Expert: Christopher Littrell - 1/28/2009

Question
Hi.  About five days ago I bought a Venus flytrap from Lowes and now it is wilting.  I have kept the water level in the terrarium less than half the way up the pot.  After reading articles online I have learned that it might be getting too much sunlight, so I moved to get the morning sun only.  Since I have bough the flytrap I have fed it one fly and the trap still has not opened.  and it continues to wilt.  Please help me.

Answer
Hello Matthew,

Venus Flytraps should be dormant at this time of year. Venus Flytraps are temperate plants native to North Carolina, so slow down and halt growth as the photoperiod shortens and the cold weather begins to encroach.

First, throw away the instructions the plant came with and ignore those articles you read online. Whoever told you to place the plant in a terrarium and give it less sun indoors has lead you astray seriously.

Venus Flytraps like full sun, can adapt to low humidity, need high water levels, but not as much as you are supplying, and die rather quickly in terrariums and indoors where they do not get natural sun and winter dormancy unless special measures are taken to keep them alive.

Your Flytrap is probably suffering from high humidity, enclosed, stagnant conditions, and high heat levels from sunlight focused through the terrarium glass.

Grow the plant in a regular pot with a large tray up to an inch or two tall under it. Fill the tray with water and ensure the pot is at least 4-5 inches tall. 1/4 the pot should be in water. Only water with distilled, rain, or reverse osmosis water. Soil should be sphagnum peat moss and perlite in a 1/1 ratio and should never have fertilizers added. Never put Flytraps in terrariums for the reasons you just stated, wilting and dying in bright light. These plants need such light, but terrariums make it impossible to provide it properly in most cases.

This time of year, the plant is at a low energy ebb and should not be fed anything. They should be asleep in winter conditions until spring.

Since the plant is probably not dormant it might die off in a few months from lack of proper dormancy as it will use up its energy reserves staying active all winter. This lack of dormancy coupled with the terrarium and the lack of light make it a grim outlook. Next time buy from good sources that help you with great information about the plant you are growing. I buy from cobraplant.com and I have heard good things about californiacarnivores.com.

Good luck with your Venus Flytrap.

Christopher