Question
Dionaea (help me with
Hi, one of the problems of living in th tropical region is the hibernation of the venus fly catchers, each year I lose some of the ones I have, so I would like to know what to do to help them hibernate, or if it is another factor afecting the plants.
I've had them in the same place for about 2 years, they receive sunlight all the morning (7-12) and I have them always with a little layer rainwater beneath (I live far in the countryside)
The pictures I send are the most affected, the one that is in the best conditions and another of the last year, when they had still not passed a winter( here winter is allways 80篎 or more).
The other images are here in this links because there is no more attaching space.
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http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/8595/img0952s.jpg
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http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6083/xaxa26.jpg
AnswerHi Lucia,
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to grow flytraps in tropical climates. I have friends in Hawaii that can't keep a flytrap alive for more than a year. These plants really need a cool winter. Without it, they tend to wither away. We generally tell growers in tropical regions to simply grow flytraps like an annual.
The most important concept when choosing plants is to select plants that are best for your climate. For instance, I would absolutely love to grow Nepenthes bicalcarata. However, it's too cold here in winter. It would be very expensive to heat my greenhouse to levels that bicalcarata prefers, and I often turn off the heat at night in my home. So in my case, I have to accept that bicalcarata will simply die on me as they have done in the past. For this reason, we grow only Sarracenia, flytraps and tropical plants that grow well in cool temperatures (40?60?.
There are many carnivorous plants that will grow very well for you. You can grow a lot of Nepenthes that simply won't grow well for me. So I suggest focusing on plants that are best suited for your region. Otherwise, you may need to accept the fact that flytraps will never get as large or look their best as they do in areas where it snows.
Good growing!
Jacob Farin
