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NickHubbell

It’s a trap!
I have been reading that many people are having trouble growing VFTs. They get the plant home, and it soon becomes black and dies.

Most of these plants have started to die after they have been fed a insect. Please allow your VFTs to be acclimated to their new homes. The plants are stressed from being shipped and then replanted. Adding a bug at this stage will cause traps to die off and may stunt the plant

Another observation I have noticed is that many of these VFTs have been placed in a sphagnum peat moss and then rocks or "other" materials are added. Please only plant your VFTs in the recommended sphagnum peat moss/perlite mixture ( or other recommended mix ) Soils, rock, non-sphagnum moss will kill your plant.

Don't take the cover off the day you bring the plant home from the store. VFTs sold at stores are coverd with a plastic dome/lid that keeps the humidity high. Taking the lid off just after the plant is brought home will cause it to go limp and dry out. Leave the lid on for the first day, crack/tilt the lid slighty the next to allow a gradual acclimation to the newer/lower humidity level. Going from 100% humidity to less than 50% is stressfull.

Use distilled, Reverse Osmosis, or rain water on your VFTs. Anything else will stunt and/or kill your plants.

Bright sunlight is good, however placing a plant that has been indoors directly into sunlight can cause the plant to wilt, burn, or both.

This was not ment to sound mean or threatening. I just wanted to point somethings out that are becoming a common topic on the forum.

Petflytrap.com has wonderfull growing instructions on their website. They work well and should be followed. Over time, when one because experienced with growing VFTs, other methods of growing can be established. For instance, I have always grown VFTs in 100% sphagnum moss with a bottom layer of perlite in a terrarium. This works for me and the professor who demonstrated this method to me. However, other have not been able to grow VFTs this way.

By following basic guidelines and the care instructions found at petflytrap.com, VFTs can be grown by everyone.

Last but not least...

Have fun, if one dies, try again. Learn from your mistakes. My first set of VFTs lived for 3 years until I went off to a new college. When I came home to get my terrarium, no one had watered them for several months and they were left outside in freezing weather, nothing survived.

Hopefully this message is informational and helpfull. It is not intended to upset anyone.
 
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