-Random Thought-

Sounds very similar to some of my problems AND my name is Jason too!

Very creepy.

The key to growing a VFT is to replicate its "Home Location" as much as you possibly can. And if you read enough on it, it loves bog-like areas with loads of sun.

I don't know too much of the details, but I buy the Stater Bros. brand of "Pure Water" (which has been purified by "Reverse Osmosis") and dump in enough water to loosely turn the water into near mud. Is it safe for indoors? I don't know.

The water then drains into a "bowl" which is actually a cut-in-half Powerade bottle and keep the water about 3-4th of an inch of this small terrainium I own.

I keep it in full sun and the leaves turn brown to black too.

The plant DOES grow, but the leaves don't open. Which leads me to a new topic of the forums.

Hello jmach,

The key to growing a Venus Flytrap is to give it most of the same things a regular garden plant needs minus the fertilizer and potting soil. When people get a Flytrap, they usually experience buying it from a non-specialty store nursery in which the plant is treated like some tropical low light plant the has to have high humidity. This creates two problems. One, the plant is weak from no light, and two, the plant is weak from high humidity (they don't mind high humidity in an open environment, but can adapt well to low humidity and are actually North Carolina bog natives).

First, if it came with a dome, take it off slowly over the course of a couple of weeks so the plant has time to adapt to lower humidity.

Second, place it in higher intensity sunlight a week at a time in a progressively brighter window until it is adapted to ultraviolet light.

If your north window is the only place you can put it, you might need some extra florescent lights to add intensity for 16 hours while it is in that window. A 100 watt equivalent energy saver florescent or a 40 watt double tube shop light would suffice. Venus Flytraps are really better grown as outside plants as inside they usually cannot get enough light and remain rather slow and weak.

Water the plant only with mineral free water as you researched. The minerals from the drinking water might have already taken a toll on the soil, so repotting soon might be better than waiting over winter as the soil could sour from the minerals by then.

Repot it any time of the growing season and use at least a 4-5 inch pot. Make sure the pot has drainage holes in the bottom and place it in a large tray that will hold about an inch of water. Repot the plant in sphagnum peat moss from the dry bales that say Canadian premium and such, never use the small bags of moss as they are fertilized. Mix about a 50/50 moss to perlite or silica sand and make sure that those other ingredients are also fertilizer and mineral free... Yes the sand is silica, but that mineral is safe... it is calcium, magnesium, potassium, and fertilizers like nitrogen and phosphates that will kill the plant if they get in the soil.

Cut back any black and brown material and leave anything that is green as it still provides photosynthesis. Sometimes traps die back and if the trap itself is cut off, the petiole (stalk) will remain green for weeks after.

The plant should not try to flower at this time of year, only a couple months after dormancy in April to June are the flowering months of Flytraps. Flowering slows the plant down a bit, but a healthy Flytrap will survive flowering. They do in nature all the time.. it is weak wimpy Flytraps sold in non-specialty places that suffer low light that should not be allowed to keep their flowers while you are trying to reverse the damage done to the plant. The flower stalk should be cut when it reaches a couple inches in height. It will look like this except it will grow straight up:

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Also, try not to move the plant from inside to outside and from place to place too much. They adapt slowly to changes in temperature and humidity as they are used to being rooted in one spot and staying there. Constant changes in environment can stress the plant and eventually weaken it as well.

Follow Mutant Hybrid's advice. Unfortunately, this particular CP will be a relatively high maintenance plant, under your existing conditions.

A better plant, one that would do well enough for you would be the D. adelae and P. primuliflora that Lowes sells.

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These are less demanding alternatives for ya.

I can only address the burning. As was mentioned above, retailers and some nurseries will keep the plants in low light. Low manitenance for them.

People get excited about burn. You almost have to burn a plant when re-acclimating it. They usually can't even handle a bicycle light increase without burning. The new growth will come in stronger. I used to be afraid to burn plants. Ultimately, a little courage and a little burn is best

Clara

My name's Jason too.

On an unrelated note, Venus fly traps have 4 basic needs:

1. LOTS of sun, this is the most important part, even if you do burn some leaves, the rhizome (bulb) will produce new stronger ones. Don't give up on them if some (or all) of the leaves die, they're very hard to kill off completely.

2. Keep em wet. definitely keep them in standing water, about a half inch is good for your size of pot. If it's very dry where you are, it's not a bad idea to mist the plant directly. And yes, use distilled or reverse osmosis water only. LETTING TAP WATER SIT OUT OVERNIGHT WILL NOT PURIFY YOUR WATER!!!

3.Give them a good growing medium. Use half SPHAGNUM peat moss and half sand or perlite. If you opt for sand, make sure it has been washed. I use perlite since it's always sterile. If your plant is growing in regular potting soil now, Get it out of there!

4.Let them go dormant in winter, the garage sounds like a good idea, just don't forget to keep caring for them while they're dormant. And if they start to flower in the spring (the flower stalk will look much different than stalks of new leaves) trim off the flower stalk.

