Venus flytrap

What to feed the plant

An important step in caring for a flycatcher is feeding it. For this, the following insects are used:

• Mosquitoes.
• Flies.
• Worms.
• Larvae.
• Slugs.

They should be small and soft. If the food is not completely digested by the plant, the trap can rot. It is forbidden to feed the flower with any kind of meat.

Resting care

At the end of autumn, the flower begins to prepare for the dormant period, and this can be noticed by the cessation of leaf growth. At this time, it is necessary to reduce the amount of watering, but the soil must still be moistened.

It is best to place the flycatcher in a cool and dark place, where the temperature will keep around +10 degrees.

Also, the plant needs to be regularly fed through the soil. For this, fertilizer is added to the water intended for irrigation once a week.

It is important not to overfeed the flower, as it can die from this.

Reproduction

The Venus flytrap can be propagated in any way - by seeds, bulbs, division and even a peduncle. It all depends on how quickly the grower wants to get a new bush.

Bulbs

An adult plant has daughter bulbs. Dionea grows well surrounded by children and weakens if they are often removed. You can propagate a plant in this way no more than once every three years.

Breeding order:

1. Separate the bulb along with the roots.
2. Sprinkle the place of the cut with chiseled charcoal.
3. Place in a separate container.
4. Cover with foil until complete engraftment.

Cuttings

This is the easiest and most productive breeding method. You will need leaves that are free of traps.

Breeding order:

1. Cut off the leaf and process the cut with Kornevin (growth stimulator).
2. Plant the cutting at a 45 degree angle in a container filled with peat and sand (1: 1).
3. Cover the container with a lid.

Next, you need to carefully look after the cuttings, maintaining the necessary conditions. After 2-3 months, the first shoots grow near the base of the cutting. After another 2-3 months, the plant needs to be transplanted into a pot.

Seeds

This is the longest and most difficult breeding method. A plant grown from a seed may not look like a mother bush.

Seeds for planting are taken from a flower that has reached 2-3 years of age. When a plant blooms, it has to be pollinated with a brush or cotton swab. Seeds are harvested in autumn from dry bolls. They have limited germination, so it is better to plant them immediately in a container.

Seed propagation order:

1. Sprinkle the seeds treated with "Topaz" on a damp substrate.
2. Close the container with a transparent lid, leave it closer to the sun.

Seedlings grow in a month. After the appearance of the first leaves, they begin to ventilate the greenhouse. After a month, the seedlings are transplanted into pots. A full-fledged plant will turn out from them in 5 years.

Peduncle

Blooming shoots take away strength and can cause disease in Dionea. Cut shoots can be thrown away or used for propagation.

How to propagate dionea:

1. When the peduncle reaches a length of 5 cm, cut it off.
2. Stick into moistened peat, deepen it by 1 cm.
3. Cover with foil.

Note The peduncle will take root in 45-60 days. If it dries up, you should despair, the plant will soon sprout.

Care

How to care for a Venus flytrap at home?

The exotic plant is increasingly being started at home. Any person is interested in watching a unique and unique natural organism. Increasingly, the flower predator "Venus flytrap" can be found in ordinary hypermarkets, which also sell flowers.

ATTENTION! The Venus flytrap is a very capricious plant, for which it is not easy to create suitable conditions.

Lighting

She requires special care at home. Dionea is advised to be located in a well-lit place. If she can enjoy four or five hours of sunshine per day, the traps will develop well, reaching the maximum possible size and intensely staining.

ATTENTION! The plant is shaded from direct sultry rays.

Temperature

Under natural conditions, Dionea lives at the following temperatures: in summer, the range is from nine to twenty-six degrees of heat, and in winter - no higher than seven degrees.

Watering

Dionea is watered not from above, but through a pan, using distilled, melt or rain water. Do not allow the earthen coma to dry out. In the summer, watering is also carried out as follows: for twenty to thirty minutes, the pot is immersed in water.

ATTENTION! If a grower collects rainwater, then he should keep in mind that it cannot be stored for a long time in metal containers, because it absorbs metal salts that are harmful to Dionea.

Humidity

It is necessary to maintain a high level of humidity for the plant. Humidification of the air includes periodic spraying and placing a container of water or moistened tissues next to the pot. At any time of the year, homemade Venus is protected from the effects of air currents.

