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About Sarracenia Northwest
Expertise
Got a carnivorous plant problem? The growers at Sarracenia Northwest can help! Carnivorous plant experts Jeff Dallas and Jacob Farin have helped thousands of growers around the world, and they can help you too. When you submit your question, they will diagnose your situation and offer a solution to help you get your carnivorous plant back on track.

Experience
With over 40 years of combined experience, Jeff and Jacob has definitely taken a straight forward approach to growing carnivorous plants. Get the straight facts from the guys who grow and propagate thousands of these plants every year.

No terrariums. No myths. No nonsense.

Education/Credentials
Authors of Secrets to Growing Beautiful Carnivorous Plants for Your Home and Garden and producers of the Grow Carnivorous Plants! DVD Series.

PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR QUESTION:
We no longer answer how-to questions (i.e. How do I propagate...?; How do I grow...?).

Instead, we help growers by diagnosing a specific plant problem and offering solutions (i.e. Why is my sundew not producing dew?; Is now a good time to divide my Sarracenia?; Why are the traps turning black?; What's a good substitute for perlite?; Why didn't my seeds germinate?; Can you identify this carnivorous plant for me?)

If you are looking for general care and specific how-to information, please visit the following pages on our main website:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets
http://www.cobraplant.com/videos
http://www.cobraplant.com/DVD
http://www.cobraplant.com/ebook

For help selecting carnivorous plants for your home and garden:
http://www.cobraplant.com/bestplants

For business questions:
http://www.cobraplant.com/contact

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

You are here: Experts > Style > Gardening > Carnivorous Plants > Why does my flytrap open soo soon

Carnivorous Plants - Why does my flytrap open soo soon

Expert: Sarracenia Northwest - 11/2/2009

Question
I bough a fly trap from Albertsons and I decided to let it grow outside. It started to get cold and instead of letting it to dormant I decide to grow it in my house under an AeroGarden light. I give it about 15 hrs a day, and it's doing really great. But recently I fed one of the new traps a tiny spider and the trap re-opened within two day so I tryed it again last night with a bigger spider and when I seen it today it's already starting to open up alittie bit. Is this a problem?????? Because I though the trap is suppose to stay close for 7 days.....

Answer
Hi Jontue,

There are two issues that might be affecting it, but overall it's not really a problem. The first is whether the spiders were already dead when you fed them to the trap. The plant is stimulated by the insects struggle to get free. If there isn't any struggle, then the plant is stimulated to digest the bug, so it reopens to catch something else.

The other possibility is the exposure to cold temperatures. When the weather cools down, the traps actually stop digesting insects. So the exposure to cold, though brief, may have triggered this reaction. The plant still thinks it's cold. If this is the case, you'll need to wait until the plant produces new leaves before you see the normal plant reactions.

On another note, it's not at all necessary to protect your flytrap from cold temperatures. We grow them exclusively outdoors at our nursery in zone 8 with very minimal winter protection.

For more information about growing flytraps, read our care sheet:
http://www.cobraplant.com/caresheets

I also recommend watching our DVD, Grow Carnivorous Plants Volume 1:
http://www.cobraplant.com/DVD

You will also find our monthly podcasts very helpful:
http://www.cobraplant.com/videos

Good growing!
Jacob Farin

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