScienceGirl]

The ruler says to report drug smuggling, and was the only one I can find. For some reason, scissors and rulers love to walk off from their organized drawers... Hmm...

 

[frogparty]

And don't mess with the traps! The acid hypersensitive response that closes the traps deteriorates the trap quickly- each is really only designed to catch prey a half dozen times or so.