By the way, when describing the plant:

Rhizome: where all the stalks come together to form a bulb

Leaf: This is the trap part

Petiole: The leafy stalk leading to the trap

Some other things to note:
If you count more than 10 traps you probably have more than one rhizome in your pot. Trim off any obviously dead traps near the base since the petiole will die off all the way eventually. And don't worry, dead traps are completely normal. People tend to forget that the traps are just normal plant leaves and have a limited lifetime. A picture of the plant as it is now would be a great help. Repotting the plant now wouldn't be a bad idea, but waiting till it goes dormant would probably be better.

Thank you everyone for all of your help! I appreciate it. I just bought a compact fluorescent bulb yesterday (a 75 watt equivelant) and I just put it on my plant a few minutes ago. I'm assuming it would be best to only put it on for a couple of hours, and gradually increase the exposure?

As a side question (I emailed GE about this and never heard back), the only fixture I have to put the CFL in is a desk lamp. I would never leave a desk lamp with an incandescent bulb in for 10-12 hours at a time, but I've never used a CFL before. I know they are much cooler; is it safe (assuming the lamp itself is working properly) to leave a desklamp with a CFL on for that length of time unattended, or is the fixture too "enclosed"? I just don't want to come back from class to my dorm on fire!

I also bought a gallon of distilled water and I have been using that, and I took the grid out of a coaster and set the pot in there; it holds a little less than a quarter inch of water.

I cut the dead leaves off of the plant (as you can see in the picture). I probably won't be able to repot the plant for a while, but it will get done before the end of the year.

As far as "taking care of it" during dormancy - I have read that you should water it less frequently. Is it adviseable to leave it in the dish containing water and just wait a couple of days to refill it after it dries up? Or does it require even less than that? And I am assuming that a complete lack of sunlight will be okay for it in dormancy?

Here are some pictures of my plant - it had 6 leaves when I got it and now I'm down to 2, which is why I was worried about burning, etc., but these two seem to be doing well so far.

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Thank you all again for your help!
Jason

Maybe it's just the camera, but those look like saw tooths or dentes, cool.

Anywho, the petioles that you trimmed the traps off of are gonna die, but it might be beneficial to leave them since they'll at least photosynthesize. And your light PROBABLY won't burn down your dorm ;D

If you have the patience, you can gradually introduce them to light and dryness, which i tried doing when i got mine, but in the end i just stuck em outside and let them fend for themselves.

You might wanna move some of the soil covering to see if it's making any new traps.

I would keep it in about a half inch of water. Make sure when you want to fill it that you pour the water on the plant. If the tray fills up quickly, then you're draining nicely. The soil should always be moist but not saturated.

As for dormancy, the soil should stay moist but don't leave it standing in water. Reduce the photoperiod a bit, but don't leave it completely dark. Remember, you want to reproduce its natural conditions as much as possible. Of course, if all the leaves die off, it probably doesn't matter as much. Also, don't feed your plant during dormancy.

Most importantly, never give up on your fly trap, If it appears to be dead, keep caring for it for another few months and it might come back.

-Jason

No, those florescent lights are cool enough to touch even after being on for hours. It will be a warm 90s or so, but will not burn anything. Your plant can take all of the florescent light you can give it, especially the 75 watt equivalent.. a 100 watt equivalent would be better. Just leave the florescent on for 12 -16 hours a day for now... they do not produce UV light enough to damage any plant. Even my lower light Drosera adelaes do great under high levels of florescent light (12000 lumens from 4 40 watt tube shop lights 5 inches from their leaves) 16 hours a day. Just make sure no leaves touch the bulb or tube directly. A Venus Flytrap can be placed much closer to such artificial light without fear, mine are one inch from the florescents.

In winter, the window will provide them a natural indicator of fall and winter photoperiods, just adjust your artificial light periods to match a one hour less per week cycle in November until the plant gets 8 or less hours a day, then turn the artificial light off over winter. The plant will not really need light in winter, but the light it gets will be used. If it starts receiving too much light in photoperiod per day, it will come out of dormancy. Just leave it in that window (if it stays cool enough, about 40 degrees is good overwinter) and wait till spring and it will start growing again. In about February to March, start increasing the artificial light period one hour a week, starting at 8 hours, until your at 12-16 hours again.

The remaining leaves on your plant look good. Just keep an eye out for new growth as Drwurm indicated as that is a sign the plant is still going. During winter, it will not grow much if at all, but for now it should be putting up new leaves every week or so.

I'm not sure what kind of plant it is (as I don't have any experience with them), but the tag in the pots at the store said "Cobra Plant (Pitcher Plant)"...but from what I've gathered from Google it looks nothing like a pitcher plant!

I just got a 100 Watt equivelant for my plant today (and one for my pineapple as well!) and I'll leave it on for a longer period of time, now that I don't have to worry about burning the place down.

I moved some of the moss stuff out of the way and I didn't see any new growth, but I'll be sure to keep an eye on that. It will probably be around 60-70 on that window during the winter, so I will probably just ween it off of the light as you suggested and put it in the garage for the winter, since it won't need any light, and gradually increase the light when it's time for it to wake back up.