Question
Venus flytrap
My Venus flytrap has skipped dormancy(It didn't show any signs of it)But how do i make it grow spring leaves,the tall thin ones ? My flytrap is my first one. I got it during Christmas.(actually,a friend gave it to me as a present.)And the reddish brown powder you see in the picture is cinnamon,I've read it acts like a great fungicide for flytraps.The traps are each about only a centimeter long.Anyway, I live in Taiwan,about the climate as Mexico city.
AnswerHello Kate,
I am not sure of the yearly cycle there in Taiwan. If there are clearly demarked seasons, then you will definitely want to keep your Flytrap in line with those seasons so that it can feel cold winters and short daylengths, called photoperiods. A Venus Flytrap that does not go dormant can weaken and die rather abruptly in about a year since it will expend all its energy growing and trying to flower. The dormancy is a required part of Flytrap life in general.
Venus Flytraps will grow tall, upright petioles in spring and maintain them until late fall when they will begin to grow short prostrate leaves like the Flytrap you have now. This change in growth patterns occurs as a response to daylength and light intensity. The brighter the light and longer the days, the taller and brighter colored the plant will get. Most varieties of Flytraps will develop red coloration inside their traps if provided enough sunlight. Make sure to keep the plant in full sunlight if possible. That would mean outside on a protected patio or balcony. Venus Flytraps are full sun temperates. They require at least as much sunlight as tomatoes and roses. If you are unable to provide that kind of sunlight, then you will need to find the brightest sunny window in your house and place the plant there. In addition, since that will not be enough light in all likelihood, you would probably need to invest in some florescent lights. You can get either 40 watt shop lights or compact florescent lights of 100 watt equivalence. You would need two or three of the compacts around the plant about 6 inches from its leaves, being careful of the heat output so as not to burn the plant, or at least 12000 lumens of shop lights, which would equate to two sets of twin mount lights with cool white tubes. That light system would be best about 4 inches from the plant leaves. Venus Flytraps really need light that badly in order to survive indoors at all. Keep the lights on for 16 hours a day in the growing season.
Next year, when winter approaches, make sure that the plant gets a normal dormancy to give it the best chances of survival. You can prepare the plant for dormancy two ways. One is simple if it is outside in what the plant considers to be a normal environment. It will simply feel the shorter day lengths and cooler weather and naturally go dormant at the appropriate time. If it must be grown indoors or the environment does not get cold there, you can fake it. Begin lessening the amount of light the plant receives each week by one hour in late fall until it gets about 8 hours of light a day. Once it is in a week of 8 hour light, it will show signs that it is ready for dormancy by beginning to grow short, wide, prostrate petioles. It will slow in growth and may let several older leaves die off. begin cooling the plant in an ice chest with several frozen water bottles or jugs that keep the interior of the ice chest at about 40 degrees. You want it to be just above freezing, but below 50 degrees to give the plant the proper conditions to keep it "asleep." If the plant warms up to above 60 degrees or so it will begin to grow again and might exit dormancy too early. Keep it in cold, short daylength light, or even unlighted conditions for about 3-4 months and then reverse the process with warming and longer daylengths of light each week by one hour until it is back in 16 hour daylengths in early spring. In an ice chest you would need to replace the water bottles with newly frozen ones every 12 to 24 hours to keep the temperature low. You can also open the lid by day and place the plant where it can get some window light and close it at night to lower the temperature to 40. The light in winter dormancy is more to keep mold at bay and air the ice chest out than to give the plant light as in dormancy plants tend to use very little light if any.
Christopher