The soil

Inexperienced growers can plant the indoor flycatcher in universal soil. This is a fatal mistake that will ultimately lead to the death of the plant.

For planting, it is necessary to mix high-moor peat and perlite (proportion 1: 1 or 2: 1). Before planting, the mixture is well moistened.

Feeding

Venus at home feeds on any insects trapped in the trap. How to feed Venus Flytrap? There is no need to feed a flycatcher that is in an open room with insects, but if the need arises (for example, there are no insects in the room at all), you can bring a live mosquito, spider or fly into the trap (it will not react to a dead creature).

Do not feed the plant with worms, caterpillars, larvae, bloodworms and meat products.

IMPORTANT! The fertilizers habitual to flower growers applied to the soil are not required for the flycatcher.

Transfer

Venus is transplanted once within one or two years. It is better to manipulate before flowering (late spring). The pot is selected deep, a good drainage layer is installed on the bottom.

Reproduction

Propagated by cuttings, dividing the bush and seeds.

Seeds can be obtained from your own specimen by manually dusting each flower in early spring. Before planting, the seeds are soaked in "Epin" or stratified. Then they are planted in prepared soil and a greenhouse is organized, providing sufficient illumination and high humidity.

After the appearance of the first leaves, the seedlings are ventilated. One to two months after the discovery of seedlings, the sprouts are planted in pots.

Easily propagated with bulbs. In the first month of summer, babies appear at the main plant. When their roots grow, they can simply be planted.

You can learn more about the conditions for keeping the Venus flytrap and the features of home care in the video below:

Description

This natural wonder grows in America, mainly in North and South Carolina. Here, on wet meadows and peat bogs, ideal conditions for the life and development of this predator are formed. Despite the high love for marshlands, stagnant water is detrimental to Dionea.

The Venus flytrap belongs to the sundew family. She is a herbaceous, insectivorous plant. Its rosette consists of 4-7 elongated leaf plates, the length of which does not exceed 7 centimeters. The stem is similar to a bulb with a length of up to 15 cm.

Under natural conditions, Dionea prefers to grow on poor soils with a minimum nitrogen content. The flower receives this component from its prey, which are various small insects and even slugs. After flowering, the flycatcher forms special leaves that serve as traps. Their design consists of two petals with bristles along the edge, which are capable of slamming.

On the outside, the petals are green and the inside is red. Traps attract prey not only with their original coloring, but also with nectar, which is produced by special glands. When an insect falls into a trap, it instantly closes and a digestive secretion begins to be produced.

The digestion process can last from 5 to 12 days, after which the trap reopens. One trap is on average capable of digesting up to three insects, but there are exceptions to the larger side. After that, the leaf dies off.

Venus flytrap: winter care

In the process of growing, the care of the Venus flytrap should be constant. In order for the flower to grow actively after a long period of dormancy, it is necessary to correctly plan the wintering.

Venus flytrap wintering

Dioneus flycatcher should not be kept indoors all year round at a temperature of 20-24 ° C, because in 1.5-2 years it will simply die. A predatory flower with a pronounced seasonal periodicity of growth, therefore, for 3-4 months it should be in a room with an air temperature of 0 to 10 ° C. Exceeding the maximum indicator will lead to the death of the plant.

Preparing the Venus Flytrap for the Cold Season

This flower needs to be prepared for the winter season in the fall. In October or the first decade of November, during the month, the air temperature should be gradually reduced and the length of daylight hours should be reduced. Dionea must be placed on a balcony, loggia, or a slightly open window (before turning on the heating). During this time, it is necessary to reduce the temperature from 10-15 ° C to 0-5 ° C, if the plant is young, and this is its first winter to 5-7 ° C. When these conditions are met, the flower itself will hibernate. Outwardly, readiness for wintering will be expressed in the development of wide leaves and small traps growing almost horizontally to the soil.

Correct placement of dionea and supplementary lighting

The duration of daylight hours in winter should not exceed 8-9 hours. At temperatures above 5 ° C, additional lighting is required. To do this, it is enough to install one 40 W cold-glow compact fluorescent lamp. You can keep a flower anywhere, but with appropriate conditions - a glazed balcony, a window sill fenced off from the room with a plastic wrap, a greenhouse.

