I've been wanting to try and grow a Venus Fly-Trap for years now but I understand that they are notoriously hard to grow. Since I need a good place to start, I thought I would start with soil. I've heard that you should grow them in highly fertile soil, and poor soil. Wet and dry, dark and light. Nobody seems to agree on it. Do you have experience? What would you recommend? Any tips?
I'd start by finding out exactly where they originated from, which country they primarily grow in the wild. That will give you the best idea of the weather conditions you'll be looking at to try and replicate. I know People who do grow them, remove the flower stems because they consume too much energy from the plant, which makes the trap take longer to grow. That's all the advice and info I have on the subject for you, hope I helped some. Good luck!!
I had one once and I used a 50/50 mix of peat moss and sphagnum moss. This is what was indicated on the ticket hanging off the plant when I bought it and it worked out great!! They require plenty of sunlight and a daily spraying but as long as they have bugs to eat they are happy. Mine unfortunately died because some kids in my condo thought it would be fun to put M&M's inside the fly traps mouth. The chocolate melted all over the plant and it didn't make it.
Thank you, both of you have helpful information! Mrs. Pirz, I would have been furious at those kids! Do you know how many bugs they need to eat and how often?
I have not tried to sprout one, but just bought a tiny little one and watched it grow. They are quite amazing to watch and are pretty cool looking. I wish you the best of lucky! Post pictures of your success!
This is right. The Venus Flytrap is a native of Louisiana if I am not mistaken. The soil that they grow in is nutrient poor, so the plants have this mechanism for extracting nitrogen from insects. They have sensitive hairs on the trap and when an insect triggers on the trap closes, and the insect dies a horrible death, as it is digested while alive. The Flytrap is known as an active feeder. An example of a passive feeder is the pitcher plant, which uses sweet nectar or something like that to attract an insect into the pitcher. There are inward facing hairs that prevent the unfortunate bug from escaping. The plants that are carnivorous are like that do to poor soils that they grow in.
