Growing in poor conditions #1
Many of the experts claim that growing Venus flytraps in shaded, dry indoor areas is difficult/impossible. So here at flytrapgrowing.info we are going to conduct some experiments to demonstrate what effects poor conditions have on Venus flytraps. Many complete novices report having their flytraps survive torturous conditions, out of the sun, tap water, dead bugs and occasionally letting their plant dry up and yet still their plants survive and grow big red healthy looking traps.
We are going to purchase two brand new Venus flytraps from a garden center. The plants will placed in our high tech new Venus flytrap growing facility. The facility (my bedroom) is on the third floor of an inner-city apartment block and looks out onto a wonderful concrete building which blocks all direct sunlight bar the occasional smidgen in the morning. The plants will be kept at the perimeter of the building behind a pane of glass (my window sill). Neither of the plants will be stored in terrariums, but will be left to fend for themselves in their mildly dry environment.
Specimen A will be watered with distilled water whereas Specimen B will be watered with tap water. The tap water supply here in Dunedin is treated with both fluoride and chlorine and contains large amounts of dissolved solids. It is a relatively soft water supply however, hence doesn’t contain many of the dangerous cations such as calcium and magnesium which are known to negatively affect Venus flytraps. As a control test, we have purchased a third plant (specimen C) which will be kept in a sunny location inside a glass enclosure and will be watered using distilled water.
Reports on the progress of the three plants will be posted here regularly over the next year - assuming they don’t die before hand!
VFT responded on 19 Nov 2007 at 9:43 am #
Hi there,
Great experiment with the VFT. Could you do an experiment on growing VFT in an aircon environment near a window ledge with bright sun or artificial lighting? I think people working in an office would appreciate if VFT could survive cool temp but with sufficient light.
Ryan responded on 19 Nov 2007 at 10:54 pm #
Interesting experiment concept you have there. Unfortunately that would require an air conditioned room which I don’t have access to.
The air temperature in my control experiment does possibly meet your requirements of a cool room though (usually less than 18 deg. C but not due to air conditioning). I’ll post some average temperatures in a week or so when I provide an update on the plants progress.
VFT responded on 20 Nov 2007 at 6:42 am #
Hi Ryan, thank you for the respond. I look forward to the posting of your VFT experiment. By the way, i read that keeping VFT in a smaller pot would result in a miniature plant (much like bonsai, whereas keeping it in a bigger pot would ensure off shoot propagation. Does pot size really matters?
Ryan responded on 21 Nov 2007 at 1:59 am #
Bonsai VFT? When I think Bonsai VFT, I imagine a Venus flytrap with tiny traps. However putting your plant in a small pot will generally just result in less traps, not smaller traps. Perhaps if the pot is so small that the plant is unhealthy then the traps may get smaller, but in general I would just expect to get less traps that way.
I’ve tried using bigger pots before, but lately I’ve been sticking to smaller pots and I haven’t noticed any marked difference in trap sizes, just how many of them there are.
VFT responded on 10 Dec 2007 at 1:34 am #
Hi Ryan
Thank you for answering my queries on pot size. If pot size in terms of diameter is not a factor, how about the height? Would a tall pot affect VFT growth since their roots might reach the water? Btw…how do we cross a cultivar VFT? say a sawtooth and a red dragon?
Ryan responded on 10 Dec 2007 at 1:47 am #
You don’t want your roots to have to reach too far to reach the water. Around 8cm tall is probably about right, although opinions are likely to differ on what is optimal. If the pot is too short, then the plant could become water logged and the roots won’t have enough room to grow.
I’ll be posting an article on propogation/cross polination of plants in the future. I’m not sure when though, so watch this space!
mia responded on 30 Mar 2008 at 3:15 am #
Cool experiment I wanted to no how to grow my Venus fly trap and this helped loads Iwill use this info thanks
meical responded on 03 Jun 2008 at 4:27 pm #
nice cool
Amac responded on 08 Jul 2008 at 8:27 pm #
you said that you get less traps in smaller pots but my flytrap is in a smaller than all of your test subjects and it has 12 traps and as far as i know the new leaves seem to be coming from one plant. i haven’t measured the largest trap yet, and why isn’t it as red as your ones growing in low sunlight when it’s in a lot of sunlight. THanks
Ryan responded on 09 Jul 2008 at 5:36 am #
Hi Amac,
How do you know you don’t have two plants in the same pot?
My plants seem to be growing extraordinarily well despite their conditions. I have no idea why this is the case.
I should really provide an update on this. Perhaps I’ll do that on the weekend.
Amac responded on 09 Jul 2008 at 1:37 pm #
hi sorry about that, after i wrote my comment i went to check on my plant and i checked where the new stems were growing and it seems i actually have 2 plant’s growing in one pot silly me, can you beleive that though i was only growing it for a few of weeks so far and got one of the worst looking ones from fortino’s!!