Wintering of dionea flycatcher in a glazed room

Also, the Venus flytrap can hibernate in the refrigerator, but only after preparation. The container with the plant must be treated with Topaz or Maxim fungicide, packed in a bag, made several small holes for air to enter and put into the refrigerator. The temperature in the inner chamber of the apparatus should vary from 0 to 5 ° C. In such conditions, the Dionea flycatcher can be without light. The substrate should be moistened with distilled water (5 ° C). It needs to be replaced in the spring.

If there is not enough space in the refrigerating chamber of the apparatus, you can remove the plants from the pots with the substrate, remove its remnants from the roots, cut off the leaves, put the bulbs on sphagnum, having previously treated them with some kind of fungicide. Then put them in a bag and place in the refrigerator. During wintering, it is necessary to control the moisture level of the moss. It shouldn't dry out. In spring, the bulbs should be planted in a new substrate.

Watering dionea

If you keep a flower in winter at a favorable temperature, watering should be carried out, as in summer, from the pallet as the top layer of the substrate dries up. The temperature of the water and air must match.

How to properly water a Venus flytrap

When to wake a Venus flytrap and how to do it correctly?

If the flower was in the refrigerator during the winter season, but will continue to grow in natural light, it should be woken up in the first decade of March so that it has time to take root by the beginning of the growing season. With artificial lighting, the sleep period should be interrupted after three months of rest, the plant should be placed under a lamp for 10 hours, gradually, over the course of a month, increasing this time to 16 hours. If the flycatcher flower hibernated indoors, the exit from the dormant state occurs with an increase in temperature and an increase in daylight hours.

Reproduction

Flycatcher breeding can be done in several ways:

• children;
• cuttings;
• peduncle;
• seeds.

Children

The easiest way that Dionea can reproduce is to separate the babies from the mother bush.

During transplantation, the baby is carefully separated from the mother, trying not to injure the delicate roots of the plant. The separation is best done with a sharp knife, and then the sections should be treated with crushed activated carbon or fungicides

Important! The flycatcher prefers to grow up as a family, together with children. With their frequent separation, the plant noticeably weakens

Therefore, this breeding method is not recommended to be carried out more often than once every three years.

Separating babies from the mother bush

Cuttings

Leaves are cut from an adult plant. After treatment with "Kornevin", the cutting can be immediately planted in a substrate of peat and sand

It is important to plant the leaf at a slight angle and cover it with a greenhouse. It is left in a well-lit place for about 3 months, periodically airing and watering

Important! Not all leaves will be able to give roots, as they are often subject to fungal diseases.

Propagation using cuttings

Peduncle

Reproduction of Dionea by a peduncle should be carried out in the spring, when it grows by 4-5 cm. It must be cut off and deepened into the substrate with peat by about 1 cm and covered with a cap. Young shoots will appear after one and a half to two months of waiting. At this time, it is necessary to ventilate the rooted peduncle and keep the soil moist. Over time, it can dry out and acquire a lifeless look, but this does not mean that reproduction in this way was not possible, you have to wait a few more months before the appearance of new exotic plants.

Seeds

Seed propagation is a very complex and specific process that only experienced growers can handle. An approximate scheme for planting a flycatcher from seeds includes:

1. Obtaining seeds by artificial pollination using a cotton swab. After a successful procedure, seed boxes appear after 30 days.
2. After receiving the seeds, they should be sown within 3 months, otherwise they will lose their germination. The first seedlings appear within 15-20 days after sowing.
3. After another 20 days, the seedlings can be dived into separate pots.

During the entire time of growing Dionea from seeds, the crops should be in the greenhouse under diffused, bright light, and the soil mixture should always be moist.

When growing a flower from seed, it is important to remember that it will become an adult in about 5 years.

Grown seedlings

Diseases and pests

Who would have thought that a plant capable of eating insects could suffer from them. There have been cases when aphids appeared on the surfaces of the traps, due to which they were deformed. Special insecticides are sold against small insects. Another predatory flycatcher flower can be affected by a spider mite: treatment with an acaricide solution will help to destroy the pest.

