Q: Tell me about Venus flytraps!
Wild Dionaea
Cultivated Dionaea
A:
You bought a carnivorous plant? Wonderful! But I have some stern advice for you.
Unless you meet some crucial cultivation requirements to satisfy your Venus flytrap's needs,
it will die. Its leaves will
shrivel, blacken, and the plant will rot to its core. Another mark
on your soul.
In this FAQ-section you can learn
exactly how to avoid murdering your Venus flytrap,
but as you learn, you may become
horrified to learn all of its strange and exacting requirements. How
will you ever do everything right?!
(Treating it like a normal house plant will certainly kill it.)
It is not very easy to grow Venus flytraps, which is
why they are not commonly grown well!
But do not despair. Instead, read the
FAQ thoroughly and learn what you must do.
Incidentally, as
you read the FAQ, sometimes you will see
that I refer to Venus flytraps by the Latin name, Dionaea muscipula.
Consider that your first lesson about
VFTs. The nickname "VFT" stands for "Venus flytrap".
Consider that to be lesson #2.
After you see all the finicky requirements your new plant demands, you may feel annoyed
at the store that sold the plant to you. If you feel you have been
misled, complain to the store, and not to me. (You would be surprised how many people have
sent me angry e-mail, as if I were the CEO of some vast international Venus flytrap
merchandising conglomerate.)
Page citations: Rice, B.A. 2006a.