Question
QUESTION: i have had my venus fly trap for about 6 months now. i have kept it in direct sunlight all day, and kept the soil moist, but the trap isnt turning red. what am i doing wrong? it is a dionaea muscipula. i live in south louisiana so humidity and heat is abundant. how long should it take for the trap to turn red?


Young and colorful Ven   ANSWER: Venus Flytraps are notoriously capricious about when they will form the vivid red coloration inside the traps that they are prized for (among other attributes of course, such as snapping shut on bugs). :-)

Sometimes the healthiest, happiest plants are the most reluctant to expend even the slightest additional effort make the insides of their traps more attractive. Sometimes young plants are brilliantly colored and the older, mature plants look dull by comparison.

Stress and sunlight both seem to be involved. A hungry Flytrap often seems to color its traps more readily than a well-fed one. Sometimes Venus Flytraps grown under artificial lighting (plant lights) produce more color than those in a greenhouse or outside.

Seasons of the year also seem to play a part. Later in the growing season plants often begin to "color up," which is not much consolation because by that time, when they are looking their best, they are also preparing to stop growing for the most part in anticipation of their winter rest (dormancy).

All of the mechanisms and factors that affect whether a Venus Flytrap develops a red color are not entirely known or understood yet. It remains a frustrating mystery to a great extent. There are even a few Venus Flytraps that are sought after precisely because they _never_ turn red inside the traps: they lack the organic dye (such as anthocyanin) to do so. One such plant, named Justina Davis, is a valued cultivar (official "cultivated variety") which never, ever has even the slightest hint of pink or red.

So? Welcome to the exciting, interesting and sometimes frustrating world of raising Venus Flytraps!

For more answers and comments about this question, please consider joining an Internet carnivorous plant forum such as the FlytrapCare.com Forum--

http://FlytrapCare.com/phpBB3/

Best wishes,
Steve

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QUESTION: alright, thanks. i have another question. (i may have more depending on my plant's status) but one of the traps randomly closed the other day so i put it to a lamp to see if there was an insect or something inside and there was nothing there. does this happen often? its been about 2 days now.

ANSWER: There are quite a few reasons why a trap might close and there be nothing inside. Depending on the temperature, time of the season (near dormancy) and quite a few other factors, traps may close slowly, allowing insects to escape before the trap closes entirely. In addition, when outside, the wind can move the traps enough, especially if they tap against each other, to trip the traps. Little bits of material blown in the breeze may brush against the trigger hairs inside the traps and trigger them to close. Large raindrops can do the same thing.

At any rate, it does not harm the plant if a trap closes and there is nothing inside. The trap will probably reopen within a day or so, because without something inside moving and repeatedly stimulating the trigger hairs, the trap does not close completely and make a tightly sealed chamber to flood with digestive fluid. Instead, the trap and plant respond to an empty trap by growing again to open the trap.

In order for a trap to open again after closing, the inside cells of the trap must grow while the cells on the outside of the trap don't grow (or grow only a little). This exerts a pressure from the inside trap wall that opens the trap. When the trigger hairs are stimulated (twice in a period of 30-45 seconds or so) the outside cells of the trap suddenly grow much longer, almost instantly causing the curvature of the trap to invert and the trap to close. This really is an amazing process, and it can be repeated quite a few times (perhaps 5-8 times) before the trap has grown the maximum amount that it can grow in practical terms.

At any rate, an empty trap is nothing to worry about. Even if the trap opens and closes its maximum number of times and then stays open, the plant will produce more leaves with traps to replace or augment the older traps.

Happy growing-- :-)

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QUESTION: well now it is dead and i only have one left and it is just starting to emerge from the soil. it has been there for a couple weeks now but it doesnt seem to be growing any. what could possibly be wrong. (this is my last question. thanks for your time)

Answer
There are a tremendous number of reasons a Venus Flytrap might die. A photo helps a lot to identify what might have been the cause. A Venus Flytrap can deplete its stored food supply if it is not allowed to go into a dormant state in the Fall, with cooler temperatures and much less water (just moist, not wet all the time). Sometimes a Venus Flytrap will die back to prepare for its dormancy, and a person believes that the plant is dying instead of merely becoming dormant. It is not currently the season for dormancy (it is mid June at this time) so the only reason I can think of for this to happen is if the plant was kept from dormancy during this last winter. If it is becoming dormant, although the leaves may die back, the bulb and roots under the ground will still be whitish and healthy. In that case, the cooler temperatures and much less water are required, as much as they can be achieved right now in the middle of summer.


Growing a Venus Flytrap in soil that is too wet can cause fungal growth and rot. That is probably the primary cause of death of a Venus Flytrap among people not yet familiar with their requirements. Venus Flytraps are not bog or swamp plants, as they are usually thought of. Instead, they grow naturally in grassy, sandy areas, savannahs and pine barrens, where the water table is high enough to keep them moist, but not so high as to keep them constantly wet. Venus Flytraps are happiest in a looser, crumbly growing medium such as 50% sphagnum peat moss and 50% perlite or silica sand.

You will receive more answers and advice if you join an online carnivorous plant forum such as the FlytrapCare.com Forum at--

http://FlytrapCare.com/phpBB3/

Sorry to hear about the plant. It may not be dead yet. Best wishes and good luck,
Steve