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Care Questions

Hi, i was looking at buying a few plants next week, and I'd like to try a Venus flytrap again, as the one i had last year did not do well(too little light I'm thinking). This year I know more about what im doing and im ready to give it another shot, but i have a few questions....
1) Light- my plants get about 5 hours of light and knowing fly traps love lots of light, I'm not sure if that's enough.

2) Heat- our summer's here are extremely hot, 110 degrees or higher is common, with very low humidity

3) Watering- I normally keep my Darlingtonia and Sarracenia in deep trays, but I've read that flytraps like to be in shallower trays, so I'm not sure how deep to keep it, especially factoring in the water evaporation rate in summer.
 
5 hours of direct Sun or bright indirect? They need minimum 6 hours of more of direct Sun a day.
They can take the heat but you could shade them a bit if needed during the hottest part of the day.
Keep them in shallow water trays, about an inch deep. As long as the water is BELOW the rhizome it'll be fine.
 
I've been growing them in the UK for 33 years. How many days do you think we get 6 hours of direct sun a year? And don't forget we're on a latitude the same as Alaska so the sun we do get is weaker than the US
 
They get about 5 hours direct sun, plus around 4 of bright shade.
 
You should be ok for light. You're worried about keeping them wet enough without swamping them so try deeper pots so the plant is held higher yet there's still a good reservoir in the tray ( we call them Long Toms).

If you're managing to keep Darlingtonia in your temperatures then Dionaea should be a stroll in the park.
 
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If your sarrs show good, healthy growth under those lighting conditions, then your vft will probably do ok too.
 
  • #10
Thank you all for the help, i think im going to go ahead and get one. I've read that taller pots are better I'll have to pick some up. My Sarracenia are doing well, as is my new capensis. I've actually been really surprised my Darlingtonia had done so well in out heat, I keep it in dappled shade and it's doing great. If it gets in the triple digits i give it ice cubes, and move it to full shade if its over 110. Mines even been pulled out its pot more than once by my kids and its still going strong.
 
  • #11
Fred, how much light do yours get? I have the opposite problem in south Florida - in full sun they get 13+ hours of very intense sun. Last year they went dormant in midsummer, got pretty beat up by the sun, and finally woke up again in the fall. This year I've moved them to very bright shade all day, and they've done well so far. Still growing tall, thin leaves, and with good color.
 
  • #12
It's difficult to say just how much they get. Over the past week they've probably had a total of 6 hours direct sun but all the barrels are full (swings and roundabouts). The week before they probably got at least that much daily. In winter for a couple of months they get no direct sunshine, the sun doesn't get high enough, we struggle to get 6 hours a day daylight never mind direct sun. A good time for them to be dormant or semi-dormant. On either side of that two months it's very little and that would be mid afternoon sun. Around the time of the solstice ( now) it can be a lot of hours if it's not cloudy/raining but that is a big if. Luckily my solar pumps work in bright cloudy conditions.
 
  • #13
Thanks! That helps reassure me. You see so often people say they need tons of sun, I was very unsure putting them in shade. But they seem happier.
 
  • #14
As in all horticulture you get the best answer to any question from the plants. if they're happier it doesn't matter a hoot what any grower says.
 
  • #16
I just got my Venus Flytrap in the mail today, it's small, but very healthy and came from a reputable nursery. I put it immediately outside in a little under an inch of water, Im hoping it grows well, I'm still a little worried that 5 hours of light wont be enough, but my other plants are doing well so hopefully it will too!
 
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