New vft owner needs advice

[jopedder]

Hi all,

I have had a vft for a couple of months now and am conserned about its health.  I know i probably overfed it in the first week a little with the initial exitement of getting such an amazing plant in my home, but it seems that 80% of the heads die after they close, seeming to rot around their prey.  I know the heads have a limited lifespan, is this how they die once the heads time is up?  Ive cut off any of the rotten heads is there anything else i can do?

Another problem I have is there seems to be too many heads (about 30) and they are all in eachothers way, some closng round the stems of other heads.  Should I prune back any new heads they may end up triggering traps or let the plant grow as it wishes?

any suggestions anyone?

Jo

 

[SnowyFalcon]

The more you leave it alone, the better it will do.  

  It does not need pruning at all, the more traps, the better.  You probably should cut off  all black traps though, to prevent fungus and rot.  

One or two bugs a month (at most 1/3 size of the trap.) will be sufficent to feed it. More than that and it can start to rot. (As it seems you've already figured out&#33

Check out this site for more answers
FAQ

SF

 

[fre8train]

what you feed it may be the anser to a sad looking plant

 

[PlantAKiss]

Hey Jopedder

Welcome to the forums.

It would help a lot if you could provide some details about how you are growing your plant. What kind of light is it getting and how much? What type of water do you use and how much? Was it feeding naturally or were you feeding it and what did you feed it? Sometimes, in even nature, what a trap eats doesn't always agree with it. What is your soil and how high are the temps where you live? There are lots of factors that can affect how well your plant grows other than how much or what its eating.

I really wouldn't worry too much about how much it eats. When they are growing in their natural habitat, nobody is there to manage what or how much they eat.

Mine stay outside and are generally full of bugs...mostly flies. If your plant has 30 traps then I'd say its reasonably healthy.

You do know that dormancy time is close upon us? Your plant will need cooler temps and a shorter photoperiod. So if you keep it indoors, it will need assistance from you for that (unless it grows on a windowsill).

Give us some more information and we'll see what we can come up with.

Suzanne