Question
Hi. I just bought a venus flytrap, and it is early March. I read that i was supposed to clip off all leaves when the flytrap began to reemerge from dormancy. How much of the leaves should I clip off? Should I only clip off the dead ones? I also heard that flytraps sprouted large flowers from the center during the spring and this takes a lot of energy, and that i should clip this off if I want them to live. Is this true? I live in a zone 6 climate, the trap is in a 1 part sphagnum moss to 1 part perlite soil, and is currently being stored in the garage because the temperature right now  is around a high of 32 and a low of 22 for the rest of the week. Is this ok to do? The garage is not heated. I have the  flytrap standing in a small amount of water also, to keep the soil moist. Please tell me what else I can do. Thank You.

Answer
Hi Sean,

You can clip off the leaves near the base of the plant.  We do this each spring, clipping off the older leaves from the previous season.  

You've mentioned that you just bought the Venus flytrap.  Make sure you've determined that the flytrap was grown outdoors throughout the winter months.  If you got it from us, then your plant is already acclimated to freezing temperatures.  Storing it in your garage is fine, although I'd recommend placing it where it could get some sunlight.  When the temperature warms up, it'll need sunlight to continue growing.

However, if you purchased it from another nursery that kept it in a greenhouse, then you may risk shocking your plant with the cold temperatures.  If you don't know how the plant was cared for prior to your purchase, move the plant to a sunny south window of your home.  While dormancy is helpful, you can't force it to go dormant by suddenly changing its growing conditions.  It needs to experience cold temperatures gradually.

As for flowers, it's a myth that flowers will cause the plant to die.  However, this might be true when a plant is grown indoors or in shade. Plants grown in inadequate lighting are already weak, so flowers will drain its energy.  But plants grown in full sun are usually healthy and strong, so they have the resilience to sustain flowers.  We allow our flytraps to bloom, and they continue to grow year after year.  We also grow our plants strictly outdoors in Oregon where they experience direct sunlight throughout the day.

For more information about growing flytraps, read our care sheets at:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

Good growing!
Jacob Farin