TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk
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What kind of water are you giving it? All carnivorous plants need purified water that is free of minerals, such as rain water, distilled water, or reverse osmosis water. They also need a lot of light to grow well. I would also make sure that the peat you are using doesn't have additional fertilizers added.
Bio
Plant Whisperer
Additionally, I wouldn't recommend a Venus flytrap for young kids. The plant can get stressed from closing its traps too much and being over fed, and young children often like seeing them move so much that they can't stop messing with the plant. Also, they have a dormancy for the winter, something a lot of people forget about.
They will take as much sun as you can give them, so it is not a problem. If the older leaves are dying off that is normal for plants adjusting to new growing conditions. Can you describe what is wrong with the plants? Also, if you are watering them try not to get water into the traps, which will probably trigger them.
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Bio
Plant Whisperer
The Savage Garden is the single best tool you can have for growing any kind of carnivorous plants, so what Bio said. How are you watering them? Try a tray method (have the pot sitting in a tray of distilled/ reverse osmosis H2O) rather than overhead watering. Also ditto on messing with the traps. If you stick your hands in the traps, they close, draining energy from the plant. After a few times closing, the traps die off.
The dormancy is a good thing to remember too. These plants need to go dormant over the winter. They do so in their natural environment and they don't have enough energy to grow year-round.
The dormancy is a good thing to remember too. These plants need to go dormant over the winter. They do so in their natural environment and they don't have enough energy to grow year-round.
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Flytraps from the stores often need time to acclimate to lower humidity, as they've been stuck inside those death cubes for who knows how long. After that, definitely soil without fertilizer, pure water, and full sun are the needed requirements. The stress from closing traps is a bit of a myth, but I do know that they can only do so a few times and after that, the trap just won't move any more.
Dionaea also goes dormant during winter, and if it's not provided this, it will die very quickly. At this time of the year it's too late for that, but next winter, make sure it gets that. Your plant looks like it is still acclimating, a fair amount of light and good water are essential right now. Once it's started actively growing again, it will take as much light as you can give it. Mine do rather well in the 10% average humidity and blazing full sunlight here in CO, so humidity and shade are not needed.
Dionaea also goes dormant during winter, and if it's not provided this, it will die very quickly. At this time of the year it's too late for that, but next winter, make sure it gets that. Your plant looks like it is still acclimating, a fair amount of light and good water are essential right now. Once it's started actively growing again, it will take as much light as you can give it. Mine do rather well in the 10% average humidity and blazing full sunlight here in CO, so humidity and shade are not needed.
It looks like only the older traps are getting black and that there are two growing points, both of which are producing new growth. I wouldn't worry too much about it because it is only natural for a plant to lose foliage when moved to new conditions. As long as the new traps aren't turning black really quickly I don't think there is a problem. It will probably take a while for the plant to adjust to its growing environment.
There have been great suggestions made and I believe if you are providing full sun, clean water, and have the plant in peat/sand then you are doing everything right.
The problem is that all the flytraps you can buy from big box stores are poorly grown. They do not acclimate well to proper conditions. The problem is the source of where you purchased the plant and ultimately the grower's fault. You've done nothing wrong and in all likelihood your plant will survive and resprout. Don't give up!
I recommend however, if it does die, to not be afraid of trying again. All of the people on this forum have had a few false starts when it comes to growing these awesome plants. If your plant dies I would suggest (1) seeing if anyone on the forum has spare flytraps to send you for shipping costs and (2) buy healthy, well-grown plants from a vendor who is experienced in growing these plants, like flytrapshop.com!
The problem is that all the flytraps you can buy from big box stores are poorly grown. They do not acclimate well to proper conditions. The problem is the source of where you purchased the plant and ultimately the grower's fault. You've done nothing wrong and in all likelihood your plant will survive and resprout. Don't give up!
I recommend however, if it does die, to not be afraid of trying again. All of the people on this forum have had a few false starts when it comes to growing these awesome plants. If your plant dies I would suggest (1) seeing if anyone on the forum has spare flytraps to send you for shipping costs and (2) buy healthy, well-grown plants from a vendor who is experienced in growing these plants, like flytrapshop.com!
Plants from the garden centers such as Lowe's should be acclimated to full sunlight as well. They've been sitting in dark cartons for weeks and out of direct sunlight in the stores for many more weeks. You can usually first see evidence of sunburn on the white portions of the leaf bases near the growth point. The sunburned areas will turn reddish. More severe sunburn will show on the "spine" and edges of the petioles and the sides of the traps. Again these will be reddened areas and will eventually turn black.
Depending on how robust the plant was to begin with the plants will recover in two to six weeks depending on the severity of the burn. I've seen all the leaves burn off in the course of 1-2 weeks. The first few new leaves may have stunted or even missing traps but again the plant can recover.
I always put garden center flytraps in shade and gradually increase the amount of direct sunlight they get over a 1-2 week time period - much depends on the condition of the plant to begin with.
Humidity isn't that much of a concern since they practically never get watered in the stores.
Here is some sunburn (center of the photo). You can see how the white portions of the leaf bases have reddened (magenta in the photo). I changed how the leaves were crossed over for this photo - you can see an untanned/burned strip where the other leaf provided shade. The larger trap on the right is also burned. Compare to the coloring of the developing trap from another plant on the upper left.
Depending on how robust the plant was to begin with the plants will recover in two to six weeks depending on the severity of the burn. I've seen all the leaves burn off in the course of 1-2 weeks. The first few new leaves may have stunted or even missing traps but again the plant can recover.
I always put garden center flytraps in shade and gradually increase the amount of direct sunlight they get over a 1-2 week time period - much depends on the condition of the plant to begin with.
Humidity isn't that much of a concern since they practically never get watered in the stores.
Here is some sunburn (center of the photo). You can see how the white portions of the leaf bases have reddened (magenta in the photo). I changed how the leaves were crossed over for this photo - you can see an untanned/burned strip where the other leaf provided shade. The larger trap on the right is also burned. Compare to the coloring of the developing trap from another plant on the upper left.
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