Dionea needs special care: where it grows, it is necessary to maintain optimal air humidity and temperature. However, if the soil is too wet, the flower may suffer from sooty fungus - a black coating will appear on the leaves and stems. Fungicides will help fight it.If the conditions of detention are not observed, the flycatcher is attacked by botrytis - a gray mold fluff. If you notice the appearance of such mold, immediately remove the affected parts, and treat the plant itself with a fungicide solution.

Dionea's bactericidal lesion can also occur due to the fact that the trap cannot cope with the digestion of the caught insect. In such cases, the closed petals turn black and rot, and the disease quickly spreads throughout the plant. You need to immediately cut off the damaged trap, and then treat the flower with a fungicide solution.

What does a flower look like, which family it belongs to

Venus flytrap (Dionea muscipula) belongs to perennial herbaceous insectivorous plants. This is the only representative of its kind from the Rosyankov family (Droseraceae). The Latin name "muscipula" translated into Russian means "mousetrap", probably the botanist who gave the specific name to the flower wanted to write "muscicipula" (fly trap) and was mistaken.

The frightening appearance of the plant

History of appearance

This plant predator was originally named after Venus, the goddess of plants and love in ancient Rome, and in Greek mythology, Dione was the mother of Aphrodite.

The natural habitat of the flycatcher is the peat bogs of North and South Carolina, USA. In nature, the number of plants of this species is rapidly decreasing due to human activities, but the Venus flytrap is widespread and in demand among flower growers all over the world.

Insectivorous plant in the wild

Dionea's leaves are collected in rosettes growing from a short bulbous stem underground. Each plant has 4-7 elongated leaves, at the end of which traps are formed. Such specific leaves consist of two valves and are able to close together due to long thin bristles located along the edges. By folding, the flaps keep the caught prey inside and do not allow it to escape.

An insect caught by a flycatcher will not be able to get out of the trap

The characteristic color of the flower is green. Traps are similar in color, but can appear reddish on the inside under good lighting conditions.

Common varieties

In addition to the characteristic form of the plant, breeders have bred many different varieties, differing in color and size. For example:

• Dante Trap. The bush is colored green, with a red stripe running along the front side of the valves. Leaves and traps are almost vertical.
• Giant. The peculiarity of this variety is that the size of the traps is more than 5 cm, in bright light they turn purple.
• Akai Riu. In this variety, not only traps, but also leaves are painted in a red tone.
• Ragula. The green leaves of the bush are diluted with traps of red and purple hues.
• Bohemian Garnet. A dark green bush with wide leaves that cover the entire substrate, the traps are also vertical.
• Funnel Trap. The young bush is colored green, and as the plant grows older, the leaves of the plant acquire a red tint.
• Crocedile. Flycatcher leaves are arranged horizontally. Young traps have a pale pink hue, after a while they turn red.
• Triton. The variety is distinguished by the unusual shape of the traps. They are elongated, and their teeth often stick together.
• Dracula. The green bush has traps with a red cavity, the teeth are short.

Healing properties

Dionea is not medicinal. Contraindications to its use have not been studied in medicine.

Note! The use of a flycatcher, not only internally, but also externally is not recommended.

Landing technology

For planting, small grown children or offspring of their own adult plants are usually used. It is advisable to perform the procedure in the warm season, when active vegetation occurs. The algorithm is completely identical to the planned transplant, which is carried out every 3-4 years. Step-by-step scheme of work:

Soak perlite in rain or distilled water for 2 weeks.Mix with soil in a 1: 2 ratio.
Fill the container with earth to the very top, slightly moisten. Make small indentations for embedding the appendages.
Use plastic tweezers to take the plant, avoiding the soil getting on the leaves

Plant the roots in the hole, sprinkle gently on top.
Spray with distilled water using a spray bottle, remove traces of the substrate from the leaf blades.

Immediately after planting, the plant must be placed in a darkened place. This is necessary for comfortable adaptation to a new place.

During this period, it is important to maintain soil moisture, but you cannot move and turn the pot.

Seedling care

During the care of the described plant, even experienced florists have certain problems associated with its direct maintenance.

