Thread: Venus Fly Traps
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Old 18-03-2007, 04:57 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Ford Prefect Ford Prefect is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Nov 2006
Posts: 5
Default Venus Fly Traps

Mike,
You say you sow in an ericaceous compost mix do you then re pot the
seedlings into the more normal peat/sand mix?

David,
Cut the flower stems off as soon as you see them IMHO the flowers are
nothing to look at and sap a lot of energy from the plant.
Ford.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2007 09:08:55 GMT, "MikeCT"
wrote:


"David France" asked:
Should I have allowed my plant to go dormant over Winter?
I've just kept it on a South facing windowsill standing in a saucer of
water all the time.
It looks healthy enough. It has even had a couple of flower stems, though
the little white flowers were nothing to shout about. Are they supposed to
rest over Winter?

---
Yes, Venus fly traps DO rest during the winter. Some die down whilst others
retain their green growth.. Keep your fly trap pot standing in water, on the
south facing windowsill. Although standing it in a saucer of water for the
winter is fine, during the summer months go for a deeper container. The
water should be at least half way up the side of the plant pot. You will
have no doubt found that a few of the traps blacken and die, these should be
carefully cut away. I grow fly traps, most are resting, one flowering now
and a few just starting new spring growth. Once the flowers on your fly trap
have died, you will most likely find that you have very fine, black seeds.
These can be sown onto an ericaceous compost mix, spray and cover the pot
with Clingfilm and wait for germination. Keep the pot standing in water on
your south facing windowsill. The seeds take some time before they
germinate, but it's well worth the wait.

MikeCT