Expert: Christopher Littrell - 3/31/2008

Question
My venus flytraps started coming out of dormancy from late February to early March. The leaves are sprouting, and I had a lot of really tiny traps. I'm starting to get slightly bigger ones, but they're way smaller than full grown traps. Is this normal? I haven't had a fully grown, open trap grow yet. Also I'm keeping them outside in windy, low humidity(10% or less) conditions. I keep them tray watered to stay moist all the time. Do you need high humidity when the plant comes out of dormancy? They seemed to grow fine outside in these conditions when I bought it, full grown, from Walmart last year. Lately the highs have been from 60-70 segrees. The lows have been from the high 30's to the 50's . The humidity is usually at 10%, and the wind is blowing south at 9mph on my plants, which is in front of the north side of a building. The wind often gets up to around 20mph.

Answer
Hello Jonathan,

Small traps are often a sign of low light levels. Can you place them on the South side of the buiding or in a place where they get full sun all day long?

In addition, Venus Flytraps typically do obtain a much higher humidity in bogs, however; do not require it. They can adapt quite well to low humiditiy. Keep on tray watering the plants and keep them hydrated all the time to ensure they do not dry out in those high winds and low humidity though. If possible, place their pots in a very tall tray to trap more humidity near the plants before it completely evaporates. Always keep about 1/4 the pot depth in mineral free water and never fertilize the plants. Pot them only in sphagnum moss and perlite in a 50/50 mix and repot them yearly to keep the soil from souring.

Christopher