Just made!

Thought I would share. (:

Venus flytraps will do OK for a while in a terrarium (if it does not get too hot or humid). But they are NOT tropical plants and do much better if grown outdoors in full sunlight. Their natural habitat is zone 8.

A better choice than the terrarium is a 4 or 5" pot, sitting in a shallow tray of water. The pot should be in a window with as much direct sunlight as possible.

What is your potting media? Potting soil is lethal, as is non-sphagnum moss. It is likely that the charcoal at the bottom will add dissolved solids to your terrarium water. If it does, that will also kill the plants over time.

The planting media does not appear wet enough. There should be some standing water in the bottom of the container.

Water with very low dissolved solids water - 50 ppm or less. Distilled water works fine - as does some RO water (check to make sure it has a very low salt content).

Keep us updated Lindsey how it goes! I almost bought a VFT this weekend but I held back, I know my area is just too dry. It will be a learning process for all of us.

But just to show you, this is a nice VFT container I saw at California carnivores last Feb 2016: winter at that time, but they have ample greenhouse shading so it helps in the humidity needs of the carnivores. Then there are other carnivores around in standing water, so it further adds to the humid environment it needs.

Actually, it is a myth that American carnivorous plants need high humidity. While ours does not get down around 0% like some desert areas, it often is in the range of 10% - 20%. All the plants handle that just fine - I suspect the standing water in the trays increase the humidity a bit. The plants get their water through their roots, not through the leaves.

Also, for VFT and most Sarracenia species, the more direct sunlight the better. Mine get it from about an hour after sunrise until sunset every day.

I would say it is dependent on other environmental factors and growing zones. Over here my Sarracenias will get fried if positioned in direct sunlight. It is too dry here, no rain for about 6 to 7 months.

I do not believe it is a myth. They do need humidity, as to what level it will vary depending on growing areas. You are lucky then that your growing area is quite conducive for them. For the rest of us, it will be hit and miss till we get it right.

Some plants with open stomates at daytime can take in some moisture through the leaves. Some, like succulents, have their stomates closed during daytime, so it is pointless to water the leaves. It will just cause undue rotting. It just varies from plant to plant. And some carnivores like Pings they alternate from succulent mode to carnivore mode, so got to pay attention to that too.

I would suspect it is more a case of your pots/water getting too hot.

No, it is not the water, but the stifling dry air around here which we have no control over, even in shade. And these plants, like Sarracenias grow best outdoors than indoors, so it is an ongoing struggle. Hopefully after this week long intense heat wave, the plants will have a breather. I wonder if VFT will grow in standing water, my nepenthes grows in standing distilled water. I have some tropical plants that can take standing water as long as it is summer time, but not in any other season of course when it goes much cooler and especially in winter when daytime is much shorter. So tempting to experiment on VFT...got to think it over.

Hey Lindsey, hope your plants do well. We just have varying growing conditions, so who knows, it may work well with your plants and your VFT terrarium.

Thank you both!! I had just planted it so thats why it was not yet wet! All my other carnivorous plants are in pots in a tray of stones, we will see how this works out!!! I just wanted to test it, because I know some of my sundews did not even survive just having trays of water... they needed way more humidity.

I will remove the moss, thanks for the tip. (:

I will keep you updated!

tarev said:No, it is not the water, but the stifling dry air around here which we have no control over, even in shade. And these plants, like Sarracenias grow best outdoors than indoors, so it is an ongoing struggle. Hopefully after this week long intense heat wave, the plants will have a breather. I wonder if VFT will grow in standing water, my nepenthes grows in standing distilled water. I have some tropical plants that can take standing water as long as it is summer time, but not in any other season of course when it goes much cooler and especially in winter when daytime is much shorter. So tempting to experiment on VFT...got to think it over.

My VFT's grow fine in standing water. But I use slightly taller pots (or a lower tray water level) - since they do not like being quite as wet as most of the Sarracenia and temperate dewthreads.

At our last Orchid Society Meeting, our guest speaker who owns an orchid nursery and supply company in Sacramento, made a good point. He said every area's growing conditions are different so he couldn't tell us how to grow our plants because he is from Sacramento and our plants are living in Reno.

His advice was to look up where a plant is native to and try to copy those conditions. That holds true for carnivorous plants also - look at how they grow in wherever they grow and copy those conditions. I thought it was great advice.

That is wonderful advice!!! Thank you Daisy!

Good advice indeed! But at times, I like to experiment, pushing zones, sometimes it may work, or not , sometimes really surprising they do make it woohoo! That is the fun of gardening, always a new challenge to explore and cherish what can actually grow well. I have learned which types to avoid, to lessen my frustration, there are environmental limitations which one should really observe and just be practical about it.

Yes, I probably will never have an orchid tree in my backyard.

tarev said:Good advice indeed! But at times, I like to experiment, pushing zones, sometimes it may work, or not , sometimes really surprising they do make it woohoo! That is the fun of gardening, always a new challenge to explore and cherish what can actually grow well. I have learned which types to avoid, to lessen my frustration, there are environmental limitations which one should really observe and just be practical about it.

Yeah. Although I live in zone 8, which is the same as where many Sarracenia and VFT's grow natively, the temperature can sometimes get down below zero F for a day or two and the humidity often is very low. However, all the temperate plants seem to thrive here, even when being left outdoors year around.

I also repot plants freely year around - which is not recommended.

Yeah not doing too hot....

Sorry to see that Lindsey.
Can't suggest anything, I am bad with them too.

I'm great with pitcher plants and sundews but for some reason I can't make fly traps happy no matter what type of pot I have them in

Venus Fly Traps may not need high humidity, but they sure get it here in southern MD. Its been 80%+ for weeks. I can sweat just checking the mailbox. LOL!

Update on the VFTs...


I wish the picture of the flower was better. On the other hand, the VFT traps are about half-filled all the time. I can see dark spots in the closed traps, and the newly-opened ones have nice pink centers. And it seems to my that the traps are larger than when I first bought the plants.

In keeping with the idea of providing them only rainwater, I set out clean buckets before the recent (and very appreciated) rains. We got almost 4" of rain and it is amazing how much water that is in 3 buckets and 2 planting flats. I have almost 10 gallons stored now. I doubt I will need more than that this Fall, but I'll save all of it until dormancy.

I'm sure my houseplants will appreciate it too.