Carnivorous Plants By Damo
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Sarracenia purpurea
Variegated AF VFT typical
Pretty happy purps
Pre-winter prep
Big & beautiful VFTs
VFT - Fang
Cephalotus follicularis
Sundews in the suburbs
Photos while recording
Books in my collection
AI Generated Images
Some silly stuff
Useful links
Online retailers
About me
Blog
Contact me
Carnivorous Plants By Damo
HOME
PHOTOS OF MY PLANTS
HOW TO...
VIDEOS
Sarracenia purpurea
Variegated AF VFT typical
Pretty happy purps
Pre-winter prep
Big & beautiful VFTs
VFT - Fang
Cephalotus follicularis
Sundews in the suburbs
Photos while recording
Books in my collection
AI Generated Images
Some silly stuff
Useful links
Online retailers
About me
Blog
Contact me
More
  • HOME
  • PHOTOS OF MY PLANTS
  • HOW TO...
  • VIDEOS
  • Sarracenia purpurea
  • Variegated AF VFT typical
  • Pretty happy purps
  • Pre-winter prep
  • Big & beautiful VFTs
  • VFT - Fang
  • Cephalotus follicularis
  • Sundews in the suburbs
  • Photos while recording
  • Books in my collection
  • AI Generated Images
  • Some silly stuff
  • Useful links
  • Online retailers
  • About me
  • Blog
  • Contact me
  • HOME
  • PHOTOS OF MY PLANTS
  • HOW TO...
  • VIDEOS
  • Sarracenia purpurea
  • Variegated AF VFT typical
  • Pretty happy purps
  • Pre-winter prep
  • Big & beautiful VFTs
  • VFT - Fang
  • Cephalotus follicularis
  • Sundews in the suburbs
  • Photos while recording
  • Books in my collection
  • AI Generated Images
  • Some silly stuff
  • Useful links
  • Online retailers
  • About me
  • Blog
  • Contact me

Venus flytraps (Dionaea muscipula)

A couple of simple tips for keeping VFTs alive:

They should never be dry. It needs to be sitting in water constantly, at least two or three centimetres during summer.


During winter the water tray can dry out before topping it up again.


They are best grown outdoors in full sun (minimum 6 hours). These guys love sun and will do best outdoors.


I find they do much better with a winter dormancy period. Canberra winters are ideal for them. Don’t be frightened of the frosts at all. Mine have been frozen solid. As long as the temperature rises above freezing during the day, they will be just fine.


Each trap will only close around 3 to 7 times before dying. If the traps are triggered without getting the reward of a meal, the plant will quickly die. If you want to feed it, the “meal” must be alive. The traps have tiny trigger hairs that require stimulation for the digestive action to occur.


My media for VFTs is a 50/50 peat moss & perlite mix.

Make sure the media is quite wet before potting up the plants.

MORE ON VENUS FLYTRAPS AT WIKIPEDIA

Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia)

North American Pitcher Plants

Pitcher plants require similar conditions to Venus flytraps.


They must never dry out. Long periods without being wet will lead to the plants death. The water tray method is best for them.


They require LOTS of sun. Their natural habitat often sees them growing without shade, though I've found the extreme, dry summers in Canberra can impact on them. I have mine in filtered sun at the hottest part of the day. It probably won't matter too much as long as they are kept well watered.


In winter the traps will wither and die. This is quite normal. The lack of insects at this time makes trap growth sort of redundant. The dead traps will eventually be cut off in readiness for the oncoming spring.


The media I use for pitcher plants is 75/25 sphagnum peat moss/perlite. Other mixes are available, but I only recommend what I know.


There are some species of Sarracenia that require slightly different care and I will go into that in the coming weeks...

MORE ON SARRACENIA AT WIKIPEDIA

HOW-TO VIDEOS...

Venus flytrap flower stalk propagation


A quick explainer on how I do flower stalk propagation


*Don’t forget to label them*


Mine remain outside alongside their parent plants.


This has worked for me.


Your conditions may contribute to different results for better or worse 😊🤷🏼‍♂️

Purpurea pitchers: To trim or not to trim

There’s two schools of thought on whether to cut the pitchers off of Sarracenia purpurea.


California Carnivores recently posted a video showing that they remove all the pitchers from the plant.


I’ve only ever removed pitchers that are dead (or not long from dead) and have had quite successful results.


My reasoning is that some pitchers can last for up to two years and therefore don’t want to cut off something that’s alive and capable of photosynthesis. 

I can also see that removing all the pitchers (as I do with most of my other sarras) encourages new growth to sprout come springtime.


Location and environmental differences may also create variances in growing.  


Let me know what you do with yours!! 😃

Repotting some Venus flytraps - October 7, 2021

A how to (sort of) repot VFTs - a more detailed version will drop later this year!

Lots of Venus flytrap divisions - August 22, 2021

This was a bit of fun as opposed to a proper how-to video...

(Originally posted on Instagram)

Please note:

All information is provided as a guide only.


Your conditions and methods may produce different results. 


Gardening is sometimes like a lottery. You win some, you lose some 🤷


Links to external websites are also provided only as a guide.  

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