I just got a Venus Flytrap from TraderJoe. Is there any secret to growing these so they live long and prosper?
They cannot have regular soil. Only specific carnivorous soil or pure sphagnum moss (not miraclegro or any with any additives/fertilizers). Put it in a bowl with *only distilled or rain water* to bottom water & a day after the bowl dries, fill up again. The drainage holes must be in the water. They like water & the evaporating water will create humidity. Don't trip the traps. If you want to feed it (indoors only), the bug must be ⅓ size of the trap.
Feed about every 4-6 weeks in the beginning, then once stable & healthy, can be as often as 2wks. Try not to exceed that, but if one catches a bug, nbd.
They need *a lot* of light. If growing outdoors, full sun. If indoors, a good grow light is required. When the traps start turning red, you know they're getting good light. I have 2-3 wands of a cheap grow light about 8" from mine.
Don't fret over dying or black leaves, they die over time (see pics).
@ExecutiveFunction404 @YouInMyEye You're feeding yours how often?! Is it warmer where you are? I honestly haven't seen benefit to more than once / month -- the plants simply weren't gaining back the energy they were expending to trap / digest. Temperature difference perhaps?
I guess their success rate of catching a bug isn't that good in nature... like many carnivores.
Idk how much they eat in nature, so it's possible. I always assumed it was due to a perfect environment vs a created one. Can we ever reproduce their environment completely? I'd think it's extremely rare, if so. Therefore, I surmised they don't need as much energy, hence the low food requirement.
But that's just a guess 🤷♀️
@agunn @YouInMyEye
Mine are mainly indoors and the temp is a steady 69° with colder nights. When they don't look good, I don't feed more than every 6 weeks, but when they're looking healthy like the first one I posted, I usually do every 3 weeks or so, but have done every 2 a bunch of times.