• Due to excess moisture in the soil, dark spots may appear on the shoots, which indicates that they are rotting. If the irrigation regime is not urgently adjusted, the fungus will develop, and the flower may die.
• For irrigation, do not use ordinary tap water and fertilizers with a high level of minerals for ornamental plants. Otherwise, wilting of leaves and gradual death of the plant will begin.
• It is undesirable to touch the trap itself with your hands, overfeed the flower and try to feed it with food.
• Continuous exposure to direct sunlight may cause dark spots. They can only be removed by adjusting the light intensity.

Before the beginning of the dormant period, the leaves may turn yellow or turn white. Since this flower hibernates at temperatures from +2 to + 10 ° C, it is problematic to create such conditions in an apartment. The way out of this situation will be loose (you can make several holes in the bag for air circulation), wrap the flower in a plastic bag and put it in the lower compartment of the refrigerator in a place for fruits, where the temperature is slightly higher than in the rest of the space and is kept at + 5 ° WITH. But do not forget about it, periodically it is necessary to check the soil and keep it in a slightly damp state. You should not worry about lighting, since the plant does not need it for a dormant period.

After a successful wintering, the described plant must again be adapted to warmth. When the daytime temperature on the balcony reaches from +5 to + 10 ° C, the flycatcher can be sent to fresh air. But be careful and watch the temperature. If frost is expected overnight, put the plant back in the refrigerator or it will freeze. "Dionea" moves away from wintering very slowly. After the refrigerator, it may seem that she has completely died. Gradually, she will begin to release small leaves. At the end of spring, the growth rate of the leaves increases. When a large number of leaf plates appear, you can start feeding it with insects.

The described plant is very picky about the structure of water. It can only be watered with distilled water from a pharmacy. It can also be obtained from the moonshine still.

This plant is very fond of a humid climate, so it is advisable that it always have a little water in its pan. It can be placed in an aquarium to create a more comfortable environment.

You will learn more about planting the Venus flytrap with seeds below.

Brief description of the flower

The full name of the flower is Venus flytrap, in Latin it is called Dionaea Muscipula. Despite its small size, the plant is widely known in scientific circles. At one time, Charles Darwin flatteringly described it as "the most beautiful plant in the world." But it is not known for this. Growing on nitrogen-poor soils, the flycatcher has developed a unique adaptation mechanism: it is capable of capturing living insects with its leaves and using them to replenish the deficiency of the element.

The predatory plant will become a real decoration of the home flower garden

This is not to say that the flycatcher is a plant that feeds on insects.She does not digest them, but replenishes her own lack of nutrients due to the chitinous layer of "victims".

General information about the flower

The following characteristics of the amazing dionea plant can be distinguished:

• The diameter of the bush is no more than 15 cm. The height is up to 10 cm.
• The leaves are collected in a root rosette, their number is from 3 to 7.
• Opposite leaves with thorns represent a trap.
• Small star-shaped flowers are concentrated at the end of the stem.
• The flowering period is in late May - early June.
• The seeds are black, small.
• The average lifespan is about 7 years.

Note! The flycatcher is located close to the surface of the ground, so it is very easy for insects to get into its deadly leaves. The peculiarity of the structure of the trap: due to the arrangement of special hypersensitive antennae-villi, the plant catches movement and instantly reacts to it, closing the leaves

The reaction time is only 1 / 10th of a second. Such a clever system allows you to avoid the trap from slamming from a gust of wind or raindrops. Scientists have not yet managed to accurately understand the features of using such an unusual adaptation mechanism.

The peculiarity of the structure of the trap: thanks to the arrangement of special hypersensitive antennae-villi, the plant catches movement and instantly reacts to it, closing the leaves. The reaction time is only 1 / 10th of a second. This clever system allows you to avoid the trap slamming from a gust of wind or raindrops. Scientists have not yet managed to accurately understand the features of using such an unusual adaptation mechanism.

After catching prey, the plant secretes special digestive enzymes. They help completely dissolve the victim in 14 days. After that, the predator of the plant world is ready to hunt again.

You can even grow an amazing predator at home

Since the old home of the flycatcher is the poor soils of the savannah, it is not surprising that it gradually developed a unique mechanism to help its survival.

You can also grow a predatory plant at home, but it is important to take into account its specifics and offer suitable food. It can be spiders, flies, bees - they must be alive, only in this case the release of digestive enzymes will occur