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I Need A Little Help

I bought a VFT fromt he internet it was in perfect health when I had it. I gave it to a friend who really wanted one and now it looks to be in a really bad way. The soil and even perlite was brown ish black and there appeared to be webbing or something in there aswell :-( I repotted it, and this is it now
DSCF0156.jpg

Will it be ok, and how long will it take to get back to normal?
 
Perlite in peat moss will usually turn brown. Algae likes to grow on it and turn brown if it dries out or it soaks up the tannins from the peat moss.

Webbing could have been from just about anything: spider mites, caterpillars, spiders, mold/fungus or fungus gnats. I'd suspect fungus gnats which in bad infestations leave tiny slime trails on the surface which look like a silvery web. The plant does not appear to be suffering from spider mite damage but check it again.

Provided you give the plant the basics it needs - e.g. proper soil, proper water, sufficient light and enough warmth you should see some growth in as little as two weeks.
 
NaN pretty much said it all.

VFT's can rebound from just about anything it seems like so long as they are given the proper conditions...the fact that you still have green leaves says you stand a pretty good chance at a healthy recovery...
 
Thanks guys, I dont know what kind of growing conditions he keeps it in. The web was like real web, but the soil stuck to you when you touched it. I know perlite goes brown eventualy, but this is less than 7 months. He did let it flower but it started to die so I told him to cut it off. He did and now he says and I quote
MY Friend said:
I dont know whats wrong with it, it grows traps that blacken before they even open, and soon the rest of the leaves blacken aswell.
Maybe this helps? ??? I think he said he keeps it on his windowsil which gets sun all day.
 
yeah that info helps, I dont think theres any concern on the note of the browning perlite... but flowering is a problem if he had anything less than optimal conditions... once the flower stalk is more than a couple inches tall the damage has all but already been done due to the energy it takes to produce the stalk... flowering without those conditions will kill almost every vft. the traps blackening and leaves is a big problem...

how long did he have it?
 
not that long, just less than 7 motnths. I got it october and passed it to him in November. I kept it to let it recover from posting and settle in to its new pot, I was told it was less than 2 years old so it should have been fine without dormancy. But when he told me about an odd shapped trap, the last thing I expected was a flower so I just said Oh, thats strange. When he saw me again he said it was getting quite big, about 15CM then I told him to cut it off.
 
was he using distilled water?

the lighting probably was the problem.
eitherway now that you have it and can get it what it needs... it should rebound without a problem

if he wasn't using distilled water you may have a problem... but you said you repotted so that would have solved that...

just give it time and it'll bounce back

good luck
 
I was thinking of giving it a forced dormancy,that would give it its energy back. He is really keen, he said he was using rain water. I'll leave it for a while. :) Thanks cmm889
 
Don't, you'll probably end up killing the plant. Plants are solar powered. It will get it's energy from the sun.
 
  • #10
Around 80%-90% actualy comes from the energy stored in its Rhzome/bulb. Thats why its good as an indoor plant. True thought, it does require some degree of light. But its a tried and tested method. I've done it to my plants more than once.
 
  • #11
"Around 80%-90% actualy comes from the energy stored in its Rhzome/bulb"

i wonder how much energy it has left before it has to get the sun to recharge the energy.
this aint a regular houseplant where the "tried and tested method" will work. trust me, i've killed more than enough of VFT indoor to learn that its best to stick mine outdoor in full sun.
 
  • #12
yeah thats where the plant stores its energy.... but that doesn't mean that its just sitting there... it needs to accumulate that energy via the sun and light.

if you try to force it into dormancy you're way more likely to kill it than if you just let it live on and gave it dormancy when the plant decided it was ready
 
  • #13
Ok, I'll leave it as a last resort.
 
  • #14
Around 80%-90% actually comes from the energy stored in its Rhizome/bulb. Thats why its good as an indoor plant. True thought, it does require some degree of light. But its a tried and tested method. I've done it to my plants more than once.
VFTs require a lot of light. A forced dormancy on a plant that size after it's had such a tough time growing would likely kill it. It's likely drawn a lot of it's stored energy to keep producing leaves and to produce that flower stalk. If it were mine, I'd put it on my grow rack where it would get lots of bright indirect light for a couple weeks and then start moving it back into direct light gradually. 80% to 90% of it's energy may come from it's rhizome. But 100% of that stored energy comes from starches and sugars produced by it's leaves photosynthesizing sunlight. A little guy like that needs to build up his stores as much as possible to make it through his next dormancy.


cmm ya beat me to it! :-))
 
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  • #15
It needs to survive the rest of the year first. As I said, its a last resort. If its looking like its dieing anyway it wont do more damage to try it anyway.
 
  • #16
I know perlite goes brown eventualy, but this is less than 7 months.

I have perlite that turns brown in less than 7 days. The tannins from the peat will alter the color very quickly. Just watch the water come out the bottom of a pot when you're using fresh peat. It's extremely brown.

I think he said he keeps it on his windowsil which gets sun all day.

Sun through a windowsill won't compare to direct sunlight outside.

I was thinking of giving it a forced dormancy,that would give it its energy back.

Not a good idea, as has been stated.

Around 80%-90% actualy comes from the energy stored in its Rhzome/bulb.

Where does that energy come from?

Thats why its good as an indoor plant.

While you can get decent results growing vfts inside, it will never compare to growing them outside.

Good luck with the recovery. I'm positive everything will be fine. Keep us posted.

xvart.
 
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