Life of a vft

[Darwin]

I just got my first VFT in the hope that it'll catch me some flies but I thought I'd check the internet for care instructions. I've got it on my window-sill in a pot standing in a tray of water. It's nice and red inside the leaves and it has one black one.

Anyway, my question was about the lifetime of it. I read that they don't live very long. The traps can only close 3-4 times and then it dies.

Will this happen or will my plant be with me for years to come? And should I try to get rid of that black leaf, it's a very small one lying on the soil. And should I feed it if I see no traps are shut, or is that killing it faster?

Thanks for the forum, very helpful already

 

[technoracer]

welcome to the petflytrap forums! you will find answers to all your venus fly trap questions here. spend a little time reading through the boards, and you'll see that we've covered many topics and growing techniques already.

now, on to your questions...

the black trap: if you want to, go ahead and cut off any black parts of your venus fly trap. i do this with mine, as i think they look better.

the lifespan of the idividual traps is only a few open and close cycles. this isn't a big deal, though, as the plant should be growing new traps from its center to replace the older traps. for the most part, as long as there is new growth in the center, you'll be ok. if you give your plants it's needed dormancy period, and fallow the few basic rules for growing vft's, it should be around for a long time!

peace,
technoracer

 

[Darwin]

Right, the individual traps might not last but the plant grows new traps, that's OK then. I think there's more than one plant growing anyway, because there's a good 9 or so traps with another 5 or so very small baby traps. The baby traps are growing outward into another part of the pot, so I'll leave them a while before seeing if I should separate them.

 

[jimscott]

In a manner of speaking, a VFT can, with appropriate care, as Technoracer suggests, live for decades. Bugweed has one that is 30(?) years old - or something to that effect.

I get rid of anything blackened with death and leave anything green alone. Black=Death; Green=Life.

 

[jhaluska]

I believe removal of the blackened leaves is purely for cosmetic reasons only (unless you have problems with fungus). I wait for my leaves to completely shrivel up before removing them.

 

[Stevie D]

Darwin, welcome to the forums.

At the risk of posting the link one time too many, this site is a great resource for starting out with VFTs. Should save you a lot of time. It saved me a lot of VFTs!

Steve

 

[pond boy]

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS! And happy growing

 

[Darwin]

Quote[/b] (Stevie D @ May 24 2004,2:31)]At the risk of posting the link one time too many, this site is a great resource for starting out with VFTs.

Yeah that link was very useful, answered just about very question I had. Including some I didn't (diseased foot tissue...

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