my first venus fly trap

18 years ago

i was at the nursery getting some potting soil for a palm plant I got and i was looking around and to my surpise I saw a venus fly trap. Excuse my ignorance, but I had no idea you could just buy these at a local nursery.

Well i see from reading, they live in Carolina climates. I live in northern ohio by the lake, and obviously it gets cold here.(and is)

I have it in the little pot and transparent cup, like thing(it holds the water) that it came with.

i have it in my basement because its crawling with fat spiders(per say, the real long legged ones wih the bannana body, not bannana spiders, basement spiders) but for what they are they are fat. And there is a lot of dead, dry sucked insects on this particular ledge I have it on where these spiders sit and wait.

It has good sun light(the window is one of those real thick block windows) but I worry it is too cold. Currently it is 54 degrees F here.

Now that I have the visual out of the way what should I do to best keep it alive? Get a terranium for it? Do they make inexpensive light bulb heat sources?( the plant has a lot of "faces" but it is kinda small so it wouldnt take very much power to heat it)Do i get a humidifier?

Any help would be much liked! Also feel free to answer questions I havent asked as I dont know what to ask.

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Comments (2)

hiddenjungle
18 years ago
The main reason people usually dont buy vfts from local nurseriesis most places dont know how to take care of them. they order them in bulk, and sell them on the shelf usully with the houseplants which is not the correct place.

BASIC CARE SHEET

1. VFTS require a dormancy period
2. they must be watered with distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water and be kept moist at all times.
3. they thrive best in full sun
4. humidity is'nt that important mine are growing outside and temps are getting in lower 50sF of course mine have been outside all year round.
5. vfts basic soil mix is 50peat:50perlite mix

Sorry if you already knew this. since temps are getting low in your area you depending on the health of your plant you should get ready for dormancy. once the first frost hits your plant it should trigger this dormancy period and die back, bulb still intact, only if its healthy enough if you've had it inside you might want to skip dormancy this year just because im not sure if your plant will have enough time to acclimate to outdoor temp and be pushed into dormancy, but dont get the impression the plants will be able to skip dormancy every year the plant will only be healthiest if it experiences its dormancy period. To tell if your plant is healthy if it has witnessed 50F temps it should be slowing down growth and the main way to tell if your plant is healthy is to check its bulb and make sure its cream-white in color. im not exactly sure on how to go with your plant dormancy, hopefully a fellow forum member can help you with this, so to other members who read this. If the plant is healthy, should it be put outside to acclimate? hope this helps, id assume it would be but i dont know the health of the plant.
tropichris
18 years ago
They are not tropical plants, so they do require a dormancy period. Spiders are not the best food 4 them, so I would sugest feeding them pillbugs or crickets. Feed them once or twice a week. Cut off the flower stalk when you first notice it. Trust me, the flowers usually kill the plants, and they arent beautiful, either
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