Expert: Christopher Littrell - 6/21/2010

Question
QUESTION: Can I find Venus Fly Traps in Alaska? I would like to buy/find some. I love them! ^ ^ So can you help me? I need to know if I can buy/find them in Eagle River, Chugiak, Anchorage, or Palmer in Alaska. Thanks!

ANSWER: Hello Emily,

I do not know if there are any places specifically that grow or supply Venus Flytraps in your area, however; the easiest way to obtain some would simply be to go online at cobraplant.com, or one of many other carnivorous plant sites, and simply order some. Most of these places will ship them to you within a few days.

Christopher

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok. Now I found one and bought it at a store... I know I should feed it a live fly or something every 10 days. But other than that, is there anything else I need to know about so I can care for it properly?

Answer
Hello Emily,

Actually, feeding the plant flies is not necessary. Insects are just fertilizer to Venus Flytraps. Basically, they are like vitamin pills for Humans. Vitamins will never keep a person alive, and so, never will flies keep a Venus Flytrap alive. Flies are just a little supplement that helps the plant maintain health after it gets everything it really needs.

What Venus Flytraps actually need are 1) Light, 2) Mineral Free Water, 3) Proper Soil, and 4) Dormancy Periods. Care for your Venus Flytrap like any temperate perennial from an acid Sphagnum peat bog and it will thrive.

Light needs to be the equivalent of full sun all day long every day. That means outside where the plant gets all the ultraviolet light and other full spectrum sunlight that it can as well as the full intensity. If grown inside, make sure that the plant is in the brightest sunny window that you have and add as much florescent light as possible over the plant to increase intensity. Treat is as if you are trying to grow a full sun rose plant indoors.

Water needs to be soft, not with salt, but by reverse osmosis, distillation, or by collecting rain water. If the water from your tap is soft, less than 50 parts per million in particle solids, you can use it as well. Place a tray a couple inches larger than the pot requires and place about 1/4 the pot depth in water. Venus Flytraps are bog plants that like their roots near water. Let the tray evaporate over the course of a few days, then top water the plant and fill the tray again. The process should take 3 days to a week between waterings.

Soil needs to a mix of Sphagnum peat moss and either silica sand or perlite in a 1:1 ratio. You can mix these substances when you repot the plant simply by scooping a handful of each at a time into a pot and moistening them until you have an even mix of both together. Never fertilize the soil or use fertilized mixes. Some sphagnum peat and perlite is fertilized, so try to check them out and avoid buying them for your Flytraps. The best to buy would be bales of dry moss from nurseries that say Premium Canadian Sphagnum Peat or Black Gold. This type of soil is acidic and holds in a lot of water while providing air spaces for the plant's roots to breathe.

Dormancy is required by Venus Flytraps each year. Without dormancy, most Venus Flytraps will weaken and die off after a year or so. Dormancy should be for about 3-4 months in winter in temperatures of about 40 degrees optimal in a pot. In their native environment, they are able to withstand freezing temperatures, but are growing in the ground among a variety of other plants and are protected somewhat from total freezes. Before going dormant, they must undergo a period of adaptation to cold weather by seasonal sunlight cueing. What happens in their natural environment is that the days shorten in Fall until the plant reacts by producing winter hormones to protect their cells from freezing solid and shattering. After winter, the days lengthen again in spring and the temperature warms, allowing the plant's cells to wake up and begin growing at full speed again. In Alaska, I understand that the days are not quite the same as those in other areas. You might have to take matters into your own hands and allot times for the plant to experience light and dark and manually adjust the daylength from about 16 in Summer, to about 8 in Winter by lessening the daylength by one to two hours per week in about October to November, then 3 months of dormancy, then lengthen the days again from 8 hours a day to 16 by adding one to two hours a week in Late February to March, gradually warming the plants to over 60 degrees in early March.

I have kept my Venus Flytraps on that kind of schedule for almost three years without a hitch. They flower in late March to early April every year and the same adult plant I started with has multiplied into over a dozen divisions from the roots and dropped seeds.

Once the plant has all of the main ingredients for survival, then you can think about giving it a fly every couple weeks or so, or better yet, just watch the plant catch its own insects.

Christopher