Expert: Christopher Littrell - 6/8/2007

Question
Hi,
I have a Venus fly trap in a terrarium and it ha just finished flowering. Should I cut off the stalk or will it die back on its own.

Thanks in advance.
Mitch

Answer
Hello Mitch,

You can just cut back the blackening parts of the flower scape each day or wait for it to die all the way back to the ground, then clip it close to the plant. Anything still green gives the plant extra photosynthesis.

A bit of advice on your terrarium bound Venus Flytrap. Terrariums usually induce root rot, weak growth, fungus, and keep the plant from receiving the light levels it really requires. If you decide to get it out of the terrarium, you will need to slowly adapt it to lower humidity for a couple of weeks by slowly opening the terrarium a little every three days until it no longer holds humidity, then repot the plant. Once in the pot, you can give the plant more light than you could in the terrarium. It will have to be adapted to high light since it has been cooped up. Do that by placing it in a morning sun window for one week, then in a window that gets bright full sun all day for a week. If you can, you can move it outside if your region does not have temperatures over 100 degrees. If your region does not allow for outside growth of Venus Flytraps, you will have to make do with a full sun window and extra florescent lights of 40 watt shop light variety or 100 watt compact type over the plant. You will be surprised at how much healthier the plant looks out of the terrarium and you are less likely to run into problems later on down the road.

It is a myth that Venus Flytraps need a terrarium and high humidity. They are North American plants that need full sun and temperate environment like a garden plant. You would have a hard time allowing for the plant's dormancy requirements in a terrarium as well since they "go to sleep" all winter when it is cold and the days are short.

In any event, did you collect seeds? After flowering, Venus Flytraps that have received enough light will produce a few seeds in each flower that can be collected by clipping the dead flowers off after they dry completely and crushing them until tiny black pear shaped seeds fall out. You can sow them on the surface of damp sphagnum peat moss and they should germinate in 2-6 weeks.

Keep up the good care with your Venus Flytrap.

Christopher