New With Dionaea

[lectric]

Hi there!

I'm Lectric, from Toledo (Spain) and I've been growing Drosera Capensis for 2 years now.

I've recently been gifted with a Dionaea Muscipula and there's a doubt I have.

It came with 15 traps (probablly because of tissue culture) but the thing I want to ask is: Why the new leaves (and traps) are each time smaller?

I've read the Sarraenia FAQ and those typical links you posts, and they say nothing about this.

I don't think lighting is the problem, it is under two CFL of 30W, at 20cm from it. Also watering is as said, with distilled water.

The 'thing' of all this (I think) its the fact that here is winter, but as I read in Barry's FAQ I'm not letting the plant enter into dormancy.

Thank you for reading and sorry for my bad english.

[gardenofeden]

why do you grow under lights, do you not have a sunny windowsill? I suspect they would also do Ok outside in Spain. Given natural light patterns plants will naturally enter dormancy as days shorten, it is always best to allow a cool winter rest.

Tissue culture plants can take a while to settle down after coming out of culture, sometimes a few years.

[lectric]

I grow under lights because weather where I live is very extreme, very VERY hot in summer and TOO cold in winter. (These days are even weirder, with extremely cold nights and very hot days, and I thought that would damage the plant)

Also, it couldn't be placed in a sunny windowsill due to the lack of direct sun (only the last hours of the day)

So, shall I force it into dormancy even if it has 'lost' half of the winter?

Thanks in advance.

[lectric]

Something really bad just happened.

My father was showing my plant to his grandson and the pot has fallen to the floor.

Every trap now is closed. I repotted it quickly, but now im afraid about my plant's health. Will it survive? The roots are intact and no leave is broken, just every trap is shut.

Thanks in advance.

[jdallas]

Lectric,

What temperatures are you currently seeing in your area? This is what I saw online for your town: www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Toledo+Spain+SPXX0077 These temperatures are perfectly normal for what a Venus Flytrap would experience in their native North Carolina. If your plant has been indoors, you can't put it out right away, but later this spring, around March, you certainly could. Venus flytraps are not tropical plants. Once you have it outside it can stay there.

Your plant will recover as long as the roots were not damaged.

This might be a helpful link: www.cobraplant.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=8

Jeff

[lectric]

Talking in centigrades, its like -5ºC in the night and 18ºC during the day this last week.

Thats why I thought those 'extreme' (of 23ºC) temperature changes couldnt be good for the plant.

Apart from the fact I said I have no sunny place to put them (I'd prefer them to grow outdoors but they won't get enough sunlight)

Also, in summer, temperature can easily reach 45ºC (is a very dry heat) and it can tolerate till a maximum of 32ºC, am I right?

Going back to the first question (that one about the traps each time smaller), do you definitely think its caused because of the plant 'wanting' to enter into dormancy?

Thank you all, I really appreciate your help.

[jdallas]

Lectric,

Your flytraps probably are trying to go dormant. Normally in the fall Venus Flytraps begin dropping their large upright traps in favor of smaller ground hugging traps.

If artificial light is your only option, try and cycle your photoperiod to mimic natural daylight. Right now, they should be on an 8 or 9 hour day. In March boost it to 12, then by May, to 14 hours. This will help give the plant the seasonal clues.

Your summer temperatures are much less of an issue than you might think. We have growers in the desert southwest U.S. (Arizona, New Mexico) that grow flytraps outdoors. They need to be set up a little different but it works fine.

Over the years I've found that a big cause of death with Venus flytraps is being babied to death. The environment they come from is quite hot in the summer, and cool with frequent frosts during the winter. They are much tougher than people think.

Jeff

[normando]

Also the traps being smaller could jus be an efect of moving the plant grom one place to the other. Once when I bought som v.f.t's from a nursery about 400 mi from my home and drove it back to my house and its final destanation my plants did the same thing until they aclimated and started puting on bigger traps. Plants can also do this when brought outdoors too fast from milder indoor climes. Always good to "hardn off" or aclimate your plants whenever changing thier inviroments or when obtaining new specimens

[bananaman]

I routinely get to 37 degrees celcius and higher, and flytraps and sarracenia are fine as long as they don't dry out.
They are also fine with the winters here where it can get from -5 celcius or so to 20 celcius or so in less than 24 hours.
I think they should be fine outside.
By the way, your English is fine. If I were typing in Spanish right now, you'd have thought I'd butchere it!