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Are Venus FlyTraps Hard To Care For?
Wondering how to care for a Venus flytrap plant? In fact, is Venus FlyTraps hard to take care of? Venus flytraps are one of the fascinating plants that you can cultivate. Venus flytraps may survive for decades in their natural environment. These are one-of-a-kind plants to add to your collection, but they need some specific care.
Sadly, they are often short-lived in cultivation because most people do not know how to care for a Venus flytrap. This post will teach you the fundamentals of Venus flytrap care.
Are Venus Fly Traps Hard To Care For?
It’s a myth that flytraps are challenging to care for, but attempting to mimic their natural environment is the secret. Even though it can endure temperatures as low as the mid-40s F, it prefers warmer climates. Like other carnivorous plants, they need some humidity.
- Use solid indirect light instead of direct sunshine for more than four to five hours at a time.
- Peaty or mossy soil with good drainage is ideal for Venus Flytraps.
- Water them well, and then wait until the soil is slightly damp before repeating the process.
How to Care For a Venus Fly Trap
Understanding what a Venus flytrap requires is the first step in caring for one. What a fly trap needs to thrive is determined by where it came from and what it needs to succeed in its natural habitat.
The main elements are light, the growth medium, water, nutrients, and a unique hibernation time for Venus flytraps. Each of these elements is discussed below.
Before we explain how to care for a Venus flytrap, let’s see whether these plants grow well outside or inside.
Indoor Vs. Outdoor Upkeep for Venus Fly Traps
There are a lot fewer concerns to deal with when you cultivate Venus fly traps outdoors in the winter. Home surroundings aren’t the best places to grow plants except for a mainly sunny windowsill and plenty of time and care.
Things to Look For Maintaining a Venus Fly Trap
Below are several crucial things you have to manage well to keep your Venus flytrap healthy.
1. Feeding
Plants like Venus flytraps have no obvious food source. Flies are their primary food source. The simplest way to feed a Venus flytrap in a closed terrarium is to introduce tiny flies into the enclosure. The bugs will eventually be drawn to the traps and eaten.
Insect-eating flytraps may survive months or even years without feeding on insects. If you grow them outside, they’ll be able to acquire all the food they need. However, Venus flytraps need food regularly if they’re being grown inside.
2. Fertilizers
Fertilizer is usually not needed for Venus flytraps. Fertilizer nutrients have the potential to weaken and even kill plants. Feed the plant instead of fertilizing it to give it extra energy.
3. Water
Always keep the pot submerged in water. Never let the soil dry out. Mineral-free water is good for the flytrap. So the best options are bottled, filtered water, reverse-osmosis water, or rainwater.
Keep the water level in your pond or fountain no higher than halfway up the container. Moreover, prevent wetting the plant’s top.
4. Light
For Venus flytraps to thrive, they need a lot of light. Always keep the Venus flytrap near the sunniest windowsill if you’re growing one inside. Its leaves will remain robust and durable if it receives enough sunshine. They’ll wilt and flop if they don’t get enough light. Artificial growth lights also benefit this plant.
To remain healthy, Venus flytraps need a lot of light. You have three alternatives for interior illumination: locate a sunny window, use artificial lighting, or do both. Overall, your plant should be exposed to at least 5 hours of light every day.
How Do You Tell Whether The Illumination Is Adequate?
If your plant is getting adequate light, it will show it. Venus flytraps are often lime green and vivid red in hue. The red pigment within the lobes is lost when the plant does not get enough light. The presence of red hues within the traps indicates that the light has been exposed properly.
5. Repotting
To avoid fungus and rotting, Venus flytraps should be repotted every one to two years. As the growth medium decomposes, it loses its effectiveness and no longer serves the plant’s demands.
A new, larger pot will be required if the flytrap has grown dramatically. If it hasn’t grown much, you may reuse the jar by simply removing the old medium and replacing it with fresh soil.
Venus flytrap Dormancy
Every year, Venus flytraps need a time of inactivity. The plant hibernates or rests for 1-2 months throughout the winter during dormancy.
Venus flytraps don’t look their best while they’re dormant. They tend to diminish in size, losing a lot of leaves and concentrating on root growth rather than leaf growth. Making your plant dormancy is an essential step, even if it might not seem appetizing.
Care during Dormancy:
It is advisable to allow the Venus flytrap greater freedom during dormancy. To maintain your plant healthy during the winter, follow these instructions:
- During dormancy, Venus flytraps do not need feeding.
- Continue to water the plant often, but spread out the watering. The plant will need less water as a result.
- Do not feed the plant with fertilizers.
- At the start of the winter, gradually introduce lesser illumination to the plant. When the plant is ready to come out of dormancy, cautiously reintroduce it to light.
- Keep severe temperatures below freezing to a minimum.
Can a Venus flytrap Injure Someone?
A Venus flytrap can’t harm a human being. Position your finger in a Venus flytrap, and you’ll see what happens. It’s more damaging to the plant than you since it causes energy waste.
Conclusion
Despite their strange appearance and reputation, Venus flytraps are fun and straightforward to grow carnivorous plants. Your Venus flytrap may become a unique member of your garden if you provide it with the right conditions, such as regular watering, poor soil, full light, and access to beneficial insects. I hope that the tips I told you above will be helpful to you.
Read More:
Five Things You Didn’t Know about Venus FlyTraps (NCSU)
