Question

Poor little guy   Hello,
I bought this Venus Flytrap for my boyfriend as a Christmas gift. We've never grown any carnivorous plants before, so the whole thing is a learning process for us. We live in northern Minnesota, so we've been keeping it inside in a windowsill. It seemed to be doing well, old parts were turning black and new ones were growing in, until the last three days or so when all the new leaves and traps started turning brown and sad. We're wondering if we're watering it too much? Not watering it enough? Using the wrong kind of water? (We've been using filtered tap water and we just read that we should be using distilled.) This is the pot and soil that it came in, and I'm scared to go around re-potting it if the bulb isn't doing well. Do you have any advice on what we're doing wrong, or what we can do to save the poor little thing? We tried doing research but everything we've found seems to contradict itself (ALWAYS keep it in a terrarium, NEVER keep it in a terrarium, super warm environment, super cool environment, etc..)
Any advice you can give us would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you :)
Betsy

Answer
Hello Betsy,

I think the advice your getting is different because there are a lot of myths about carnivorous plants, particularly North American temperates like Venus flytraps that require dormancy in the winter.

1: Venus Flytraps live in sphagnum peat moss that has very little or no nitrogen or other fertilizers in it. They can't use fertilizers in the soil and their roots will burn and rot as a result. Water that has minerals adds products to the soil like magnesium and calcium that change the composition of the soil to allow it to break down into fertilizers. So that may be part of what is occurring with your plant. Check your water filter system and see how it filters water. If it filters/softens water with salt, it is deadly to carnivorous plants as it is adding salt to your water. If it uses ions or carbon filters to remove minerals and particles from water, it is helpful to a degree. You can check your cities water hardness with a simple fish tank water quality strip you can buy at fish or pet stores. They come in little bottles with dozens of strips in it that you simply dip in water and look at the color codes. The color codes will tell you what hardness your water has as well as other information. If the hardness is over 50 parts per million, or shows over low hardness, then it would be harmful to carnivorous plants like Venus Flytraps. Water level should be high as Venus Flytraps are bog plants. The ideal level for water would be to place the lower 1/4 section of pot in a tray of water. If the pot is 4 inches high, it would need 1 inch of water under it so that it will absorb a large amount of water. Top water and refill the tray as needed every few days.

2: There is a myth that carnivorous plants need high humidity and terrariums to survive. I grow all of mine open pot in medium humidity around 40-50% in my house. Venus Flytraps can adapt to and live happily in humidity lower than 30%, even down to 15% has been reported. Keep your Venus Flytrap open pot. It will grow better that way and will be less susceptible to mold.

3: Light is a major issue with Venus Flytraps. These are full sun plants that need the same kind of light any garden plant would. Windows are often not enough to give Venus Flytraps the light they need to survive long term. When I grow mine indoors, I have to place banks of florescent lights over them that produce 15000-30000 lumens of light intensity less than a foot from the leaves. These plants require that light to generate enough energy to store for winter in their roots. They use up a lot of energy in the growing season and will simply run out of energy if they do not have enough light. Place them outside in the growing season or buy lots of cool white florescent lights that generate the high lumens I indicated. The deformed and elongated leaves are indicative that the plant does not get enough light.

4: Winter dormancy is another issue. Venus Flytraps use so much energy growing in Spring and Summer that they need to rest in the Winter. When light levels are reduced in Fall and days get shorter, Venus Flytraps prepare by growing slower and using less energy. When cold weather hits, they simply go to sleep. Yours may be trying to go dormant in low light levels, but if the water and temperature are not right, it will die from starvation of light and soil changes. Temperatures in winter should be below 60 and ideally around 40 degrees. This keeps the plant cold without freezing it solid. If the window it is in gives it a cold draft all winter, it should be fine. Just set the pot right against the window and let the pot cool to chilly temperatures. This will keep the plant dormant if it has had time to adapt for winter. If the plant has enough reserve energy in its rhizomes, it will survive and break dormancy in Spring as the temperature warms and the days become longer. Given a dormancy and proper conditions, like water and soil type, your plant can last decades and reproduce itself.

If the plant has been given too much mineral laden tap water, it will need a change of soil and repotting. After checking the water you used previously, if it shows as being too hard, then you can order soil premixed and unfertilized from places like cobraplant.com online. What Venus Flytraps grow best in is a mix of 1:1 ratio sphagnum peat moss and either perlite or silica sand.

Carnivorous plants are just like any other plant. They require the same basic things that other plants do, they just acquire some of them, like fertilizer, a little differently than most other plants do (like trapping, killing, and digesting insects to get nitrogen). Like any plant, they have their likes and dislikes so far as environment. Like placing a cactus in bright sun, in sandy, gravelly soil, and watering it differently than you would a crop of melons, each species of carnivorous plant likes a different temperature, water level, soil type, amount of light etc.

Hopefully this list of tips will help you with your plant. If it does die, remember, this is a learning process. I have had plenty die off on me before I realized the important things that these plants really need.

Christopher