VFT Colouring

[Rug]

Just wondering what everyone thinks about this. I can never get my flytraps to color up like when I bought them.

[Devon]

That's hard to vote on... Last year, none of my outdoor flytraps had any colour, but for some reason, this year they are very nicely coloured up in the same place I had them before.

It could be the amount of food they catch... All of my plants last year had a catch in every trap (they were earwigs) This year they are not capturing as many bugs at all, so it could be a factor. And this year i also have them in a different soil mox, which is 50:50 peat:sand with some perlite.

I hope this helps!

[shoggoths]

My vote go to the amount of lighting.

I have a couple of vft akai ryu in a tank under fluorescents. They become greener when I put them at the end of the tube and redder when I put them in the middle so ...

Perhaps there's difference between clone ... I only have akai ryu.

Shogg

[Devon]

When i had my VFT's under lights the first year, they didn't get nearly as much colour as they have this year in natural sunlight.

[lloyd]

I had some "red" VFT's under my LED's last winter. They turned an intense dark almost maroon red. The same plants are now outside under sun so intense that I get sunburned in under 5 minutes. They are completely green. Go figure.

[flytrapcare.com]

Here's what I've learned helps flytraps color up to their full potential:
1) Genetics (if the plant isn't genetically inclined to get red traps, it won't)
2) Good light. It seems like diffused sunlight through polycarbonate panels or fluorescent lighting works very well. I've never used MH bulbs.
3) Cool night time temperatures.
4) No bugs and no tripping the traps.

Genetics is the biggest factor and that's not an option on the poll

After genetics, I think it's 3 and 4 from my list above. If you aren't doing #2 your flytraps won't be healthy anyway...

[H2O]

i agree with what people are saying.

In my experiance I could always keep flytraps coloured under lights without any problems. now that i have all of my flytraps outside in my bog they dont get any colour. The bog gets 9 hours of direct sun so I dont think it has anything to do with how much light they're getting.

My flytraps also catch a ton of bugs so I'm going to have to agree the 'no tripping the traps' and 'cool night temps'

[nwflytrap]

I'm in the same boat. All my traps that had a ton of red in them this spring under spiral CF bulbs are now bright green under the sun. Most of the traps have legs from daddy long legs sticking out of them.
Our nights however, have only been dropping to 17-20C, so not exactly cool.

[lloyd]

I'm still not sure. Even my small plants with no bugs are green outside. Also in the fall my VFT's really grow vigorously when it is chilly day & night but still no red. Possibly it could be the warm-cold cycle?