I only know they must stay moist and they're pretty independent.
by tworandomperson
I only know they must stay moist and they're pretty independent.
by tworandomperson
25 Comments
Shows both healthy curiosity and good taste.
Use distilled water!
Distilled or rain water only!!!! Faucet water will kill it!
But yeah just keep it in a drip tray of distilled water by some good light and youll be thriving homie
Congratulations! If you’re interested in a book for kids about carnivorous plants, Hungry Plants is great and has a venus flytrap on the cover.
So cute! Would be my first pick too at his age! It looks relatively healthy so that’s good a start! Here are some things you should know to successfully grow a Venus flytrap:
1.They must only be watered by the bottom! Not the top! You do this by placing it in a tray of about 1cm or so of water. I water mine every day or every other day, depending on how much sun it got
2. It must only be watered using distilled water or rainwater! That’s very important as the minerals in other water are too harsh for it!
3. It’s a good idea to replant it in sphagnum moss. When I did this with mine, it flourished!
4. It needs a few hours of direct sunlight per day. Do this in the morning as it’s not as harsh! Otherwise, put it on a bright windowsill or bright indirect light! Careful not to give it tooooo much direct light, you need to introduce it slowly if this isn’t something the nursery did. Otherwise you can shock the plant. You may notice some leaves going blackish, that’s normal, it’s just the old leaves responding to the change, if it’s healthy and happy it will grow new ones that will react better
Another few things to remember: you don’t know how they took care of it at the nursery so be careful introducing new methods. And another thing, try not to trigger the traps too much as this wastes their energy.
Otherwise, I know you said this is your son’s plant, so if you just want to take a backseat and watch what he does then you don’t have to follow these steps at all lol. But just letting you know in case you actually want it to live properly💗
Cool kid!
DISTILLED WATER!
I got mine here: https://www.flytrapcare.com
They do a great job of explaining care and I think would give you advice if you emailed them. The one you got needs a little love, but also don’t wanna shock it.
Congratulations to him! To echo what others have said: DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, water it with tap water. The chlorine and loose minerals in tap water are more than enough to kill VFTs and this is the #1 cause of loss in cultivated VFTs. Give it a tray of distilled water to sit in to emulate its natural environment (North American, East coast swamp land) and it’ll stay alive as long as it’s fed reasonably consistently. If you want to repot it eventually, do so in sterile and fertilizer absent sphagnum moss.
This was also my first plant as a kid! Like people are saying, rain water only. If you decide to repot, make sure you purchase soil specifically for carnivorous plants. Any other kind will burn the roots/plant and kill it.
My kids picked out the same plant, I was stuck with the stress of keeping it alive. I hate to say that I’m glad it’s gone 😭I tried yall, I really did.
Carnivorous plants are awesome. Remember flies are fertilizer and you have to pick the carcass out when they’ve finished it. They love light and they need an annual dormancy period.
Why I keep killing them 😭😭 maybe I should try again!
Just got my first one this weekend! I’m looking forward to taking care of it.
Can these handle RO water instead of distilled water?
He’s a cool kid
Awesome! Make sure you take a look at the roots and see if it needs to be repotted in something bigger soon. Many brands will actually pot it so the actual plant is trapped inside a tiny bag the roots can’t escape from, so you might need to free it. I recommend after repotting you keep the base sitting in a tiny bit of water at all time, and keep in full or mostly full sun. Try not to trigger the traps to close because it kills them after a few times.
Great lesson on grieving, I see 🫣
This is what I would have picked at 4 years old too lol
GL!!! They’re tough! You’ve got a lot of good advice here, but I’d still start steeling expectations.
A lesson will be learned.
If its in soil plz read up on what they prefer. They like being in mossy environments. Give it and him the best shot!
Omg, my kid always wants these whenever they are at the garden center and I take her with me. After the first couple I killed I realized maybe carnivorous plants aren’t my jam…
Don’t force feed it or trigger the traps
Get him into therapy asap!!! 😂